Released on 2013 Jan. 9th, coupled with IJIME, DAME, ZETTAI (included in the regular edition).
Lyric: EDOMETAL / Music: NARASAKI / Arr.: NARAMETAL
Catch Me If You Can
[One, two, one, two, three, four.]
[[Hey! Are you ready? Are you ready?]]
No, not yet.
[[Hey! Are you ready? Are you ready?]]
No, not yet.
That way? This way?
Hey, tagger, where do you think I am?
Never to be found,
I've found such a special place to hide.
[[Hey! Are you ready? Are you ready?]]
No, not yet.
[[Hey! Are you ready? Are you ready?]]
No, not yet.
To right and to left, I look around.
Oh, no. My heart can't stop beating fast.
Alright. If you think you can find me,
go ahead and try it! Try it!
[[Hey! Are you ready? Are you ready?]]
No, not yet.
[[Hey! Are you ready? Are you ready?]]
No, not yet.
Hey, tagger, here I am. [Hey, tagger, here I am.]
Come toward my clapping! [Come toward my clapping!]
Hey, tagger, here I am.
Now I'm ready.
Wow wow... Round and round, hide-and-seek.
I run around. [voi!] I run around. [voi!]
Please mind your footing! [Hey, catch me!]
Wow wow... Round and round, hide-and-seek.
Red shoes, [Yes!] you shouldn't wear. [Non!]
Because they are dangerous.
[[???voi??? Aren't here any crybabies?]]
[[???voi??? Aren't here any naughty kids?]]
Hey, tagger, here I am. [Hey, tagger, here I am.]
Come toward my clapping! [Come toward my clapping!]
Hey, tagger, here I am.
[[I've found you.]]
Wow wow... Round and round, hide-and-seek.
Hey, red ogre, [voi!] hey, blue ogre, [voi!]
take your steps! [one, two, one, two.]
Wow wow... Round and round, hide-and-seek.
Even if you fall over, [Yes!] you shouldn't cry. [Non!]
Because you are strong kids.
We are going still more.
Wow wow... Round and round, hide-and-seek.
Wow wow... Round and round, hide-and-seek.
Red shoes, you shouldn't wear.
Because they are dangerous.
[No, not yet.]
[No, not yet.]
ROMAJI LYRIC AND NOTES ARE BELOW.
[i] About Kakurenbo and Onigokko
Both are children's games. Kakurenbo is a kind of hide-and-seek and onigokko is a kind of tag. Both the seeker of seek-and-hide and the tagger of tag are called "oni" (= ogre) in Japan.
In kakurenbo, oni counts up to a certain number while others hide. At reaching the number, oni calls "Moo ii kai?" (= Are you ready?). Those who are not ready respond "Maada da yo."(= not yet), those ready respond "Moo ii yo." (= Now I'm ready). If someone responds "not yet", oni calls again after a while, and when no one responds "not yet", oni starts to seek. And when oni finds one of the hiders, oni calls "(hider's name) miitsuketa." (= I've found ***). There are some variations for ending of the game.
There are the melodies sung for these calls. Those of "maada da yo" and "moo ii yo" are sung in this song. Unlike in this song, "moo ii kai?" resembles "moo ii yo" and "miitsuketa" resembles "maada da yo". These melodies, however, are slightly different in regions.
Since this lyric contains the words used for onigokko (e.g. "catch me"), I think the game as a mixture of kakurenbo and onigokko (= kakure-onigokko), and I translate "oni" to "tagger". In onigokko, when oni touches someone, that one then becomes oni.
[ii] About Oni
"Oni" are a kind of ogre-like monsters. Though oni are as cruel as ogres, Japanese people think they may have humanlike minds and hearts. Some legendary oni were brought up as human children, but excluded because of their supernatural-ness, and then became oni.
Unnecessary addition: There is a famous fairy tale titled "Naita Aka-Oni" (the red ogre who cried) by HAMADA Hirosuke, 1933. A kind-hearted Red Ogre wanted to be a friend of humans, but people didn't believe him, so his friend Blue Ogre proposed a plot: Blue would attack the village and Red would defend them. Red declined but Blue attacked. Red defended and then became a friend of the people. A few days later, Red found a message on the door of Blue's house: "Farewell, My Friend. I leave here so that the plot will not be exposed to the people". Reading this, Red Ogre cried.
[iii] About the Hide and Seek in Concerts
In the concerts of 2016 June, the call & response has been inserted in the middle part (after "Warui go ine ga?"). There have been some differences according to time and place, and I'm sorry if I misheard them.
[su] Are you ready?
[su] Are you ready?
[su] Let's play hide and seek!
[su] I'm it. Ready or not, here I come.
[su] I wanna see (a) big circle pit! (Show me (a) big circle pit!)
[su] Make (a) big circle!
[su] Bigger, bigger.
[su] Show me what you got! (Show you what you want.)
[su] Oni-san kochira.
[yui][moa] Oni-san kochira.
[su] Te no naru hoo e.
[yui][moa] Te no naru hoo e.
[su] Oni-san kochira.
[yui][moa] I found you.
Catch Me If You Can
| Romaji Lyric | English Translation | Notes |
| [Wan tsuu, wan tsuu surii foo.] | [One, two, one, two, three, four.] | |
| [[Ooi moo iikai? Moo iikai?]] | [[Hey! Are you ready? Are you ready?]] | [i] |
| Maada da yo. | No, not yet. | YM |
| [[Ooi moo iikai? Moo iikai?]] | [[Hey! Are you ready? Are you ready?]] | |
| Maada da yo. | No, not yet. | YM |
| Atchi kana? Kotchi kana? | That way? This way? | Y |
| Sate oni-san doko deshoo? | Hey, tagger, where do you think I am? | [i],M |
| Zettai ni mituskara-nai | Never to be found, | Y |
| totteoki no basho o hakken. | I've found such a special place to hide. | 1,M |
| [[Ooi moo iikai? Moo iikai?]] | [[Hey! Are you ready? Are you ready?]] | |
| Maada da yo. | No, not yet. | YM |
| [[Ooi moo iikai? Moo iikai?]] | [[Hey! Are you ready? Are you ready?]] | |
| Maada da yo. | No, not yet. | YM |
| Migi hidari kyoro kyorori. | To right and to left, I look around. | Y |
| Yada doki doki toman-nai. | Oh, no. My heart can't stop beating fast. | M |
| Ii yo. Mitsukerareru monnara | Alright. If you think you can find me, | Y |
| mitsukete minasai! Minasai na! | go ahead and try it! Try it! | 2,M |
| [[Ooi moo iikai? Moo iikai?]] | [[Hey! Are you ready? Are you ready?]] | |
| Maada da yo. | No, not yet. | YM |
| [[Ooi moo iikai? Moo iikai?]] | [[Hey! Are you ready? Are you ready?]] | |
| Maada da yo. | No, not yet. | YM |
| Oni-san kochira. [Oni-san kochira.] |
Hey, tagger, here I am. [Hey, tagger, here I am.] | 3,(s) |
| Te no naru hoo e.. [Te no naru hoo e.] |
Come toward my clapping! [Come toward my clapping!] | (s) |
| Oni-san kochira. | Hey, tagger, here I am. | |
| Moo ii yo. | Now I'm ready. | [i],YM |
| WOW WOW... Guru guru kakurenbo. | Wow wow... Round and round, hide-and-seek. | |
| Mawatte-masu. [voi!] Mawatte-masu. [voi!] |
I run around. [voi!] I run around. [voi!] | 4 |
| Ashimoto gochuui! [Hora tsukamaete!] | Please mind your footing! [Hey, catch me!] | 5 |
| WOW WOW... Guru guru kakurenbo. | Wow wow... Round and round, hide-and-seek. | |
| Akai kutsu [Hai.] haicha dame. [Non.] |
Red shoes, [Yes!] you shouldn't wear. [Non!] | 6 |
| Denjarasu-da mon. | Because they are dangerous. | |
| [[???voi??? Naku go wa ine ga?]] | [[???voi??? Aren't here any crybabies?]] | 7 |
| [[???voi??? Warui go ine ga?]] | [[???voi??? Aren't here any naughty kids?]] | |
| Oni-san kochira. [Oni-san kochira.] |
Hey, tagger, here I am. [Hey, tagger, here I am.] | (s) |
| Te no naru hoo e. [Te no naru hoo e.] |
Come toward my clapping! [Come toward my clapping!] | (s) |
| Oni-san kochira. | Hey, tagger, here I am. | |
| [[Miitsuketa.]] | [[I've found you.]] | [i] |
| WOW WOW... Guru guru kakurenbo. | Wow wow... Round and round, hide-and-seek. | |
| Aka-oni-san [voi!] ao-oni-san [voi!] | Hey, red ogre, [voi!] hey, blue ogre, [voi!] | [ii] |
| suteppu suteppu! [wan tsuu, wan tsuu.] | take your steps! [one, two, one, two.] | |
| WOW WOW... Guru guru kakurenbo. | Wow wow... Round and round, hide-and-seek. | |
| Korondemo [Hai.] Naicha dame. [Non.] |
Even if you fall over, [Yes!] you shouldn't cry. [Non!] | |
| tsuyoi-ko-san-damon. | Because you are strong kids. | |
| Mada mada iku yo. | We are going still more. | YM |
| WOW WOW... Guru guru kakurenbo. | Wow wow... Round and round, hide-and-seek. | |
| WOW WOW... Guru guru kakurenbo. | Wow wow... Round and round, hide-and-seek. | |
| Akai kutsu haicha dame. | Red shoes, you shouldn't wear. | |
| Denjarasu-da mon. | Because they are dangerous. | |
| [Maada da yo.] | [No, not yet.] | |
| [Maada da yo.] | [No, not yet.] | |
Notes
- The lines marked with "Y" are sung by YUIMETAL, with "M" by MOAMETAL, and the enclosed phrases[---] marked with "(s)" are sung by SU-METAL (added on 2017 Mar. 17).
- With the proceeding line, it is like "I've found the special place such that anyone can never find me (if I hide there)."
- "Minasai" is one of imperative forms of "miru" (= look/see), but when "miru" is attached to other verbs, it means like "to try to..." (e.g. kiite minasai = try to listen).
- The words of this section are calls of "mekakushi-onigokko", (= blind man's buff). This game is a kind of tag: the blindfolded tagger tries to catch others. The melodies for these calls sung in this song are slightly different from what I remember, but the melodies are slightly different in regions.
- Japanese doesn't have the sound "v" but the official lyric uses katakana "ヴ" which is used for "v" (e.g. violin, voice, etc), so I write "voi". But I have no idea of this word.
- "Ashimoto gochuui" is the words used for notice.
- I think the lyric writer probably refers to a fairy tale "the Red Shoes" by H. C. Andersen, 1849. In that story, a girl who loved her red shoes was put under a curse, and, once she wore them, she couldn't take them off and couldn't stop dancing until she had her feet chopped off. Andersen's red shoes are obviously dangerous, and the lyrics "mada mada iku yo" (= we are going still more) & BABYMETAL's steps of this song give me the impression of an endless dance.
The lyric writer, however, may refer to a children's song "Akai Kutsu" by NOGUCHI Ujoo, 1922. The lyric of that song is like this: "A girl wearing red shoes was taken out by a foreigner, from Yokohama by ship. I imagine her eyes has become blue and she lives in a foreign country. When I see red shoes or meet a foreigner, I think of her." The phrase at issue is "連れられて 行っちゃった" (tsurerarete itchatta). It is not told whether she was willing to go abroad or not, but not a few Japanese seem to take this as "連れて行かれちゃった" (tsurete-ikarechatta) which means she was taken out regardless of her will. And the lonely melody seems somehow to scare some Japanese into imagining a foreign kidnapper looking for the girls wearing red shoes. If there were such a kidnapper, to wear red shoes should be dangerous. (Revised on 2015 Feb. 11th, thanks to Tetsufumi Habu san on 2014 May 15th). - These two line are namahage's words (these are dialects of Northern Japan). Namahage is a kind of ogre disguise practiced in Oga (Akita pref). On new year's eve, namahage, holding fake hatchets, walk around and come into houses to find crybabies or naughty kids. Junior kids are really very terrified, and their parents use that to train them: "If you don't obey us, namahage will...". If you like to know more about namahage, see Wikipedia or elsewhere.
The Fox God bless you for your work!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the translation. :)
I'm glad to know this can help you.
DeleteThanks to the fox god he summon you to help us.....
ReplyDeleteThx
Oh! I pray the Fox God to summon someone to help that slow producer...
DeleteDo Japanese children nowadays really count in English with "Wan tsuu, wan tsuu surii foo."?
ReplyDeleteProbably Japanese children's pronunciation has improved after English lesson began at the elementary schools, but they are shy about pronouncing like native English speakers.
DeleteActually "1 (and) 2 (and) 1, 2, 3, (4)" is a call to start a pop/rock tune, and for this purpose "wan/one" "tsuu/two" ... are always used. Japanese children use (freely) many ways of counting numbers, including kazoe-uta (= counting songs), "one, two, three ...", and whatever language they know.
No , Japanese people do not count with one two three four. They say ichi ni san shi. But this is rock music; and it's a tradition to start a song with one two, one two three four! Rock was started by english speakers. That's why they say one two three four.
DeleteThe reason they don't pronounce it like english-speakers is not because they're shy about speaking english. It's because the song is in japanese. When speaking foreign words, you always use the alphabet that you are speaking in to pronounce the words.
For example my name is gabe. but in japanese it's Geibu. Just like in the west we say Karyoki, instead of karaoke. We say animay instead of anime. Japanese say gitaa rather than guitar.
Because when speaking foreign words, we use our own alphabet to say them and every alphabet has a limited range of sounds.
wan tsuu surii foo is just 1234 said using the japanese alphabet. Japanese does not have the "wu" sound needed for 1 so they say "wan".
They do not have the "too" sound needed 2 so they say "tsuu".
They do not have a "th" sound needed for 3, so they say "surii".
They do not have single consonants other than 'n'. So you cannot end a syllable with r in japanese, which is needed for 4. so they say "foo"
I like your work, and think well done, really professionally. Also impressed with your deep insight into Japanese culture, however, I don't think "Akai kutsu" has reference to Andersen's tale, rather it has much more to do with Japanese nursery rhyme. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akai_Kutsu)
ReplyDeleteThe them of the song is about hide and seek, and spirit away "Kamikakushi" is thought among Japanese to occur likely when playing the game. Hiding yourself from the seeker, i.e. voluntarily severing your tie with the your world, expose yourself to the risk of kidnapping, and having red shoes increases such a risk. That's my understanding of Akai kutsu reference, which give the song, I think, eery feeling, and yet enhances the charm of it.
I knew both stories. On the basis of Andersen's tale, it's easy to explain why it is dangerous: "if you wear them, then you will...". But, on the basis of the Japanese song (both the lyric itself and its known backround story), it's difficult to explain why it is dangerous (what shall happen if you wear them?), so I omit the reference to the Japanese song, but I will reconsider about that.
DeleteNaku go wa ine ga?... Warui go ine ga?
ReplyDeleteI love these lines, and the lyrics for this song in general. It might not be correct but the words to this song brings up visions of children playing hide and seek with a demon, which is creepy and awesome to write a song about. Love it
I'm probably not a true BABYMETAL fan if I have to ask this question but... What do you mean by 'As you all know, it's"bébiméṭl" not "béɪbiméṭl" '?
ReplyDelete"BABYMETAL" is pronounced as "bébiméṭl" since it is the word play of "baby"+"metal" and "heavy metal". It may sound strange to the non-Japanese, but natural to the Japanese because "baby" is very often pronounced as "bebi" in Japanese (e.g. baby buggy, baby boom).
DeleteBABYMETAL should rhyme with Heavy Metal. So you should pronounce "BABY" like "HEAVY" but with B's.
DeleteI wouldn't pronounce it this way when introducing it to new people. Only with other BABYMETAL fans.
BABYMETAL is pronounced Be-bi Metaru. - this line represents an elongated vowel.
DeleteThis isn't important, but I though I would share it.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was a kid we would yell "Apple, peaches, pumpkin pie who's not ready howler aye!"
Or "Ready or not here I come!"
Thank You,Du Enki,Fox God bless You.
ReplyDeleteI bow to you my friend, your time, effort, and dedication has given myself and countless others I'm sure, a better insight and appreciation for not only the baby metal songs, but Japanese culture in general.
ReplyDeleteThank you for comment.
DeleteHello again,
ReplyDeletethis is about the 'voi' and the "I have no idea of this word" (note 4). Well I don't have either but I was thinking, if the use of 'v' implies a foreign language, then it could be Spanish "voy" (sounds the same and would be written the same in Japanese, but the romajis don't show it). It makes sense. "Voy" means "I go" or "I come" (depending on the point of view). It would make perfect sense in all the appearances in the song (the hiding girls say it, and then the oni/ogre: voy = here I go!). Other languages have "voi" but it doesn't fit (in Italian, voi = you, plural; in Finnish, I've read voi means something like butter...). I find it unusual to find Spanish words in Japanese lyrics but sometimes happens (for instance I've discovered recently this Jap.- goth band from the 80's called G-Schmitt who used "zapateado" and a couple more Spanish words), on the other hand nowadays Spanish has some influence on American English so... I think it's a real possibility. Furthermore in this lyric there are other foreign words (non!).
The romaji writing in that case should be 'voy'. In the European edition of the album that I bought there's an extra leaflet with romaji official (?) versions of all the lyrics. They wrote it like you did (voi!) but I don't suppose they asked the lyric writer where did the word come from... so they didn't care if they were writing it properly (if it's Spanish, with a 'y' instead of an 'i').
Well, I really don't know but here's an idea ;)
Saludos
Fernando :)
Thank you for suggestion.
DeleteI don't think the lyric writer meant the Spanish word "voy" because "voi" can be heard in some lines of "YAVA!" too where Spanish "voy" doesn't seem fit.
I guess the lyric writer used "voi" just because he or someone likes its sound, but they might have heard Spanish "voy" or Italian "voi" somewhere before.
Hello again Du Enki san,
DeleteI won't be defending my suggestion too much, since, as I said, I really don't know. But about your reply, I wonder where in Yava! do they sing 'voi', I don't find it in your transcription. Furthermore, just in case you mixed Yava with other song, I used the search button with 'voi' and the only result is 'Catch me...' And in this song 'voi' as 'voy' i.e. "here I come!" fits perfectly. Anyway, I don't know, so you may be right about it not having any particular meaning...
Thanks & saludos,
Fernando :)
I'm sorry I didn't transcribe them, but there are death growls in "YAVA!" which seem to be "voi" after "Are dotchi" (0:46), "Kore dotchi" (0:48), etc. After "Paarirarira" (1:00), it might be "doi".
DeleteAnother reason why I don't think it's a Spanish word is that it seems to me that words are used casually (or somewhat carelessly) in BABYMETAL's songs & narrations and I have not found other such fairly solvable riddles in them. Probably the only one exception is that they held concerts in the three places which have the same initials "M,S,Y" as the members.
Yeah before reading your reply today I was listening to 'Yava!' with an ear searching for 'voi's' :D And now seeing the Yava! lyric I would say the "voy" reading fits well depending on how you understand the lyric. "Voy" as "here I go/come" would fit - for instance, the person or the growling monster (hahaha) decides which one he/she/it chooses (between the 'chigau' things). Furthermore, my favourite interpretation of Yava is the one that Storfot wrote here in Yava's thread (and you agreed partially with him/her). The music of that song is very intense and dramatic so I don't think it can be about girls choosing dresses, boots or earrings. It's my point of view, anyway. Who knows... (only the FoxGod of course :D)
DeleteSo, it fits well in Yava too, in my opinion. But I'm not telling I'm right because I don't know, and you are surely right about some casual use of words in BM lyrics. (BTW sorry but I didn't understand very well the last part of your message, from "I have not found..." until the end.)
Thanks for your reply!
Fernando :)
About the last part of my reply:
DeleteWhen they announced the concert in [S]aitama was the beginning of the Trilogy and they were to hold their next concert at [M]akuhari, BM fans could infer that the final of the trilogy should be held in [Y]okohama and the trilogy might be the prelude to Tokyo Dome which stands in the center of the triangle. And, if such a clear answer was prepared for every BM riddle, we should try to find it as you do.
I have searched for usage of "ヴォイ" again and found "ヴォイヴォイ泣く" (voivoi naku). It is a variation of "オイオイ泣く" (oioi naku), and "oioi" is an onomatopoeia for crying or wailing. "Voi" of this song might be a variation of one of Japanese homonyms of "oi" or might be Spanish "voy", but I doubt whether the lyric writer knew Spanish.
I doubt it too :D Anyway, in this lyric the various "non!" sound more French than English, so why not a bit of Spanish in the mix too? In any case, it's not a pet theory I'm in love with, hahaha, and I don't want to push my idea either, it was, and is, only a hypothesis, a possible answer that someone who doesn't know Spanish might not have thought about. Impossible to decide without asking the lyric writer or the Kitsunesama, I'm afraid ;)
DeleteThanks for clearing the riddles passage too. I think that's a different thing. That SMY and triangle thing, that's some riddle! And the obscure references to Seikima II, X Japan, Nausicaa, Akiko Wada (!), Evangelion, Dragon Ball and such, those are riddles too, some smaller, some bigger. But the use of foreign words is no riddle, it's just playing with things that sound cool, normally an mainly it's English, but sometimes can be French or Italian, as in Amore. And sometimes they don't necessarily have a real meaning, as you pointed out.
Thanks for all your kind replies in this mini-series of questions of mine, I hope I wasn't too demanding, excuse me if so.
Saludos,
F. :)
There is a possibility that "voi" of this song comes from Spanish "voy" though the word seems considerably less popular in Japan than French "non", Italian "amore", Spanish "buenos", "mucho", "adios", etc.
DeleteAnyway, a considerable portion of Japanese lyric writers & listeners seem not to place much importance on such qualities as making sense, logical consistency, physical possibility, reality, etc, so I think we cannot fully rely on these qualities when we judge what such a lyric writer mean.