J-Music and Me: Spitz

Although I like a wide variety of music, I'm really not very knowledgeable about pop, be it American or J. Being a foreigner, one of the questions I get asked every now and then is whether I like any Japanese bands or musicians. It's right there behind "Do you like Japanese food?" and "Do you like Japanese movies/cartoons?" Well, I do like a Japanese rock band or two, but they're not very mainstream. And as I said, I don't really know much about pop (and I think about 90% of popular Japanese music is J-Pop). Therefore my good old reliable, for quite some time, has been Spitz.

僕はいろんな音楽好きだけどアメリカのでも日本のでもポップがあまり知らない。まあ、ポップの曲はあれこれ好きだけど。外国人として、時々日本のバンドが好きかという質問を聞かれる。「日本料理好きですか」と「日本のアニメ/映画が好きですか」の後だ。実は日本のロックバンドなら、一つ、二つ好きだけどあまり人気じゃないので言わない。でポップがあまり知らへん（日本の人気な音楽は９０％J-Popだと思う）。それだからたいてい「スピッツが好き」と答える。

Spitz is this J-rock/pop band that formed back at the end of the 80's and have been pretty big since the 90's. Honestly I don't know a lot of their stuff, but they have one song in particular that I quite like. It's called 魔法の言葉 (Mahou no Kotoba), which means "Magic words." When I was studying Japanese back at Waseda University in Tokyo, one of my teachers gave us the lyrics and played this song for the class a few times.

｢スピッツ」っては80年代の後半結成したJ-rock/popバンドなんだ。90年代に人気になった。実際は、スピッツの曲はほとんど知らないが一つ好きだよ。「魔法の言葉」という曲だ。東京の早稲田大学で勉強したときに、先生はこれを紹介したんだ。

Anyway, have a listen:

Here are the lyrics in Japanese, along with my best take on them in English:

あふれそうな気持ち無理やりかくして

I force myself to hide these overflowing feelings

今日もまた遠くばっかり見ていた

And again all I did today was look off into the distance

君と語り合った下らないアレコレ

All the trivial things we used to talk about

抱きしめてどうにか生きてるけど

I hold them tightly and go on somehow

魔法のコトバ二人だけにはわかる

Magic words that only we two understand

夢見るとかそんな暇もないこの頃

These days I don't have time for stuff like dreaming

思い出しておかしくてうれしくて

When I remember it's funny and makes me happy

また会えるよ約束しなくても

We'll see each other again, no need for promises

倒れるように寝て泣きながら目覚めて

I sleep like I've collapsed and wake up crying

人混みの中でボソボソ歌う

Amid the crowds I silently sing

君はなにしてる？笑顔が見たいぞ

What are you doing? I want to see your smile

振りかぶってわがまま空に投げた

I hold up my selfishness and cast it away into the sky

魔法のコトバ口にすれば短く

Magic words, so short when spoken

だけど効果は凄いものがあるってことで

But with such an amazing effect!

誰もしらないバレても色あせない

No one knows, but even if they find out it won't lessen

その後のストーリ分け合える日まで

Until the day when we can share the rest of the story

花は美しくトゲも美しく

Flowers are beautiful, and thorns are beautiful

根っこも美しいはずさ

So the roots must be beautiful, too, huh?

魔法のコトバ二人だけにはわかる

Magic words that only we two understand

夢見るとかそんな暇もないこの頃

These days I don't have time for stuff like dreaming

思い出しておかしくてうれしくて

When I remember it's funny and makes me happy

また会えるよ約束しなくても

We'll see each other again, no need for promises

会えるよ会えるよ

We'll see each other again, we'll see each other again

Maybe the lyrics are a little sappy, but I'm kind of a sap for difficult romances. This was the first J-pop/rock song that I remember liking, so it'll always be somewhat special for me.

歌詞はちょっと感傷的、とういか馬鹿だけど、僕は難しい恋愛に夢中な人、というかバカだかもしらへんさ。思い出せる限りは、これは僕の最初の好きなJ-pop/rockの曲だからちょっと特別だな。