NO SORAN BUSHI ~ソーラン節

SAKAMOTO FUYUMI - FUYUMI NO SORAN BUSHI - ENKA
An excerpt from "Soran Bushi"
Japanese:
Yaren soran soran
Soran soran soran (hai hai!)
Oki de kamome no naku koe kikeba
Funanori kagyo wa yamerarenu choi

CHORUS (AKA - kakegoe)
Yasa e en ya sa dokkoisho
(a dokkoisho, dokkoisho!)

Yaren soran...
Oyaji tairyo da mukashi to chigau
toreta nishin wa ore no mono choi

Yaren soran...
Ichi-jo-go-shaku no ro o kogu fune mo
horeta anogo nya te mo choi

Yaren soran...
Tama no suhada ga shibuki ni nureya
uwaki kamomega mite sawagu choi

Rough English Translation:


Oh!!! Soran, soran, soran
soran, soran, soran. (Oh, yeah!)
When we hear the jabbering of seagulls on the high seas,
we know we can’t give up our fishing lives on the ocean.

CHORUS
Put your backs into it! Heave, ho! Heave, ho!
(Heave, ho! Heave, ho!)

Oh!!! Soran...
Boss, I tell you, the size of this catch of herring
is different from all the others. And it's all MINE.

Oh!!! Soran...
Even if I row four and a half metres,
I couldn't get that girl's attention.

Oh!!! Soran...
A flighty seagull twitters in excitement
As it sees my bare skin, glistening with ocean surf.

So-ran Bushi (ソーラン節) is one of the most famous traditional songs (min'yō) in Japan. It was originated by the fishermen of Hokkaidō, the north part of Japan.

So-ran Bushi accompanies the bon dance in many parts of Japan, and it has its own dancing styles that date back generations.

Recently, however, the So-ran dance was reimagined by a high school teacher leading his students. Under this direction, it gained a more modern, faster beat, and it was reinterpreted for a more modern setting. Students perform "Rock n' Soran Bushi" on their sports day. The latest Soran Bushi dance interpretation has more dynamic choreography and more modernized rhythm than its older counterpart.