Japan in Rock & Pop Lyrics

[Oradea]

How about Bush, and their song Japanese freight train.

Bush – Japanese Freight Train lyrics


[bonus track, certain versions of Golden State]

Memories of you,
Round my head like a japanese freight train.
Visions of you,
Round my bed like a flower on a maypole.

She had my head full of lovers,
And I can never get enough of you.

I take my medicine,
We all need somewhere to go.
Medicine,
Aafety in your comfort zone.
Safety in...

I do you no wrong.
When you burn you're the dynamite lover.
You're turning me on,
When you think like you do as a livitine.

We are all that matters,
And I can never get enough of you.

I take my medicine,
We all need somewhere to go.
Medicine,
Safety in your comfort zone,
Safety in your comfort zone,
Safety in your comfort zone.

Medicine,
We all need somewhere to go.
Medicine,
Safety in your comfort zone.
Medicine,
Safety in your comfort zone,
Safety in your comfort zone,
Safety in your comfort zone.

[Mulboyne]

"Tokyo" by Danny Saucedo (2007)
Warm and cold
You grab me down, you lift me with your magic
New and old
I know your way but I don't understand it
Steel and stone
A thousand years of history and future
Gold and cone
A lazy beam's creating this illusion

I can leave any day
But you're always gonna stay on my mind

Chorus

Tokyo
- You've got the rhythm in you
High and low
- She's gonna do it to you
Tokyo
- You've got the rhythm in you
High and low
- She's gonna do it to you

Sleepless nights
My eyes are open but I must be dreaming
You and I
We play it cool but underneath we're steaming

You can run you can hide
But this roller-coaster ride never stops

Chorus

She's gonna do it to you
She's gonna do it to you...

Ohh...

I can leave any day
But you're always gonna stay on my mind
And you can run you can hide
But this roller-coaster ride never stops

Chorus x 2

[Mulboyne]

"Nervous Heartbeat" By Momus
Crying, shiku shiku
Reluctantly, shibu shibu
Repeatedly, tabi tabi
Just in time, giri giri
Hara hara, nervous heartbeat
Kira kira, glittering sparkle
Chika chika, the flickering light of the stars
Doki doki, the hammering beat of my heart

I'm messed up, mecha mecha
But you laugh, gera gera
In the lightning, goro goro
And your eyes, pika pika
Kisu kisu by the river
Gusha gusha, that flows so slow
Zaa zaa, in the sound of the pouring rain
Chiku chiku, when will I see you again?

[samuraiwig]

Slight tangent, but good song.

PJ Harvey - Kamikaze

How could that happen?
How could that happen again?
Where the fuck was I looking
When all his horses came in?
And he built an army
Of kamikaze

Ten thousand willing
Pilots flying
Interfacing
Space and beyond
Built an army
To come and find me

Beyond all reason
Beyond all my hopes
The call of duty
Another war zone
(Makes me moan)

Kamikaze
Kamikaze
You can't touch me
Kamikaze

Eight miles high
He walks his path
And I follow mine
One truth for one eye
He's come to find me

Ten thousand willing
Pilots flying
Interfacing
Space and beyond
Here is his army
Space and here we come

Kamikaze
Kamikaze
You don't touch me
Kamikaze

Kamikaze
You don't touch me
Kamikaze
You don't touch me

Space here we come

-----

There's a decent live cover version on You Tube...here.

[Mulboyne]

"Tokyo" by Athlete (2007)
I am Tokyo
I am here
I am blazing lights
on your street.

I'm an upstart
Bound to cross you
I'm the hypocrite
By your side

She won't forget
And I won't forget

And no one around could tell us apart
Cause we want out something
and where something heart

I am Tokyo
I am here
I am neon signs
on your street

I'm an army
of winter vines
Marching over your countryside

And she won't forget
And I won't forget

And no one around could tell us apart
Cause we ruined something
And where something heart.

There's never enough time
Only, only
glove off, something bridge.

Pin prick to the heart
Can it go
I meant every spark

And no one around could tell us apart
Cause we ruined something
And where something heart.

We're burning thru town
Like there's nothing to lose
Cause we something
something by heart... oh!

[Taro Toporific]

Here's Athlete busking the song "Tokyo" in front of the Design Museum on the Thames riverside in aid of "Crisis" at noontime November 15, 2006.

"Tokyo" by Athlete (2007)
I am Tokyo
I am here
I am blazing lights
on your street.

I'm an upstart
Bound to cross you
I'm the hypocrite
By your side

She won't forget
And I won't forget

And no one around could tell us apart
Cause we want out something
and where something heart

I am Tokyo
I am here
I am neon signs
on your street

I'm an army
of winter vines
Marching over your countryside

And she won't forget
And I won't forget

And no one around could tell us apart
Cause we ruined something
And where something heart.

There's never enough time
Only, only
glove off, something bridge.

Pin prick to the heart
Can it go
I meant every spark

And no one around could tell us apart
Cause we ruined something
And where something heart.

We're burning thru town
Like there's nothing to lose
Cause we something
something by heart... oh!

Credit for photo: sparkie wallis on flickr

[halfnip]

Come on.. Where are all my hip-hop heads?

Fort Minor - "Kenji"

--

My father came from Japan in 1905
He was 15 when he immigrated from Japan
He, he... he worked until he was able to buy this patch
And build a store

Let me tell you the story in the form of a dream,
I don't know why I have to tell it but I know what it means,
Close your eyes, just picture the scene,
As I paint it for you, it was World War II,
When this man named Kenji woke up,
Ken was not a soldier,
He was just a man with a family who owned a store in LA,
That day, he crawled out of bed like he always did,
Bacon and eggs with wife and kids,
He lived on the second floor of a little store he ran,
He moved to LA from Japan,
They called him 'Immigrant,'
In Japanese, he'd say he was called "Esay,"
That meant 'First Generation In The United States,'
When everyone was afraid of the Germans, afraid of the Japs,
But most of all afraid of a homeland attack,
And that morning when Ken went out on the doormat,
His world went black 'cause,
Right there; front page news,
Three weeks before 1942,
"Pearl Harbour's Been Bombed And The Japs Are Comin',"
Pictures of soldiers dyin' and runnin',
Ken knew what it would lead to,
Just like he guessed, the President said,
"The evil Japanese in our home country will be locked away,"
They gave Ken, a couple of days,
To get his whole life packed in two bags,
Just two bags, couldn't even pack his clothes,
Some folks didn't even have a suitcase, to pack anything in,
So two trash bags was all they gave them,
When the kids asked mum "Where are we goin'?"
Nobody even knew what to say to them,
Ken didn't wanna lie, he said "The US is lookin' for spies,
So we have to live in a place called Mandinar,
Where a lot of Japanese people are,"
Stop it don't look at the gunmen,
You don't wanna get the soldiers wonderin',
If you gonna run or not,
'Cause if you run then you might get shot,
Other than that try not to think about it,
Try not to worry 'bout it; bein' so crowded,
Someday we'll get out, someday, someday.

As soon as war broke out
The G.I came and they just come to the house and
"You have to come"
"All the Japanese have to go"
They took Mr. Lee
People didn't understand
Why did they have to take him?
Because he's an innocent (neighbour/labourer?)

So now they're in a town with soldiers surroundin' them,
Every day, every night look down at them,
From watch towers up on the wall,
Ken couldn't really hate them at all;
They were just doin' their job and,
He wasn't gonna make any problems,
He had a little garden with vegetables and fruits that,
He gave to the troops in a basket his wife made,
But in the back of his mind, he wanted his families life saved,
Prisoners of war in their own damn country,
What for?
Time passed in the prison town,
He wanted them to live it down when they were free,
The only way out was joinin' the army,
And supposedly, some men went out for the army, signed on,
And ended up flyin' to Japan with a bomb,
That 15 kilotonne blast, put an end to the war pretty fast,
Two cities were blown to bits; the end of the war came quick,
Ken got out, big hopes of a normal life, with his kids and his wife,
But, when they got back to their home,
What they saw made them feel so alone,
These people had trashed every room,
Smashed in the windows and bashed in the doors,
Written on the walls and the floor,
"Japs not welcome anymore."
And Kenji dropped both of his bags at his sides and just stood outside,
He, looked at his wife without words to say,
She looked back at him wiped the tears away,
And, said "Someday we'll be okay, someday,"
Now the names have been changed, but the story's true,
My family was locked up back in '42,
My family was there it was dark and damp,
And they called it an internment camp

When we first got back from camp... uhh
It was... pretty... pretty bad

I, I remember my husband said
"Are we gonna stay 'til last?"
Then my husband died before they closed the camp.

--

Jay-Z featuring Foxy Brown - "Sunshine"

--

Who be, in a Japanese restaurant, eating sushi
Drinking saki, it's me, and my mami with the doobie
Cutie, smellin like Tiaka, half-Phillipine thing
For now, let's call her Suki, got me this booty bangin
Properly, in Versace pants, cocky bow-legged stance
A thing of beauty, watch me, body crazy
Tits Firm like Nature, Foxy, Nas and AZ
Truly reason to bug the toolie and keep laced in jewelry watch me
Girlie tried to lure me and lock me you gotta get up early
Cause who's gettin played is not me
"Surely you jest," she said, "if you thought I was purely
out for the bucks you woulda bucked stuck and dropped me"
I said maturely, "You right
but better safe than sorry, but for the lovebirds
can move to the suburbs, I need to double check your story
To make sure that you one of a kind
And you deserve to be my Sunshine"

--

[Mulboyne]

"Bought For A Song" By Fountains of Wayne

Come on, now get your ass out of bed
You heard what the man said
The crew is already gone
We were all kinda high, but man what were you on?

Tried to take a shuttle to Spain
They kicked me off the plane
I guess I'll go to Japan
It all looks the same when you stump for the man

And down in the valley we crawl in the alley
Who knew the 101 was so long?
Before you get sold, you get bought for a song

Sake in aluminum cans
It fell in the wrong hands
And now we're chewing the scene
Stumbling out of the Lexington Queen

Walking through a German hotel
And not walking very well
I gotta get to the van
Excuse me, I'm weaving as fast as I can

And Tom won't admit he got lost in the city
He's saying that the directions are wrong
Before you get sold, you get bought for a song

[Mulboyne]

"Too Much Blood" by The Rolling Stones
I want to dance, I want to sing
I want to bust up everything
To make some love
I want to dance, I want to sing
I want to bust up everything
And make some love
I can feel it in the air
Feel it up above
Feel the tension everywhere
There is too much blood
Too much blood, well alright
Everything you see
On the movie screen is tame
Everything's gonna be arranged
A friend of mine was this Japanese. He had a girlfriend in
Paris. He tried to date her in six months and eventually she
said yes. You know he took her to his apartment, cut off her
head. Put the rest of her body in the refrigerator, ate her
piece by piece. Put her in the refrigerator, put her in the
freezer. And when he ate her and took her bones to the Bois de
Boulogne, by chance a taxi driver noticed him burying the
bones. You don't believe me? Truth is stranger than fiction.
We drive through there every day.
I want to dance, I want to sing
I want to bust up everything
Be number one, yeah
I want to dance, I want to sing
I want to bust up everything
And have some fun
I can feel it everywhere
Feel it up above
Feel the tension in the air
There is too much blood, too much blood
Too much, yeah too much blood, alright etc etc

[Mulboyne]

"Mer Du Japon" by Air (2007)

(I lost my mind)
Dans la mer du Japon
(in the sea of Japan)

J'en perds la raison
Dans la mer du Japon

[Mulboyne]

"Let's Go! Tokyo Tokyo" by Philippine band Imago.

The most recent proof of the band’s growing popularity is also being seen on TV: Imago as the new endorser of the fastfood restaurant Tokyo Tokyo. The company’s management reportedly expressed interest in the band after hearing “Taralets”―slightly reminiscent of Japanese pop tunes. Imago was commissioned to write a song and shoot a video for the food chain. The song (“Let’s Go! Tokyo Tokyo!”) is made more memorable by video director Marie Jamora’s treatment that utilized lots of bright colors―a nod to Japanese youth fashion.

From here

[Mulboyne]

"Sony" by Big Audio Dynamite (1985)
On the 100th floor
Dream team life enhancing
Behind the 100th door
Sukiyaki carried me to this place
have to hari kari if ever i lose face

Western girls at Lexington Queen
Are the prettiest girls I ever seen
I`d gladly part with hard earned Yen
Just so I could be with them

Chainsmoking at the Singalong Bar
Wedged into the Subway Car
Heat up some more rice wine
Somebody just jumped on the line

Robots have run amok on the factory floor
`Bin 20 years at Sony and I can see 20 more
Hi-tech sex, wireless sets, samurai
Western ways, baseball games, apple pie

Though some will say we imitate
Produce the goods at a cheaper rate
Faster too reduced in size
Our ingenuitys` realised

I had to grab a massage cab
I left my briefcase at the lab
Godzilla ate the bullet train
Wont see Kyoto ever again

Now Papa jumped the gun back in `41
Following the flag of the rising sun
When Tojo did the Mojo
he was downed in flames
U.S. Destroyer - Kamikaze planes

The West don`t learn from history
Doomed to repeat it endlessly
We put the past on to Fuji
Then we erase it totally - Yeah!

Soon we`ll be known as Great Japan
Just like they do in Great Britain
Spelt microchip and solid state
The things that made this country great

[Mulboyne]

Coldplay's new single "Lovers in Japan" even has its own wiki. It hasn't been officially released yet but it did appear on TV show "Grey's Anatomy" so fans already know the song. YouTube videos have appeared but record label EMI is active in getting them removed for now. Here's Chris Martin on the song:

"No one associates romance with Japan," says Martin of the song that most resembles the familiar wistful Coldplay style. "Everyone thinks Japan is just about Hitachi and neon signs, but every time we're there, we see these amazing sunrises. It's very sexy."

And here are the lyrics:

Lovers, keep on the road you're on
Runners until the race is run
Soldiers, you've got to soldier on
Sometimes even the right is wrong

They are turning my head out
To see what I'm all about
Keeping my head down
To see what it feels like now
But I have no doubt
One day we're gonna get out

Tonight maybe we're gonna run
Dreaming of the Osaka sun
Ohhhh ohh ohh
Dreaming of when the morning comes

They are turning my head out
To see what I'm all about
Keeping my head down
To see what it feels like now
But i have no doubt
One day the sun will come out

[Mulboyne]

Here's that Coldplay song (not the official video):

[Mulboyne]

Fan-made video

Slightly related to this thread is the INXS song "Hot Girls" which features a girl giving the come-on in Japanese. In the first few seconds she asks "Hot girls wa ikaga?" Forty seconds in, she starts off with a "Nee, gaijin-san..." which ought to get your attention. She pops back around 1:46 and I can save you the trouble of listening to the rest of the song for more because that's it.

[Mulboyne]

"Mera Joota Hai Japani" ("My Shoes are Japanese)
My shoes are Japanese
The pants are from England
The red hat on my head is Russian
But even then, my heart is Indian etc etc

[Mulboyne]

The Guardian has an article on a similar theme to this thread:

Nine dodgy Japanese shout-outs

What's the best way to learn about Japanese culture? Historians, artists and egghead cultural commentators generally agree that the only true way to understand the place is to listen to the songs of Daphne & Celeste. Ok, so I might have got that wrong, but just in case, here's my list of the best shout-outs to Japan in popular song...more...

His rules are slightly different but he's spotted a couple that ought to have appeared here before - Belle & Sebastian's "I'm a Cuckoo" has this chorus:

I'd rather be in Tokyo
I'd rather listen to Thin Lizzy-oh
And watch the Sunday gang in Harajuku
There's something wrong with me, I'm a cuckoo



The Weezer song "Across The Sea" warrants a cross posting in the Japanese Spouses thread because it's about Cuomo's love affair with the girl he married:

You are 18 year old girl who live in small city in Japan.
You heard me,
on the radio.
About one year ago and you wanted to know,
all about me,
and my hobbies.
My favorite food and my birthday

Why are you so far away from me?
I need help and you're way across the sea
I could never touch you - I think it would be wrong
I've got your letter
you've got my song...more...



The Beastie Boys "Intergalactic" isn't about Japan but the video is a kaiju homage. Someone has probably posted it before somewhere else but here it is again:

[Charles]

Now with YouTube, I thought it was time to revisit one of my old favorites, see if maybe I could find a video of The Tubes infamous "Sushi Girl." And oh I hit the jackpot. I've seen another music video of this song, but I never knew THIS one existed. Holy shit, this perfectly captures the total fucking anarchy of a Tubes performance.
So here you go, tentacle porn AND female mud wrestling, who could ever want more?

[Mulboyne]

[Mulboyne]

The video above only gives you an idea of the song. There'll probably be a better one along shortly.

And here it is:

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[Mulboyne]

Here's a cover version of Aneka's song "Japanese Boy" by De Strangers. Called "Japanneezaffaire", it's apparently sung in the Antwerp dialect. You might have to ask Tsuru if you want to know any more.

[Mulboyne]

[omae mona]

I feel I must follow up Mulboyne's post with the song that made Keyboard Cathy famous:

[Mulboyne]

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This one scores very highly in the cheesy lyrics stakes. I can't find a copy of them to paste so, if you can be bothered, you'll just have to listen to it.

[Taro Toporific]

This one [This Is Japan] scores very highly in the cheesy lyrics stakes. I can't find a copy of them to paste so, if you can be bothered, you'll just have to listen to it.

"Rice wine can make you happy,
Its the kind of thing that makes you feel closer to home,
But when the lights are bright and your head is spinning,
On a cold dark Tokyo street-you're alone in Japan"

The album's best track- "This Is Japan" with its catchy New Wave pop trappings, cheeky lyrics and faux-Asian guitar riffs predates the Vapors big hit "Turning Japanese" by at least a year.

[Mulboyne]

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"Yellow Fever" by Levelload

[Mulboyne]

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"Hiroshima" by Sandra

there's a shadow of a man at hiroshima
where he passed the moon
in a wonderland at hiroshima
where he died soon
and the world remembers his face
remembers the place was here

fly the little bird to hiroshima
and the way a load
speak a magic word to hiroshima
let the sky explode
and the world remembers his name
remembers the flame was hiroshima

and the world remembers his name
remembers the flame was
hiroshima, hiroshima, hiroshima ...

[Mulboyne]

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Beach Boys - "Somewhere near Japan"

Late last night I got an S. O. S.
The fairy tale girl's in deep distress
She says I don't know where I am
But it's near Japan

My engine's all burned out
My crew has all bailed out
I don't know where I am
But it's somewhere near Japan

And she said
"Rescue me"
I'm somewhere in the
China Sea
I think I'm sinkin' fast
This call is probably my last
I'm throwin' out a life line
And I'm doin' it for old time's sake
Though I know you're gonna break my heart
One more time

Late last night I got an S. O. S.
The fairy tale girl's in deep distress
She says I don't know where I am
But it's near Japan

My engine's all burned out
My crew has all bailed out
I don't know where I am
But it's somewhere near Japan

And she said "thank you dear"
I think she sounded quite sincere
And when she turned to go
She said "I crave adventure don't you know"

And now she's driftin' on some Chinese junk
Her world is spinning and her hope has sunk
So I close my eyes
And somewhere near Japan
The spinning stopped and the world stood still
I broke her fall and I always will
Strung out in no man's land
Somewhere near Japan
Rescue me

[Mulboyne]

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Two from Nick Lowe which have been mentioned earlier in the thread: "Gaijin Man" and "Geisha Girl". These aren't official videos but the guy who made them has put together montages to match the lyrics

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[sublight]

Queen: Teo Toriatte