Do Monkeys Fly?

I

n my never ending effort to take my mind off of the direction our nation is headed--the growing debt that most of you will have to deal with when you reach my age, the billions spent on the Iraq war which could have been spent on the Katrina victims or on education, inflexible supreme court justices--I waste countless hours watching J-Drama. Yes, it took the Republicans to get me addicted to J-Drama.

Anyway, I've started watching Saiyuuki, the famous Chinese story featuring the character Son Goku, starring Katori Shingo. The theme song is called "Around the World" by Monkey Majik, a group of two Canadians and two Japanese that started in Sendai in the northeast of Japan. READ MORE. It's a pretty good song, but I learned they have another song on the Oricon charts called "Fly". It is a mixture of English and Japanese and is pretty good. The two Canadians do all the singing, and their Japanese is pretty good. Certainly better than the English lyrics sung by Japanese artists such as L'arc en Ciel, Oda Yuji (ha!) and even *gulp* Kuwata Keisuke.

Of course, their music has a characteristic that many may not like. It's a bit poppy, mostly acoustic with a a style that would fint into a genre that includes Nine Days, Duncan Sheik, maybe Dave Mathews. Is there a genre for these guys? Anyway, I kinda like it. The lyrics are below. If you wanna sing along, click here.

Fly -- Monkey Majik

Leaving on that 7:30 train.
I don't know how far I'll go.
Round in circles just as long as I would tell you.
I am alone but we could be.

Tell me something I haven't heard before
except for when you shut me down.
Rememver when we stayed up all night drinking whiskey.
I know that you've been waiting.
I'll see you on the other side.

Oh! We're better off alone.
I told you once before.
so don't knock on my door.
you'll see it if you will.
but I don't wanna know.
I'm feeling so resentful

Cuz' I wanna fly, Fly me up so high
Take me to the skies, I won't get by
いつまでも君の声が僕の心で響く
(itsu made mo kimi no koe ga boku no kokoro de hibiku)
If you can't believe me, take me home

君ぅ小さな手をせめてあと少し
(kimi no chiisana te wo semete ato sukoshi)
強く握りしめていたなら
(tsuyoku nigiri-shimete-ita nara )
ゆっくり明日を待ってられたのに
(yukkuri ashita wo matterareta no ni)

涙の訳知っていたけど
(namida no wake shitte-ita kedo)
今ではもう遅すぎるから
(ima de wa mou oso-sugiru kara)
それは過ぎ行く景色のように
(sore wa sugi-yuku keshiki no you ni)

Cuz' I wanna fly, Fly me up so high
Take me to the skies, I won't get by
いつまでも君の声は僕の道にあるさ
(itsu made mo kimi no koe wa boku no michi ni aru sa)
If you can't believe me take me home

Everybody's talking always up and groovin'
come on up and join up with me yeah!
Always on and dancin' always on the move and.
come on everybody won't you come with me?

Cuz' I wanna fly, Fly me up so high
Take me to the skies, I won't get by
Everybody needs to go beyond the seas
If you can't believe me, take me home
If you can't believe me, take me home

Cuz' I wanna fly. I wanna fly.
Take me high. cause I wanna fly.
I wanna fly. take me high!

I wanna fly, Fly me up so high
Take me to the skies, I won't get by
いつまでも君の声は僕の道にあるさ
If you can't believe me take me home