ID Japanese song at the end of 'Tokyo Story'?
February 1, 2024 12:48 PM
What's the song the kids are singing at the end of 'Tokyo Story'? You can also hear it in the excerpt from this film at he end of Wim Wenders' 'Tokyo Ga' (about 1:27), which is available at the Internet Archive. Sub-titled lyrics below the fold.
People of the old days
Where are they now?
Now I'm back and as I stand alone
The sound of the bells
Travels to me
Across the sky in the gleam of twilight
When the pigeons flap their wings
The eaves dissolve and disappear
The spring wind caresses the shore
People of the old days
Where are they now?
Now I'm back and as I stand alone
The sound of the bells
Travels to me
Across the sky in the gleam of twilight
When the pigeons flap their wings
The eaves dissolve and disappear
The spring wind caresses the shore
Yes, it is “Yūbe no Kane” 《夕べの鐘》. The lyrics in Japanese are:
昔の人 今やいずこposted by mbrubeck at 1:24 PM on February 1, 2024
訪れ来て たたずめば
黄昏ゆく 空をたどり
通いて来る 鐘の声
家鳩の 羽ばたきに
乱れて消ゆ 軒の妻
みどりの風 岸をそよぐ
川のほとり さまよえば
黄昏ゆく 路地を越えて
おとない来る 鐘の声
牧の童が 笛の音に
消えては行く 村はずれ
Searching for "Yube no Kane" "Kazuma Yoshimaru" in Google Books turned up a text preview from Filmzeit: Zeitdimensionen im Film that has a chapter on Tokyo Monogatari and, among other things, the use of Yube no Kane, but that is probably best left for someone with better German than I to interpret. I think they do point out that the original minstrel song is also used in Max Steiner's score for Gone With The Wind.
posted by zamboni at 1:32 PM on February 1, 2024
posted by zamboni at 1:32 PM on February 1, 2024
Fascinating -- explains why it's hauntingly familiar to me.
Since the late nineteenth century, Stephen Foster’s songs have been among the best-known American music in Japan
This also explains why we hear his "Home Sweet Home" towards the end of "Grave of the Fireflies" which I found a little incongruous, the first time I saw (and only time I'll ever be seeing) that film.
posted by Rash at 2:45 PM on February 1, 2024
Since the late nineteenth century, Stephen Foster’s songs have been among the best-known American music in Japan
This also explains why we hear his "Home Sweet Home" towards the end of "Grave of the Fireflies" which I found a little incongruous, the first time I saw (and only time I'll ever be seeing) that film.
posted by Rash at 2:45 PM on February 1, 2024
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Googling the title of that song and Japan turns up an article on JSTOR entitled Foster’s Songs in Japan, which covers how US minstrel songs ended up as … So, possibly one of those?
posted by zamboni at 1:19 PM on February 1, 2024