Did you see the weather forecast this week? The mercury is inching up. You know what this means, right? Summer is bustin’ out all over! I love summer and somehow, I associated it with the song “It’s Always a Good Time” by Owl City and Carly Rae Jepsen (aka the Call Me Maybe girl). I know this song was big a couple of years ago, but I found myself listening to it several times since the temperature started to go up in March. I love the feel-good vibe it brings. Carefree frolicking under the hot Philippine sun!
Today, while I was searching for a nice video, I came across this Japanese blog by a girl named Licca-san. She posts her own translations of the lyrics to her favourite songs. Nice! The language geek in me started rejoicing and I went through some of her posts and was glad to find that she had a translation of my summer song 🙂 This is a big help to me. For years now, I’ve been “practicing” Nihongo with music and TV and film and this kind of material teaches me “natural” Japanese — how a native speaker would actually translate something in English. I think I need to sign up with ameblo just to thank her for her translations.
It’s Always A Good Time
Japanese translation by Licca
Woah-oh-oh-oh
いつもの楽しい時間
Woah-oh-oh-oh
いつもの楽しい時間
ベッドの右側で目覚めた
頭の中でプリンスソングが流れてる
今夜踊りにいくなら手を上げな
だって、いつもの楽しい時間だろ
楽な服で寝て
タクシーに飛び乗って
どっかへ連れてってくれ
きみが踊りにいくならおれも行くよ
だって、いつもの楽しい時間だろ
おはよう おやすみ
起きたら夕方だった
でも大丈夫
なにもしなくったっていいんだよ
だって、いつもの楽しい時間
Woah-oh-oh-oh Woah-oh-oh-oh
いつもの楽しい時間
Woah-oh-oh-oh Woah-oh-oh-oh
なにもしなくったっていいんだよ
だって、いつもの楽しい時間
やばい またプールに携帯落としちゃった
部屋を飛び出してATMに
今夜踊りにいくなら さぁ出かけよう
だって、いつもの楽しい時間
おはよう おやすみ
起きたら夕方だった
でも大丈夫
なにもしなくったっていいんだよ
だって、いつもの楽しい時間
Woah-oh-oh-oh Woah-oh-oh-oh
いつもの楽しい時間
Woah-oh-oh-oh Woah-oh-oh-oh
なにもしなくったっていいんだよ
だって、いつもの楽しい時間
Woah-oh-oh-oh Woah-oh-oh-oh
いつもの楽しい時間
Woah-oh-oh-oh Woah-oh-oh-oh
なにもしなくったっていいんだよ
だって、いつもの楽しい時間
いつだっていいんだ
その時がいつもの楽しい時間
どこでもいい
そこがいつもの楽しい時間
いつだっていいんだ
その時がいつもの楽しい時間
Here are some of my thoughts about the lyrics:
1. ベッドの右側で目覚めた – I think the line “Woke up on the right side of the bed” was taken literally. To wake up on the wrong side of the bed means to wake up in a foul mood and the line above would mean the opposite. The Japanese translation literally meant “woke up on the right side (and not the left side) of the bed.”
2. 頭の中でプリンスソングが流れてる – For the life of me, I would not have thought of using “流れてる” for the line “What’s up with this Prince song inside my head?”. But it makes perfect sense. 🙂
3. 楽な服で寝て – for “Slept in all my clothes like I didn’t care”, I don’t quite understand why it was translated this way. I would have thought it should go something like 服を着たまま寝て。But again, as I am not a native speaker, I cannot be 100% sure.
4. おはよう おやすみ, 起きたら夕方だった – This has got to be my favourite line in the song 🙂 Good morning and good night, I wake up at twilight. Let’s make it easy: good mornight! 🙂
5. やばい またプールに携帯落としちゃった – Not the exact translation for “freaked out, dropped my phone in the pool again” but I loved how she used やばい because it sounds completely natural.
6. 今夜踊りにいくなら さぁ出かけよう – For the part that says “Let’s hang out”, I would probably have used 会おう and would never have thought of using 出かけよう. Again, brilliant.
I hope she translates more songs — Maroon 5, Usher. I am really enjoying going through all her posts. Maybe I should do something similar too. Like translate Japanese songs to English and maybe, it can also help a native Japanese in his/her English studies. That has actually been in the blogging pipeline and I think I attempted a couple of songs that are now buried somewhere here. Ah well.
In the meantime, enjoy the video and feel the summer vibes!
Youtube: It’s Always A Good Time
