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The story
Joou-sama (“Her Majesty”), the alter-ego project by Bakufu Slump guitarist Pappara Kawai that sings word-for-word Japanese translations of Queen’s classic hits, marks its 30th debut anniversary with a full-fledged new album, ‘SHIN Joou-sama Monogatari,’ out September 14. The Japanese lyrics are again handled by fellow Bakufu Slump member Sanplaza Nakano-kun, and this time a joint live show with ‘Ousama’ (“His Majesty”) is also planned. The thread lit up with talk of the group’s relationship with Ousama — known for its own literal covers of Western songs — a debate over whether the syllable count of the English lyrics can really match the length of the Japanese translations, and hidden trivia buried in the lyrics.
Sun, Sep 6, 4:30 PM
Joou-sama, the Japanese-literal-translation rock project led by Bakufu Slump guitarist Pappara Kawai, marks its 30th debut anniversary with the release of a new album, ‘SHIN Joou-sama Monogatari,’ on September 14. This is the first full-scale new release under the Joou-sama name in 30 years.
Joou-sama debuted in 1996. It’s an offbeat project in which Bakufu Slump’s Sanplaza Nakano-kun translates Queen’s classic songs literally into Japanese and Pappara Kawai belts them out — the group put out hits like ‘Joou-sama Monogatari.’
Source: news.yahoo.co.jp / Original article here
What people said
I found out about 3 years ago
Still listen to them sometimes
Not a literal translation, but I often rewatch the video of 'Shitazumi Jidai' ('Years Paying Your Dues'), a Japanese cover of Bon Jovi's 'Livin' on a Prayer'
The fact that they can't even sing English that simple says it all
Though that wasn't a Queen cover
Still touring energetically all across Japan
Just not at big venues
I heard Kawai beat Ousama at mahjong and won the rights to cover Queen
He had Chiaki sing Poke-Bi songs on her YouTube channel, which led to her appearing on the 2023 Kohaku Uta Gassen
She sang 'Yellow Yellow Happy' at Kohaku, but 'POWER' is still my favorite
He himself explained passionately that 'Champion' should really be 'Ozeki' (sumo's second-highest rank), and that 'Yokozuna' would actually correspond to 'Grand Champion'
That was Ousama
If the opening line of Yutaka Ozaki's 'I Love You' were literally 'Ai shiteruzeeee' ('I loooove youuu'), it'd ruin the song. Of course it's hard.
'Ai-shii-teruu'
That actually fits just fine
How are you even supposed to translate that into Japanese and sing it with the same syllable count?
And on top of that, the literal Japanese translation ends up being an awkward, cringe-inducing sentence
The one that got teased on Tamori Club?
Her Star Wars theme cover was pretty shocking too
Can't believe I forgot that one, how careless of me
What are you talking about
That's exactly the kind of thing Joou-sama would sing
So how would you even translate it? It's 6 syllables
Go ahead, translate 'I Was Born To Love You' into 6 Japanese syllables
Why would I be the one translating it
That's Joou-sama's job
Egg Man's probably gone by now (both are Tokyo live-house venues)
Egg Man's still there
'Watashi wa kimi wo aisuru tame ni umareta' — 17 syllables
'Kimi wo aisuru tame ni umareta' — 14 syllables
'Kimi no tame ni umareta' — 10 syllables
No matter how you try, it's just not happening
That longest one fits just fine
Go ahead and try singing it yourself
It's totally doable
Isn't there an 'Ii Onna' ('Fine Woman') act that sings Madonna in Japanese?
It's 'smoke over the lake'
A fire breaks out and the town burns (riffing on Deep Purple's 'Smoke on the Water')
Background and Key Points of This Topic
Joou-sama debuted in 1996 as a novelty unit in which Sanplaza Nakano-kun translates Queen songs literally into Japanese and Pappara Kawai sings them. It’s a separate act from the earlier, similarly literal-translation cover group ‘Ousama’ (which covers Western music in general), and the thread repeatedly saw the two get mixed up or compared. What made news this time was the joint live show between the two acts and the fact that this is Joou-sama’s first full-scale new release in 30 years. Where the thread split was over whether the syllable count of the English lyrics can really match the length of the Japanese translations, with the debate over how to translate ‘I Was Born To Love You’ escalating into an exchange of actual syllable counts. Note that the wordplay around ‘bicycle’ and similar references mentioned in the replies comes from Queen’s original lyrics themselves, not something Joou-sama added.
*This article is compiled from excerpts and a summary of the 5ch (Geinou/Sports News+) thread ‘Pappara Kawai’s Queen-in-Japanese project ‘Joou-sama’ releases first new album in 30 years, ‘I’m back after all this time’ — joint live show with Ousama also announced.’
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