Japan in Rock & Pop Lyrics

[Mulboyne]

An audio version of the first song in this thread is up so here it is with the lyrics once again:



"Discovering Japan" by Graham Parker (1979)
Her heart is nearly breaking, the earth is nearly quaking
The Tokyo's taxi's braking, it's screaming to a halt
And there's nothing to hold on to when gravity betrays you
And every kiss enslaves you-oo-oo

She knows how hard her heart grows under the nuclear shadows
She can't escape the feeling repeating in her head
When after all the urges some kind of truth emerges
We felt the deadly surges

Discovering Japan--an --an
Discovering Japan--an --an

The GIs only use her, they only ram right through her
Giving an eastern promise, that they could never keep
Seeing a million miles, between their joke and smiles
She heard their hard denials [don't pause]

As the tears dropped sideways down her face, face
I woke up talking in the tongue of a different race, race
And as the flight touches down my watch says 8:02
But that's midnight to you,
Midnight to you Midight to you

I dreamed headlong collisions in jet lag panavisions
I shouted sayonara it didn't mean goodbye
But lovers turn to posers show up in film exposures
Just like in travel brochures
Discovering Japan Discovering Japan

[AssKissinger]

Unit 731 on the new Slayer record

I am the last of the dying insane
You would scream at the things I've done
Knowing that the dead still see
My blood it runs like mercury

Your last breath the sword comes down
She dies first speaking death to me
Philosophy, the vision, the view within
Duty, science, abstract cruelty

What are your final thoughts?
Do you want to kill me, or die in shame?
From my point of view
Justified action, the enemy burns

The fun of massacre in the brain
Bioweapons and I are the same
Look at their face, hatred in their blood
Pile up the dead, my humanity

X-rays burn all that you can see
Nobody knows what a body can stand
Skulls on fire yet mercy is worse
You seek only your pleasure in death

What are your final thoughts?
Do you want to kill me, or die in shame?
From my point of view
Justified action, the enemy burns

Bacterial target, eyes exploding
Melting flesh through your mind
Become your madness insanity wins
Infant's flesh on the walls
[ Slayer Lyrics are found on http://www.songlyrics.com ]
Testing limits threshold of pain
Ripping out teeth to observe
I want blood

(Lead - Hanneman)

(Lead - King)

Knowing now the dead still see
My blood it runs like mercury
Knowing now the dead still see
My blood it runs like mercury
Knowing now the dead still see
My blood it runs like mercury
Knowing now the dead still see
My blood it runs like mercury

Human brain experiment
On prisoners open skull
Vivisection, live dissection
Repulsing to the core

What are your final thoughts?
Do you want to kill me, or die in shame?
From my point of view
Justified action, the enemy burns

Fuckin' burns

Pathogens seek horrible end
Churning factories of death
Crematoriums see your crime
You will see me in hell

[james]

hmm..

i don't have the lyrics on hand so i'll try to recall from memory, but weird al has mentioned japan in at least a few of his songs. a few i can recall (in chronological order)..

i'll be mellow when i'm dead:

i don't need a course in self awareness
to find out who i am
and i'd rather have a big mac or a jumbo jack
than all the bean sprouts in japan

eat it:

how come you're always such a fussy young man?
don't want no captain crunch, don't want no raisin bran
well don't you know that other kids are starving in japan
so eat it, just eat it..

phony calls:

little melvin has a natural obsession
askin' for prince albert in a can
he gets a kick each time he makes a collect call
to some guy he doesn't know who lives in japan

[Screwed-down Hairdo]

An Oz pub rock classic by Cold Chisel....
[YT]<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/1ujtvhDl1Vs&hl=ja_JP&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/1ujtvhDl1Vs&hl=ja_JP&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>[/YT]

A more recent cover by another band, the Living End, is worth watching because the video is just so...wrong.

Rising Sun
(Jimmy Barnes)

She just jumped on a plane
Paid no attention to me
Gave me no notice
But her goodbyes sure were sweet
Said she's gonna write
Maybe call me up
She checked her bags
And then she broke my heart
She kissed my cheek
And told me not to keep in touch

I said the Rising Sun just stole my girl away
The Rising Sun just stole my girl away
The Rising Sun just stole my girl
I'm gonna catch a plane and steal her back again
The Rising Sun just stole my girl away

Now we're apart
I think about her everyday
Well the scuffle of little feet
All round the bed
I'm gettin' no cards, gettin' no mail
Tokyo Rose is on the radio
If she don't come home
I know that's where I'm gonna go

They're buying our beaches
Sellin' transistors
Them little folk look real big
If they think that they can take her away
I'm gonna steal her back again . . . Shake!

I said the Rising Sun just stole my girl away
The Rising Sun just stole my girl away
The Rising Sun just stole my girl
Gonna catch a plane and steal her back again
The Rising Sun just stole my girl away

[Osakadave]

A couple of lines from the Sex Pistols's "New York":
"You're made in Japan
From cheese and chalk"
and
"Think it's swell playing in Japan
When everybody knows Japan is a dishpan"

And Deep Purple
"Woman From Tokyo"

Fly into the rising sun,
Faces, smiling everyone
Yeah, she is a whole new tradition
I feel it in my heart

My woman from Tokyo
She makes me see
My woman from Tokyo
She's so good to me

Talk about her like a Queen
Dancing in a Eastern Dream
Yeah, she makes me feel like a river
That carries me away

My woman from Tokyo
She makes me see
My woman from Tokyo
She's so good to me

But I'm at home and I just don't belong ...

So far away from the garden we love
She is what moves in the soul of a dove
Soon I shall see just how black was my night
When we're alone in Her City of light

Rising from the neon gloom
Shining like a crazy moon
Yeah, she turns me on like a fire
I get high

My woman from Tokyo
She makes me see
My woman from Tokyo
She's so good to me

[Mulboyne]

"Draw Japan" by The Horrors (2007)
Butcher the paper with a ravenous pen, Carving out trees and scoring skin
Animals too placed in plastic cages, carted around these filthy pages
I will draw Japan
Spectres holding sceptres with fingers thin, empty vessels asserting,
We are still King, we are still King
Black stuff running like nosebleed danger
Swarming towards the scource of the noise
I will draw Japan, with fervent hands
Black cells depict a foreign land ,I draw Japan
Sleeping city emits no sound, in this compound
No beast awalks, in this compound
No beast awalks, in this compound
I will draw Japan with a ravenous pen, hungry for oil and iron and tin
To your left a concrete factory, smoke billows, fists punch, Victory!
And my hands start shaking, and Japan starts shaking
And I begin to draw out Japan, in the shape of a man
Seen rushing through a market town, through the compound
No beast awalks in this compound
No beast awalks in this compound

[Screwed-down Hairdo]

Not really anything to do with Japan, but there is a connection because this song was Slade's biggest hit from a 1983 album entitled The Amazing Kamikaze Syndrome.

[Mulboyne]

"I left my heart in Tokyo
Down by the river don't you know"

"Left My Heart in Tokyo" by Mini Viva

[2triky]

[YThd]RvjML3-66SA[/YThd]

"I left my heart in Tokyo
Down by the river don't you know"

"Left My Heart in Tokyo" by Mini Viva

Treasure Fingers Remix - better than the original

[Mulboyne]

[Mulboyne]

You can't really tell from her singing voice but Hafdus Huld's Icelandic accent when she speaks English is surprisingly sexy.



"Tomoko" by Hafdis Huld

She flies much faster
Shouts much louder
Looks much fresher
And eats much less than you

There's nothing you can do
It's just hard to hang out with Tomoko
Tomoko

She doesn't gossip
Her hair still shines
Still has hope
Is never broke
Like you

There's nothing you can do
It's just hard to hang out with Tomoko
Tomoko

But you get into all these clubs
You never dreamed off
And get loads of boys and toys
When you want
If you want
Do 3000 stupid things
But you don't get screamed at
And get loads of boys and toys
When you want
If you want

She's always nice
And gives advice
When we don't have a clue
She needs no help
From you

There's nothing you can do
It's just hard to hang out with Tomoko
Tomoko

But you get into all these clubs
You never dreamed off
And get loads of boys and toys
When you want
If you want
Do 3000 stupid things
But you don't get screamed at
And get loads of boys and toys
When you want
If you want

She's never cold
Puts boys on hold
Has the whitest smile
And her shoes
Used to be crocodile
It's true
Tomoko
It's hard to hang out with Tomoko
Tomoko
There's nothing you can do
Tomoko, Tomoko
No there's nothing you can do
Tomoko, Tomoko
It's just hard to hang out with Tomoko
Tomoko, Tomoko
And there's nothing you can do
Tomoko, Tomoko
Yes it's hard to hang out with Tomoko
Tomoko, Tomoko

[Mulboyne]

Britta Persson - Meet a Bear

Chorus:

I saw a band with two girls from Japan
They hit their guitars hard
and they sang words that I couldn't understand.

I want to meet a bear before I die
I want to help a teenager say goodbye
to a boyfriend she never even liked
but who she thought made her look more grown up
I want to go to Tokyo

[Mulboyne]

RIP Gary Moore. Surprised to find he wrote a song called Hiroshima:




They still remember the day when Little Boy dropped from his womb.
They still remember how their homes became their children's tombs.
Their suffer mourn each soul who died that August morning
Why don't we listen, why don't we heed the warning?


Hiroshima, the place where innocence was burned.
Hiroshima, the memory makes my stomach turn.
Hiroshima, the world should truly feel the shame.
Hiroshima, the place where facing death became the way of life.


So many children have been born who cannot read or write.
They cannot speak, they cannot hear and some have lost their sight.
Adults with infant minds don't know the reason why,
for they were in their mothers' wombs when death fell from the sky.


Hiroshima, the place where innocence was burned.
Hiroshima, the memory makes my stomach turn.
Hiroshima, the world should truly feel the shame.
Hiroshima, the place where facing death became the way of life.


The rest of us should learn a lesson from their sorrow,
so we can stop it all happening tomorrow.


Hiroshima, the place where innocence was burned.
Hiroshima, the memory makes my stomach turn.
Hiroshima, the world should truly feel the shame.
Hiroshima, the rest of us must take the blame.


Hiroshima, the place where innocence was burned.
Hiroshima, the memory makes my stomach turn.
Hiroshima, men came to shadows where they stood.
Hiroshima, this kind of evil brings no good.


No, no.
No, no, no, no, no.
No, no, woah.

[Taro Toporific]

[nikoneko]

Can't believe I just read though all 14 pages of a 6 year old thread... Here's a couple from Stars that came to mind.



"Set Yourself On Fire"

In a village in the hills
House buried to the window sills in snow
In a prison yard at night
An Alsatian barking for the stars to go

In the attic of a house
In the slats of light which creep across the room
In a forest grove at dawn
Where the animals sleep hidden in the gloom

On the 97th floor overlooking Tokyo
In Camden road in a second floor flat with
Dilworth down below
There is only one thing
There is only one thing

In a cancer ward where the patients sit
Waiting patiently to die
In an aeroplane high above the place
You finally left behind

In a cage where only one thing could be free
And it's not you and I
In a cage where only one thing could be free
And it's not you and I

In every single place that has ever, ever been
Hiroshima, Los Angeles and each town in between
There is only one thing
There is only one thing
One thing

In the darkest part of you that you have ever seen
In the smile of the child staring at the TV screen
In the diary of a priest, in the sheets that lie upon his bed
Out there amongst the waves and inside your lover's head

There is only one thing [x6]
There is only one... thing

20 years asleep before we sleep... forever
20 years asleep before we sleep... forever...



"Bitches In Tokyo"

You can write my place out
Of the life you make
And all then things that mattered
When you knew my face
Cross off all the ways I failed you
Because I failed you
But I'm still in your blood
You're still in my blood

The time when all our mistakes made sense
You needed it
The time when all the lying
You sympathized with sin
All this sabotage and blame
Well I can take it
Because I just want you back
I just want you back

Temporary battles
Can take up half your life
How you dig your bed
Will it help you sleep at night
Forgiveness like a blanket
That you want to forget
But you still crumble at my name
You still crumble at my name

The time when all our mistakes made sense
You needed it
The time when all the lying
You sympathized with sin
All this sabotage and blame
Well I can take it
Because I just want you back
I just want you back

[Mulboyne]

"Bring Me The Head Of Yukio Mishima" by The Snivelling Shits
Yellow Belly Yellow Belly
Act 1 Scene 1
Skinny boy, no friends, rewrite, day and night
Sleep with pen - nothing - aha

I want to be, when I grow up I want to be,
Corrupted steel, solid hand
Got a big crush on that Joan of Arc
I want to be top guy, leather jacket, sharpshoot, (indistinct) hold his booze
With muscles to spare
In a word I want to be samurai, samurai, samurai
Go find a knife, like a samurai

Bring me the head of Yukio Mishima
Bring me the head of Yukio Mishima

Act 2 Scene 4
Cartoon squarejaw a bolt flash lightning
(indistinct) in a good place
Its in my vein, its in my vein

But most of all I want to be
Corrupted steel, solid hand
I still have to try for that Joan of Arc
I gotta be top guy, leather jacket, sharpshoot, (indistinct) hold his booze
With muscle to spare
In a word I want to be samurai, samurai, samurai
Go find a knife, like a samurai

Bring me the head of Yukio Mishima
Bring me the head of Yukio Mishima

Act 10, last dance
Mishima sat on knees
A dagger flies thirty foot,
sword kicks in
I'm ready know, I'm ready know

Bring me the head of Yukio Mishima
I want to see,
I said bring me the head of Yukio Mishima
I want to see
I want to see a man of steel one last time

Sayonara samurai, banzai samurai
Samurai
Don't die the die like a samurai
Like a samurai
Like a samurai
Like a samurai
Die

Here you go:

[Mulboyne]

Take your pick:

[ChargerCarl]

[Mulboyne]

Michael Franks "Rainy Night in Tokyo"

Seventh of September
Remember when
We met at the shrine
Your kimono looked so fine
Temple dancers swaying
Flutes playing then
I was yours and you were mine
Paul Desmond on the stereo
We sipped the sake very slow
Kissing in the candleglow
That rainy night in Tokyo
We both got so hungry on the bullet train
Lugging our luggage through the station
Finding a taxi in the pouring rain
We must have made quite a sight
In love on a rainy night
And due for a little celebration
Safe from stormy weather
Together we
Stayed inside our room
Just admiring the typhoon
Heard the cats arrive
Nearly five but we
Were still making love in tune

[Mulboyne]

Bit of everything here.

[Ol Dirty Gaijin]

Kevie Kev (Waterbed Kev) -All Night Long (Waterbed)
Apparently likes Tokyo.

[Screwed-down Hairdo]

Not actually in the lyrics, but just stumbled across this cool video from Shocking Blue, which turned out to be quite shocking, actually...(Not really, but there is lots of "old Japan" footage)

[yanpa]

Not actually in the lyrics, but just stumbled across this cool video from Shocking Blue, which turned out to be quite shocking, actually...

Did you see those sideburns!??

[Screwed-down Hairdo]

[Screwed-down Hairdo]

[dimwit]

Tiny fish for Japan
Stan Rogers

Where Patterson Creek's muddy waters run down
Past the penny arcades, by the harbour downtown,
All the old Turtlebacks rust in the rain
Like they never will leave there again.

But leave there they will in the hours before dawn,
Slip out in the darkness without word or song;
For a few more years yet they will work while they can
To catch tiny fish for Japan.

No white fish or trout here, we leave them alone.
The inspectors raise hell if we take any home.
What kind of fisherman can't eat his catch
Or call what he's taken his own?

But the plant works three shifts now. There's plenty of pay.
We ship seventeen tons of this garbage each day.
If we want to eat fish, then we'll open a can,
And catch tiny fish for Japan.

In the Norfolk Hotel over far too much beer,
The old guys remember when the water ran clear.
No poisons with names that we can't understand
And no tiny fish for Japan

So the days run together. Each one is the same.
And it's good that the smelt have no lovelier name.
It's all just a job now, we'll work while we can,
To catch tiny fish for Japan.
And we'll catch tiny fish for Japan