Japanese lyrics

Michael P Dawson

While on vacation in San Diego last week I found a Japanese single of Skip Softly (My Moonbeams) / Rambling On.  Some of you may be familiar with the Japanese practice of including lyrics in all records, often transcribed by ear by someone who has a very imperfect grasp of the language the record is sung in.  The lyrics to Skip Softly, as printed inside the disc's cover insert, provide a good example.  I present them here in their entirety, exactly as printed ... they start out fairly accurate but quickly get *strange*:

Skip softly my moon beams
Avoid being seen
Pretend that perhaps you were part of a dream
Which seen by some others
So passionate like me
Would only go smiling
Not out of grief
For I have a tail
That stares up to heaven
Reach straight down to hell
And I cried to the last thing
But you can't become to know it
I soon talked to you
And I'm gone to a wall

(Click here for authentic song words)

The transcribed lyrics to Rambling On also include a few amusing lines, such as 'showing a bad man's movie', 'the sawdust in my pencil', and 'Luckly [sic], I broke no bonds only two of my underclothes.'

The foldout cover insert of the disc features the same front cover artwork as the American Shine On Brightly LP, with the song title printed in yellow in very elegantly wrought Japanese ideograms.  The interior features the same design as the interior of the album's gatefold.  The back cover is taken up with an essay in Japanese.

I've been a collector of Procol picture sleeves such as this one for many years.  A few examples can be viewed on my web site if you are interested ... just visit the Collectors' Corner section.

More Japanese stuff