jeudi 10 mai 2018

Can you celebrate ? (Eng)

Record-breaking song and a signature of the Japanese star Amuro Namie, here is one of  the most popular J-Pop love songs during wedding parties in Japan. Even if it was not a particularly good souvenir for its first performer...

Can you celebrate ?

Wedding night


1st publication : 10/05/2018
Last updated: 10/05/2018



Story


7th single of Amuro Namie (安室 奈美恵) by Avex, this song is written and composed like many other big hits of that time by the producer and musician Komuro Tetsuya (TM Network, Globe...). Theme song of the drama Virgin Road, it is released on Feb. the 19th 1997 and ranks 1st in the Orican weekly chart, selling over 2.2 millions units, a record for a solo songstress ! It stays in the charts during 40 weeks (top 100) and becomes the 14th most sold song in Japan ever (ranking 1st of that year).
For Amuro Namie, just 20, it is of course a huge success, while she already owns 4 other n°1 tracks. She was indeed a precocious gifted girl in danse and vocal. No, the point that makes this love song, whose MV takes place partly in a church, special to Namie, is her simultaneous love story and sudden wedding with Sam, the dancer of TRF
She consequently takes a several months long break for her coming baby, after performing this song at the Kouhaku 1997. And she performs it again when she returns in the New Year's Eve show of the NHK in 1998, full of emotion in front of the warm welcome she receives.
Adding the fact that Namie is a true idol for numerous young Japanese girls, Can you celebrate ? becomes then an emblem of the weddings of that time (and of the karaoke) !

Kouhaku 1998 (screenshot)
However she can't be said lucky with this song : Namie feels quickly displeased and gets separated as soon as 2000, then divorces in 2002.
Anyway, she will self-cover this song in 2014 in a less dynamic version, more mature and maybe ironic, for the best of Ballada, accompanied by the famous violonist Hakase Tarô (葉加瀬太郎). Moreover she appears in a wedding dress in the new PV, maybe to laugh at the destiny (and her ex ?). The song speaks indeed too about all the disappointed loves encountered before the "true love".
It is the most sung version in the karaoke nowadays.

Music Video

Amuro Namie, ballad version self-cover, 2014 :


Lyrics and romaji

Source: M-on Karaoke ranking. In brackets, lyrics exclusively by the choirs. 

Can you celebrate ? Can you kiss me tonight ?
Can you celebrate ? Can you kiss me tonight ?
We will love long long time
We will love long long time
永遠ていう言葉なんて 知らなかったよね
Eien te iu kotoba nante, shiranakatta yo ne

(Can you celebrate ? Can you kiss me tonight ?)
Can you celebrate ? Can you kiss me tonight ?
(We will love long long time)
We will love long long time
二人きりだね 今夜からは少し照れるよね
Futarikiri da ne, kon'ya kara wa sukoshi tereru yo ne

Lalala… Lalala…
Lalala… Lalala…

永く… 永く… いつも見守っていてくれる誰かを
Nagaku... Nagaku... Itsumo, mimamotteitekureru dareka wo
探して見つけて 失ってまた探して
Sagashite, mitsukete, ushinatte, mata sagashite~

遠かった怖かったでも 時に素晴らしい
Tookatta, kowakatta demo toki ni subarashii
夜もあった 笑顔もあった どうしようもない 風に吹かれて
Yoru mo atta, egao mo atta, dou shiyou mo nai kaze ni fukarete
生きてる今 これでもまだ 悪くはないよね
Ikiteru ima, kore demo mada waruku wa nai yo ne~

Lalala… Lalala…
Lalala… Lalala…


甘く切ない 若くて幼い 愛情ふり返れば
Amaku setsunai, wakakute osanai, aijou furikaereba 
けっこう可愛いね
Kekkou kawaii ne~

間違いだらけの道順 なにかに逆らって走った
Machigai darake no michijun, nanika ni sakaratte hashitta
誰かが 教えてくれた
Dareka ga oshietekureta

(Can you celebrate ? Can you kiss me tonight ?)
Can you celebrate ? Can you kiss me tonight ?
(We will love long long time)
We will love long long time
Wooo… 想い出から ほんの少し 抜け出せずに
Wooo... Omoide kara honno sukoshi nukedasezuni
たたずんでる 訳もなくて 涙あふれ 笑顔こぼれてる
Tatazunderu wake mo nakute , namida afure egao koboreteru

(Can you hold me tight? Let's a party time tonight*)
(Say good bye my lonely heart)
永遠ていう言葉なんて 知らなかったよね
Eien te iu kotoba nante shiranakatta yo ne
(Say hello forever)

Can you celebrate ? Can you kiss me tonight ?
Can you celebrate ? Can you kiss me tonight ?
We will love (long long time)
We will love... 
二人きりだね 今夜からはどうぞよろしくね
Futarikiri da ne, kon'ya kara wa douzo yoroshiku ne

Can you celebrate ? Can you kiss me tonight ?
Can you celebrate ? Can you kiss me tonight ?
I can celebrate...
I can celebrate...

Personal Translation

An interesting point for me, many lyrics are originally in English. 😉



Can you celebrate? Can you kiss me tonight ?
We will love long, long time
"Eternity": I didn't know such a word !

Can you celebrate? Can you kiss me tonight ?
We will love long long time
Tonight, you and me all alone from now on, I am feeling a bit nervous.

Lalala… Lalala…
Lalala… Lalala…

It took a long... long time ... Always being looking for someone who could take care of me
To find him, to lost him, to look for him again...

Even if it was long, sometimes frightening,
There were some wonderful evenings, smiles too, all helplessly swept by the wind.
Despite this, there is no evil in living for today

Lalala… Lalala…
Lalala… Lalala…

Tender and painful, young and childish; if we love someone back,
that's very cute, right.

I was running opposite to something, always losing my direction
That's what someone taught me

Can you celebrate ? Can you kiss me tonight ?
We will love long, long time.

Wooo… Unable to withdraw anything from these memories,
Yet without reason to stay stuck, my tears fall, my smile faints.

(Can you hold me tight ? Let's a party time tonight*)
(Say good bye my lonely heart)
"Eternity": I didn't know such a word !
(Say hello forever)

Can you celebrate ? Can you kiss me tonight ?
We will love (long long time)
Tonight, you and me all alone from now on, I put my faith in you.

Can you celebrate ? Can you kiss me tonight ?
I can celebrate...

Notes of interpretation

* "Let's a party time tonight" is in fact originally a print miss, which stayed because of the karaoke culture and... of the low level in English of the Japanese 😅 Initially it should have been "It's a party time tonight", which is more correct. For this same reason of level, numerous lyrics in English at that time (and still today sometimes) were chosen rather for their sound than their meaning !

Anecdotes, Legacy


Due to the success of the 1th release, a "maxi CD" is created as soon as on Christmas 1997, to celebrate the marriage of Amuro Namie and Sam. This remix version reach nearly 500 000 units.

The song wins 2 prizes from the Japan Record Association : la chanson de l'année 1997 and the Great Prize.

It is still cited in the poll on the best love songs of Music Station in 2016.

In 2018, while Amuro Namie announced her retirement and makes a last TV appearance at the Kouhaku 2017, Can you celebrate gets back again in the karaoke charts.



You may also like:

When it comes to great love and wedding songs, in the ballad style, you would find too :
Mirai Yosôzu 2 and Love Love Love (Dreams Come True)
Hanamizuki (Hitoto Yô)
Arigatou (Ikimonogakari)
Butterfly (Kimura Kaela)
...

Main performers

Affiliated links CD Japan with audio/video samples. Thank you for allowing cookies if you enjoyed the article m(_ _)m.

Amuro Namie (安室 奈美恵) : the singer-dancer performed it first this song deemed for her in Feb. 1997.

Concentration 20 / Namie Amuro
Namie Amuro
1997-07: 2nd album, n°1 too just before her break for her wedding and baby; includes the original version of the hit Can you celebrate, How to be a girl...

Ballada / Namie Amuro
Namie Amuro
2014-06: This Best of ballads worths a look for its Music Videos, and in particular the self-cover of Can you celebrate featuring the famous violonist Hakase Tarô (葉加瀬太郎). This is the most sung version in karaoke nowadays.

Finally / Namie Amuro
Namie Amuro
2017-11: The "ultimate" Best of Amuro Namie ; includes most of the previous hits, as well as the latest songs like Hope (One Piece), Finally (News 0), Hero (NHK JO 2016)...

Imai Yuka (今井 由香) : The seiyû (Excel Saga, Oh my Goddess, Precure, One Piece...) covered it already in December 1997 in the cover album 声優記 SEY YOU KEY -冬之巻- あなたが欲しい.

Shiratori Yumiko (白鳥 英美子) : the folk songstress-songwriter who sang at the Olympic Games of Sapporo and Nagano created a bossa-nova version in October 2003 for her album Celebration
Celebration / Emiko Shiratori
Emiko Shiratori

Tokunaga Hideaki (徳永 英明) : the singer, famous for his ballads and covers, naturally performed it in Aug. 2007 in  the cover album Vocalist 3.
Vocalist 3 / Hideaki Tokunaga
Hideaki Tokunaga


Links

Autres sources: wikipedia JP, reportages TV...

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