My Pretty Love Story(わが麗しき恋物語 Waga Uruwashiki Koi Monogatari) by Kumiko(クミコ)

歌名: わが麗しき恋物語

唄: クミコ

作詞: 覚和歌子

作曲: Barbara

発売日: 2006

レコード会社: avex io

あたしは十九で　町でも噂の　ちょっとした不良で

わりかし美人の　部類だったから　ちやほやされたわよ

眉をひそめてる　大人を尻目に　ずいぶん遊びもしたわ

人生って　何て　ちょろいもんだって　冷めたまなざしで

あなたがあたしを　好きといったとき　思わず笑ったわ

あんまり真面目で　こちこちになって　ふるえてさえいたでしょう

そんな男って　見たことなかった　それで　あたしもふるえた

人生って　何て　奇妙で素敵って　少しだけ泣いた

安いアパート　暗い部屋　景気の悪い時代だった

へらないジョーク　言い合って　ふたり笑えば　しあわせで

五年がたったら　あたしはやめてた　煙草をまたはじめ

あなたの浮気が　七回目　数え　あたしも三回目

視線をそらして　会話も減ったけど　どこでもそんなものでしょ

人生って　そうよ　退屈だったって　思い出しながら

さもない毎日　半年が過ぎた　その日は止まない雨

聞いたこともない　病気の名前が　あなたのくちびるから

あたしは壊れた　空缶みたいに　口を開けていただけ

人生って　何て　意味が不明なの　いなくなるの　あなた

白い煙が　昇った日　空はどこまで　よく晴れて

あたしは泣いた　自分でも　疑うくらい　大声で

愛だったかなんて　誰もわからない　教えてほしくない

とっくに忘れた　昔の日のこと　時々浮かぶけれど

ほほ笑みが少し　混じっているなら　それでいいと言うわ

人生って　何て　愚かなものなの　あとになってわかる

人生って　何て　愚かなものなの　みんなあとで気づく

Utamei: Waga Uruwashiki Koi Monogatari
Uta: Kumiko
Kashi: Kaku Wakako
Sakkyoku: Barbara
Hatsubaibi: 2006
Reko-do gaisha: avex io

Atashiwa jūkude machidemo uwasano chottoshita furyōde
Warikashi bijin'no buruidatakara chiyahoya saretawayo
Mayuwo hisometeru otonawo shirimeni zuibun asobimoshitawa
Jinseitte nante choroimon datte sameta manazashide

Anataga atashiwo sukito itta toki omowazu warattawa
Anmari majimede kochikochininatte furuetesae itadeshō
Son'na otokotte mitakotonakatta sorede atashimo furueta
Jinseitte nante kimyōde sutekitte sukoshidake naita

Yasui apāto kurai heya keikino warui jidaidatta
Heranai jōku i'iatte futari waraeba shiawasede

Gonenga tattara atashiwa yameteta tabakowo mata hajime
Anatano uwakiga nanakaime kazoe atashimo sankaime
Shisenwo sorashite kaiwamo hettakedo dokodemo son'na monodesho
Jinseitte sōyo taikutsudattatte omoidashinagara

Samonai mainichi hantoshiga sugita sono hiwa tomaranai ame
Ki'ita kotomonai byōkino namaega anatano kuchibirukara
Atashiwa kowareta akikanmitaini kuchiwo aketeitadake
Jinseitte nan'te imiga fumeinano inakunaruno anata

Shiroi kemuriga nobotta hi sorawa dokomade yoku harete
Atashiwa naita jibundemo utagaukurai ōgoede

Aidattakanante daremo wakaranai oshietehoshikunai
Tokkuni wasureta mukashino hino koto tokidoki ukabukeredo
Hohoemiga sukoshi majitte irunara soredei'ito iuwa
Jinseitte nante orokana mononano atoninatte wakaru
Jinseitte nante orokana mononano min'na atode kidzuku

Song Name: My Pretty Love Story

Singer: Kumiko

Lyrics: Kaku Wakako

Composer: Barbara

Release Date: 2006

Record Label: avex io

I was nineteen, known around the town as a slightly bad girl

Because I was a bit pretty, I was pampered

I gave the adults who raised their eyebrows a contemptuous look and played around quite a bit

Life is so easy, I believed, watching with a know-it-all eye

When you told me that you liked me, I burst out laughing

You were so serious, stiff, and even shivering

I've never seen a man like that, and I also shivered

Life is so weird and wonderful, I believe, and I cried a little

A cheap apartment, a dark room, the economy was bad

Never-ending jokes we told each other, when we both laughed we were both happy

Fiver years had passed, the smoking habit which I had quit I started again

You had an affair seven times, me three times

We avoid looking at each other and talk much less, but isn't it like this everywhere

Life is, yes, boring, I had recalled

Day after day, half a year had passed, the rain didn't stop that day

The name of a disease I had not heard of before, from your lips

I broke down, my mouth left open like an empty can

Life is without an understood meaning, you are going to go away

The day the white smoke climbed, the sky was clear everywhere

I cried, so loud even I could hardly believe

Was it love, no one knows, I don't want anyone to tell me

The days from the past I had forgotten, sometimes comes back

If there's a little bit of laughter mixed inside, I'll consider that to be just fine

Life is so foolish, I understand afterwards

Life is so foolish, everyone realizes afterwards

Please click the above picture to purchase the CD including a recording of this song from Amazon.com.

Hiroi Kawano Kishibe ~The Water is Wide~(広い河の岸辺 ～The Water Is Wide～) by Kumiko(クミコ)

歌名: 広い河の岸辺 ～The Water Is Wide～

唄: クミコ

作詞: スコットランド民謡

訳詞: 八木倫明

作曲: スコットランド民謡

編曲: 栗山和樹

発売日: 2014年07月23日

レコード会社: 日本コロムビア

河は広く　渡れない

飛んで行く　翼もない

もしも小船が　あるならば

漕ぎ出そう　ふたりで

愛の始まりは　美しく

優しく　花のよう

時の流れに　色褪せて

朝露と　消えていく

ふたりの船は　沈みかける

愛の重さに　耐えきれず

沈み方も　泳ぎ方も

知らない　このわたし

河は広く　渡れない

飛んで行く　翼もない

もしも小船が　あるならば

漕ぎ出そう　ふたりで

もしも小船が　あるならば

漕ぎ出そう　ふたりで

Utamei: Hiroi Kawano Kishibe ~The Water is Wide~

Uta: Kumiko

Kashi: Sukottorando min'yō

Yakushi: Yagi Rimmei

Sakkyoku: Sukottorando min'yō

Henkyoku: Kuriyama Kazuki

Hatsubaibi: 7/23/2014

Reko-do gaisha: Nippon Coromubia

Kawawa hiroku watarenai

Tonde yuku tsubasamo nai

Moshimo kobunega arunaraba

Kogidasō futaride

Aino hajimariwa utsukushiku

Yasashiku hanano yō

Tokino nagareni iro asete

Asatsuyuto kiete yuku

Futarino funewa shizumikakeru

Aino omosani taekirezu

Shizumikatamo oyogikatamo

Shiranai kono watashi

Kawawa hiroku watarenai

Tonde yuku tsubasamo nai

Moshimo kobunega aru naraba

Kogidasō futaride

Moshimo kobunega aru naraba

Kogidasō futaride

Song Name: Hiroi Kawano Kishibe ~The Water is Wide~

Singer: Kumiko

Lyrics: Scotland folk song

Translated lyrics: Yagi Rimmei

Composer: Scotland folk song

Arrangement: Kuriyama Kazuki

Release Date: 7/23/2014

Record Label: Nippon Columbia Co., Ltd.

The river is wide and can't be crossed

I don't have wings to fly over either

If there is a small boat

Let's start rowing, both of us

The beginning of love is beautiful

Kind and like a flower

The flow of time faded the colors

With the morning dew, they fade away

Our boat starts to sink

Unable to stand the weight of our love

How to sink, how to swim

I don't know either

The river is wide and can't be crossed

I don't have wings to fly over either

If there is a small boat

Let's start rowing, both of us

If there is a small boat

Let's start rowing, both of us

Please click the above picture to purchase the CD including a recording of this song from Amazon.com.

Kumiko(クミコ)

Kumiko(クミコ) graduated from Waseda University (早稲田大学 Waseda Daigaku) with a degree in education. She attended Waseda wanting to become an act on stage. While performing a play in the style of the theater of the absurd, she was required to sing and she loved it so much that she decided to go into music instead. Before graduation, a friend invited her to join a band as a pianist. The friend later left the band, and she filled in for the friend's vocal section.

In 1978, she entered the Yamaha Popular Song Contest and won through the preliminary rounds even though she had forgotten the lyrics at one point. She then entered the World Popular Song Festival, an international competition also organized by Yamaha Music Foundation, as one of the representatives for Japan, but didn't get past the preliminary rounds.

She spent the next few years living in a small place supported by a small number of enthusiastic fans.

In the early eighties, she performed mostly as a chanson singer, made her professional debut on stage, recorded the Japanese version of Les Miserable as a part of an ensemble, and performed at Shibuya Jean-Jean (渋谷ジァン・ジァン Shibuya jan-jan).

Taking lyricist Matsumoto Takashi(松本隆)'s suggestion, she dropped her former husband's last name and started releasing her works using just her first name, Kumiko. Her name became a household name as a result of her "AURA" album released in 2000 and her single "My Pretty Love Story(わが麗しき恋物語 Waga Uruwashiki Koimonogatari)" released in 2003.

Her 2010 single "Prayer(INORI〜祈り〜)" reached the top of the Usen chart.

In 2011, she was rehearsing in the underground floor of the people's hall at Ishinomaki City in Miyagi Prefecture when the Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami approached. She survived by rushing out into the nearby mountains, but lost all equipment, and she went back to Tokyo without anything she had brought along.

This blog post translates information from the Wikipedia article クミコ which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0.