Boku ga Umareta Machi / 僕が生まれた街: “The Streets Where I Was Born”
boku / 僕
“I”, usually masculine
ga / が
Particle indicating the subject of the modifying clause
umareta / 生まれた
Past tense of umareru / 生まれる, “to be born”
machi / 街
“street”, “district”, “quarter”
“Boku ga Umareta Machi” is the second track on Oku Hanako’s 2007 album “TIME NOTE”. Fittingly, it was used as the CM song for a 2007 Chiba Prefecture tourism commercial (she was born in Chiba).
Unlike her more recent albums, half of the songs on “TIME NOTE” were hikigatari. This song was in the half that wasn’t.
While coming up with things to say in this post, I accidentally wrote a translation (apparently in less time than the rest of the post). I haven’t checked it for any idioms and less obvious subtleties, but I think it’s clean enough to post. My translation notes are available.
A particle indicating that the previous word modifies the following word. Roughly equivalent to “of”.
kioku / 記憶
“memory”, “recollection”
Here we have the opening to Oku Hanako’s 2007 album, TIME NOTE. It’s a sad hikigatari song, a recollection of a goodbye moment between two close friends.
I think this is one of the better songs on the album and of her early albums in general. The vocals and piano set the mood well, and her playing during the interlude before the bridge tops off the climax quite nicely. Overall, this song is a pleasure to listen to.
I suppose you could say that “Time Card” is the titular song of the album, TIME NOTE, although that might be a stretch. “Time Card” is a hikigatari piece from 2007; I figured it’d be a nice change from the mainstream-sounding song from last week.
The song starts off somewhat slowly, and you might think it’s a little repetitive if you don’t understand the lyrics, but hold out until the chorus, because that’s where the song really gets its character.
Admittedly, this is one of her more plain pieces and I wouldn’t call it one of her best, so it may take a slightly different approach to appreciate it fully. She plays well and sings beautifully, but I wouldn’t call this song very noteworthy, relatively speaking. However, I do find it enjoyable to listen to when nothing around me is moving.
Kimi no Tame Nara Dekiru Koto / 君のためならできること: “you do it for yourself” (Generasia Wiki) “The Things I Can Only Do For You”.
kimi / 君
“you”
no / の
tame / ため
“benefit”
nara / なら
“if”
dekiru / できる
“can do”
koto / こと
“thing”
Based on that breakdown, I might also translate it as “you do it for your own benefit” to clarify the previous translation.EDIT 2017-10-07: Now that I know more Japanese, this translates more literally to “Things I can do if they’re for your sake”.
It took me a while to appreciate this song—more than a year and a half—but it’s actually a really nice song that would go nicely in a playlist with Harukaze / 春風 and Hane / 羽 (which I will likely make and post eventually). It has a simple melody and is overall fairly relaxing, sure to put a smile on your face.
Watch out if you try to follow the lyrics while the song plays; she does a little more “syllable-smooshing” than usual. I think it may be one of those songs where the melody came before the lyrics.
Is that a recorder I hear? Recorders are sometimes looked down on as a child’s instrument (mostly because it’s often an instrument used to teach music to children), but sounds really nice here.
I’ve featured Chiisana Hoshi before, as the original indies version. Oku Hanako took at least two of her indies songs and made them into arranged and resung singles; one of these songs is Chiisana Hoshi, released as a single on November 29, 2006.
The new version sounds softer, but at the cost of restricting her range and sounding a little pitchy. I also have a thing for deep piano notes (as evidenced by my latest composition as of this post, The Poem), and unlike the indies version, this doesn’t quite have it. Having said that, it’s still quite nice to listen to and there are times when I’d prefer to listen to this version over the indies version. Overall, fairly well done.
Don’t be fooled by the title: this isn’t a happy love song (yes, I have a translation). One of my friends even said that the lyrics are melodramatic, after having read the translation. You’re probably wondering why I would post such a song on Valentine’s Day. I would argue that there are many types love on Valentine’s Day; the reciprocated romantic love is the common one that comes to mind when thinking about today. Unrequited love is one such love that doesn’t have as much attention in the mainstream. Sure, it gets its place in the old Peanuts cartoons, but when was the last time you saw something about unrequited love in Valentine’s Day messages?
Like many of Oku Hanako’s other songs, unrequited love is the theme of the song “Koi”. As I would expect, especially with songs of this theme, she sings this with a certain genuineness; I remember reading in one interview that doing songs about unrequited love comes naturally to her. Despite the lyrics, the song sounds pretty cute and she sings it perfectly. Her playing isn’t anything “to sneeze at”, either. I don’t mean it in a negative way, but this is your typical Oku Hanako hikigatari song. Well done, Oku Hanako!
For completeness, I’ll mention that there is an arranged version of this song that appeared in her 2012 Best album, “Oku Hanako BEST -My Letters-“. I won’t be posting that anytime soon.
Koi no Tenki Yohou / 恋の天気予報 : “weather forecast of love”.
koi / 恋
“love”
no / の
A particle indicating that the previous word modifies the next word (almost equivalent to “of”)
tenki / 天気
“weather”
yohou
“forecast”
Happy new year to all! Let’s start this year strong with “Koi no Tenki Yohou”. I figured I’d pick a hikigatari track in consideration of what I have lined up in the next few weeks, just to balance things out. Having said that, I barely noticed that this song was actually hikigatari.
“Unchanging”. This is the negative from the verb kawaru / 変わる, “to change”.
mono / もの
“thing”
Kawaranai Mono is my favourite out of all Oku Hanako’s songs. It is the insert song for The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, and it is the first song of hers that you hear in that movie.
Both “Kawaranai Mono” and “Garnet / ガーネット” were released on her 2006 single, “Garnet“.
Listen carefully. Do you hear that sound at the end of the second verse (just after 2:25)? Yes, that’s a horn (I think)! I hadn’t realized that it was a horn for about 10 months. I’m somewhat partial to horns because of Peter Cetera and Chicago, who is known for using lots of horns.
Oku Hanako has played the trumpet since age 9 for school, and she still plays it.
Garnet / GAANETTO / ガーネット: Transliteration of “garnet“, the January birthstone
Garnet / ガーネット（弾き語り） is the theme song for the 2006 Madhouse movie The Girl Who Leapt Through Time / Toki o Kakeru Shoujo / 時をかける少女 (official site[jp]). I won’t go too much into the movie (I’ll save that for another post), but it’s about a girl named Makoto who gains the ability to “leap” through time, which she uses carelessly until she finds out the consequences. She also falls in love with a boy, Chiaki, and complications arise towards the end of the movie. “Garnet” is about Makoto’s feelings towards Chiaki.
“Garnet” is the song that made her famous, and I’d say most people who listen to her music started with this song; this holds true at least for the Westerners, if not also for the Japanese.
By the way, the word hikigatari / 弾き語り means that it’s just her and her piano; according to the J-talk translator, it means “singing to one’s own accompaniment”.
Don’t ask me why she’s sleeping in a piano; I didn’t make the video.
“Garnet” is a beautiful song and you can expect more like this from her. I’d say it’s one of her representative hikigatari works. I remember watching the movie and being in awe at even just the first few notes. When she started singing, wow! I was speechless; I knew I had heard something special.
I’m not into anime, but I’ll recommend “The Girl Who Leapt Through Time”, for the music if not also for the story.
EDIT 2013-09-14: At first, the title of the song may not seem to relate to the song. After reading an interview, I realized that it actually fits quite nicely. Garnet is the birthstone of January and it symbolizes constancy, true friendship, and fidelity.
For those of you who aren’t really into hikigatari piano (I’m looking at you, Solarblade), don’t worry: she has some really good arranged works, too. I’ll be posting some, so watch for them!
Thoughts on Oku Hanako 