坂上なち - Turn back time

Now this song... I can't believe it didn't explode her career. It's nachi singing a normal tone; people complain she has a chipmunk voice, that it's just generic wailing. But not here! Shibayan's nu-disco Supernova mini album makes great use of the keyboard and more bass to drive the feeling of ruminating feelings in this song. Ugh ... it's so GOOD.

Hell even the entire CD tells a story:

1. So long
2. SUPERNOVA
3. Turn back time
4. Radiant Future

Or if you listen to the lyrics ...

1. cya loser
2. life is great
3. I immediately regret my decision.jpg
4. maybe the future isn't so bad

As you can tell I love these songs and nachi, so I've elected to do this one first. Also because I can't find it anywhere on the internet so I also bought the CD from Tsutaya in order to grab the lyrics sheet (jajajajajaja).

But anyway, onto the lyrics:

Turn back time
Vocal: nachi (坂上なち）
Lyrics: aya*k
Music: Shibayan

Changelog:
2018-03-27 - Initial release
2018-03-27 - Expanded footnote (2)

2018-04-06 - Amended line 7, 12, 34

Japanese

English

Close my eyes いつも　浮かんでくる あの日 I remember 最後の瞬間 In your face 今も　焼きついてる 悲しい涙が　胸を締め付ける Looking back いつも　輝いてた 笑顔 I remember 大切な時間 Wish you're here 今でも　巻き戻せるならば From my heart 誓うよ I will never let you go その瞳がかすかに翳った　見えない場所でヒビは広がり この胸すり抜けていく欠片を　抱きしめてた 二人で見つけた流れ星　かけた願いだけ信じていた 静かに近づいてくる夜明けが　怖かった * All I want is just to turn back time I'll give you everything I spent on you All I have is just my heart full of you I'll see you everywhere I went with you All I want is just to turn back time I'll beg you every time I think of you All I have is only my love filled with you 二人の歯車　もう壊れないように I want to turn back time I'll give you everything I spent on you All I have is just my heart full of you I'll see you everywhere I went with you All I want is just to turn back time I'll beg you every time I think of you All I have is only my love filled with you 君との時間を　もう一度　始めたい In my heart いつも　願っていた 君と one more time 出会いなおせたら Promise you　今なら　間違えない From my heart 誓うよ I will never let you go その瞳が涙に曇った　言葉にならなかった思いが この胸素通りして消えていった　あの星空 暗くて見えない流れ星　かけた願いまだ叶うのかな 冷たい空気を吸い呟いた　この想い Repeat *

I close my eyes and I can always see it I remember that day, those final moments Everything about your face is burned in (1) Those tears of sadness grip my heart Looking back on that precious time I remember that ever-shining smile (1) I still wish you were here (2), if I could wind it all back I would swear from my heart: "I will never let you go" Those eyes began to darken, out of sight the fractures started to widen as I held onto the pieces of your heart slipping away I put all my faith onto the wish on a shooting star we saw I was afraid of the dawn that was to come * All I want is just to turn back time I would give you everything I spent on you All I have is just my heart full of you I see you everywhere we went together All I want is just to turn back time I beg for it every time I think of you (3) All I have is only my love brimming for you I'll make sure our two gears never break again (4) I want to turn back time I would give you everything I spent on you All I have is just my heart full of you I see you everywhere we went together All I want is just to turn back time I beg for it every time I think of you (3) All I have is only my love brimming for you I want us to spend time together once again (5) I always wished in my heart If I could meet you one more time all over again I would promise you: "From now I will never get it wrong" From my heart I would swear to you: "I will never let you go" Your eyes welled up in tears, all those unvoiced feelings Raced out and up to, disappearing into the starry sky Even if we can't see the shooting star in the black, would my wish still come true? I drank in the cold air and whispered all these feelings Repeat *

Footnotes:
1) I think when faced with intense Japlish like this interpretation is necessary, taking into account the context around it. It feels like perspective in the verses also changes sometimes so it's not always clear in this song.
2) Sometimes the Japlish can use what seems like the wrong tense and so the translation should attempt to integrate the "intent" of the original English words used (as arrogant as that might be). The last line of this verse could also be: I swear from my heart I will never let you go. Keeping the line in the present tense as that's what the main voice is thinking at the moment. Pls japoness why is future and present tense mixed.
3) I think aya*k messed up tenses here too so it's supporting argument that sections that fall under (1) and (2) do require adjusting for interpretation.
4) I would is a great substitute here, as it denotes potential in a way that supports the "If I could achieve ___" nature of the chorus.
5) Sometimes I don't think super romantic lines like this work in English at all, but being an Engineering/Arts major I don't think I'm well read enough to 100% make this call.

I apologize for the formatting if it makes side-by-side comparison incredibly difficult. I decided to use a really rudimentary HTML table and I'm not too clear on how to format it nicely on a blog-width-page. Romaji to be added on request if someone really wants it for singing/learning purposes (most of nachi's stuff isn't in Joysound or UGA so why even tho?).

I hope this has helped someone understand where my translation style comes from and a taste of what I intend to do if I find a song with lyrics I care about (with a lyric sheet to back me up).