Japanese songs and KTV

[carlo]

I've been learning Japanese on and off for some time now. Do you have any Japanese songs you like and/or sing at karaoke? What are your favourites?

Recently I tried to learn 3月9日 and 粉雪, both by Remioromen (レミオロメン). There is also 明日があるさ, the ウルフルズ version, which is easier and kind of matches my mood lately.

粉雪

3月9日

明日があるさ

[Glenn]

If you're going to learn some ウルフルズ song, you have to learn バンザイ. It's great, and a classic. I liked 明日があるさ too, and

is a good one (the video's hilarious). And if you're into 関西弁, ええねん.

And then a bit of a different style: Velonica by Aqua Timez. That one's a bit heavy, and the lyrics go by fast. Then there's the sort of classic 80s power ballad

. And for some punk type stuff Does's 曇天 and 修羅. For rap there's Heroes Come Back by Nobodyknows+, which I enjoyed hearing, but the video really adds to the experience.

Of course, I'm not sure how often these are actually sung in karaoke. Heh, there's always the classic 残酷な天使のテーゼ. Yeah, most of the Japanese music I know I've learned through anime (or dramas, but less of those).

And to get the lyrics just go to Google, type in the song title and 歌詞, and you should get a fair number of hits.

[zening]

I like songs such as Jupiter, First love etc.

明日があるさ is great, too.

[carlo]

Thanks for the suggestions! It's a bit annoying that so many video sites outside of China are blocked, but I managed to find most of the songs somewhere. Next time I go to a Chinese KTV (it's been a while) I'll see if I can find any.

[xiaocai]

Cocco - 遺書

椎名林檎 - りんごのうた

種ともこ - The Rainbow Song～虹の女神～

..and 美空ひばり - 川の流れのように

Well not really suitable for guys unless you have a girl's range, but I think many karaoke machines allow you to adjust the key?

[carlo]

Well not really suitable for guys unless you have a girl's range

It's ok, I can sing along two octaves down. Wow, Ringo. It must have taken five years to shoot that video.

[xiaocai]

Two octaves? you must be a bass then.

[Glenn]

Yeah, I found that a bit much too. I take them down one when I'm not trying to kill myself. When I am I try to match it.

[xiaocai]

Whoa, I know that Ringo is not a soprano but she can still sing up to D5 (probably even higher) without too much effort (i.e. using chest register)... It would be quite amazing to me if any guy can do that, even it sounds like you are killing yourself.

[carlo]

Maybe a baritone could just about pull it off. I admit that a 5th down would be easier...

I'm not a huge fan of Ken Hirai but 瞳をとじて is nice.

[Glenn]

I can do D5 fairly comfortably in falsetto (587.33 Hz, right?). Power is an issue, though. And control and tone are really an issue up there. I normally don't try to strain my voice too much, but then again, I normally don't sing in front of people either.

[skylee]

I like Ken Hirai ...

[xiaocai]

I seriously think we should hold a "Chinese-forums Idol" or something like that now.

[Glenn]

我很怕了。

At least I'm saved by not having a camera or recording equipment. haha

[carlo]

If you like going where no man has gone before, Tears by X-Japan is not bad. Try this after "Show Must Go On" and "死了都有爱".

For 合唱 I found 恋人に射ち堕とされた日 by Sound Horizon.

Yet I haven't been able to stop saying はたらく私に名附けてください for days now, great song.

[xiaocai]

Oh, I really like Sound Horizon's

, but it is a bit too hard to me to follow though...

At least I'm saved by not having a camera or recording equipment. haha

I don't think it would be too hard to find one if you really want, even my 4 year old mobile phone has voice recorder~ ;)

[Glenn]

I don't really want. And my 3-year-old phone doesn't have anything like that.

[bhchao]

I like these Japanese songs by Teresa Teng. The songwriter 三木たかし (Miki Takashi) wrote the melody for these songs:

恋人たちの神話

つぐない

別れの予感

悲しみと躍らせて

I have the album recordings for most of these. Her live performances sound better than the album recording.

[Glenn]

The end of that last one should be 任せ (まかせ). Don't know why it got cut off...