Before we get into it, today’s musical mood is wowdow.
That out of the way, in my latest MVP post, I talked about how transformative it can be to have lyrics to song readily available. Not just in songs not in your native language (or at least not in a language you know by heart) but also in music where you know what is being said.
That connection to how the tongue and lungs combines with string and drum, eh?
In that light, I have begun a rather LONG project where I will take a large number of songs in my library and get lyrics for them so that my phone which is ever digital device in the world besides a device I use to call people can add “karaoke machine” to its resume.
My tool of choice (and also my tool of choice to play music on my PC) is foobar2000 with the OpenLyrics component installed (and set up as a panel). Note: in my settings I set it to prioritize getting lyrics from LibLRC and NetEase with Genius being the main back-up. Others might get better results from others.
On the simpler side…
With that in place, around half of my lyric containing music โ probably half the music in my collection doesn’t actually contain lyrics, at least not significant lyrics, I have a lot of ambient, drone, soundtrack, and experimental music โ is simple as selecting a bunch of songs โ right click โ OpenLyrics โ Search for Lyrics โ wait. Then, going back and making sure it’s a) the right song and b) actually synced.
Working on Durry’s catalog, yesterday, I ended up having to sync maybe four of their songs. With Paloma Murphy, it was around half her album (and syncing somewhat fast moving Spanish did take a couple of goes).
And this is assuming I ever want the lyrics for the songs. There are a good number of albums where I would consider having lyrics to be relatively trivial. Stuff that I like to have in “Doug Core” type mega-playlists but where I might never again play the song in a way where I am actively wanting to glance at the lyrics on a screen. What percentage that is? I don’t know.
…However…
However, there are some albums and songs where it is not that easy. And how not-easy it is can be variable.
- (least difficult)
Official English lyrics are available but need to be synced [this of course applies to songs written in English as well as those that need to be translated]
- The lyrics have a couple of transliterator quirks (smile faces or emojis) that can be either left in or removed kind of quickly
- No official lyrics, but the song is relatively easy to write out
- Same as above, but translation is required or there is some confusion about some of the lyrics
- Some of the lyrics make little sense if translated literally, so some back and forth is required to recrop the songs without breaking meaning
- Some transliterators have pretty major quirks and will do things like censor certain words or use instrumental gaps to include unrelated text or “ASCII doodles” and finding all of those can take a lot of time
- No official lyrics available or the lyrics that are available don’t seem to actually match the song leading to multiple versions at odds, sometimes requiring multiple downloads and listening until you figure out which one it is
- (most difficult)
Pretty much no lyrics available which means having lyrics will require me typing them in manual one-by-one, then syncing, then everything else
I would say most tend to be around fourth or fifth bullet point.
But let’s take a look at an easier one. mM7th’s “Growth” is a good example that shows one of the other “micro-problems.” For getting quite a bit of Japanese (etc) music, you are going to need to know the non-International release name (i.e., you need to know what the song is called in its home country). “Growth” = ใ่ธตใ. Sometimes this is easy to find. Sometimes shockingly not where even local shops โ those with an online presence, anyhow โ will have international titles.
Once you have the lyrics, you have something that looks like this
JAPANESE LYRICS
[00:12.80]ๅฟใจใใใใจใๆใฃใฆ็ใพใใ
[00:20.03]ไบใฎใปใๅทใใๆฅใงใใฃใ
[00:26.55]ๆใใฆใใใใใใในใซใซ
[00:33.59]ใใใ่ฆใใ็งใฎใใใ
[00:40.14]ใใใฐใฎๅฃฐใงๅคใ่ถ
ใใฆ
[00:46.37]ใฟใใใญใ็งใฏ่จ่ใ่ฉฑใใฌใฎใซ
[00:54.41]ใพใ ใใใงๆฏใใใฆใใฎ
[01:00.88]ใฟใกใใใ ใใใฎใญใ ็ฎใใใใฆ่ฆใฆ
And, in this song’s case, the band has provided an English translation:
ENGLISH LYRICS (Provided by Band)
I was born with something called a heart
It was exceptionally cold spring
Tell me, Pascal
about the badness in me, now that Iโve learned to want things
Past the night saying goodbye
How funny, I canโt even speak with words
yet Iโm still breathing here
little weeds, little sound of the wind,
open your eyes and look at me
The first three lines match up but then the next four lines of Japanese are written out as five in English. In cases like this, it can be helpful to let Google Translate butcher it…
GOOGLE TRANSLATE
[00:12.80] I was born with a heart
[00:20.03] It was an unusually cold spring
[00:26.55] Tell me, Pascal
[00:33.59] My voice that I have learned to love
[00:40.14] I cross the night with a voice of farewell
[00:46.37] It's strange, I can't speak
[00:54.41] But I'm still breathing here
[01:00.88] Take a detour, let the wind sleep, open your eyes and look
The first three are really close. Lines #5-#7 match up well. Lines #4 & #8 are at definite odds, with #3 being the most egregious.
Because of that, I never lose the original language version and I make sure it stays part of the file.
NOTE: Some videos have an English translation uploaded into a synced file. That can be realllly helpful.
Anyhow, in this case my step is to take Google’s rough translation and then use it as a skeleton to sync up the official lyrics:
COMBINED
[00:12.80]ๅฟใจใใใใจใๆใฃใฆ็ใพใใ
[00:12.80] I was born with something called a heart
[00:20.03]ไบใฎใปใๅทใใๆฅใงใใฃใ
[00:20.03] It was exceptionally cold spring
[00:26.55]ๆใใฆใใใใใใในใซใซ
[00:26.55] Tell me, Pascal,
[00:33.59]ใใใ่ฆใใ็งใฎใใใ
[00:33.59] About the badness in me, now that Iโve learned to want things
[00:40.14]ใใใฐใฎๅฃฐใงๅคใ่ถ
ใใฆ
[00:40.14] Past the night saying goodbye
[00:46.37]ใฟใใใญใ็งใฏ่จ่ใ่ฉฑใใฌใฎใซ
[00:46.37] How funny, I canโt even speak with words
[00:54.41]ใพใ ใใใงๆฏใใใฆใใฎ
[00:54.41] Yet Iโm still breathing here
[01:00.88]ใฟใกใใใ ใใใฎใญใ ็ฎใใใใฆ่ฆใฆ
[01:00.88] Little weeds, little sound of the wind,
open your eyes and look at me
There is the twist that I haven’t 100% gone back to make sure that those ARE the right Japanese lyrics but, you know, pfffffffft for the moment. I’m just going to have to trust my fellow humans.
How Long, Space Pilgrims?
No clue. When I first started it was chunky going. It could take 2-3 hours to get through an album and feel good about the result (well, at least assuming some work was required, not the “freebies”). Yesterday I got through something like 10 albums over four or five hours.
I don’t want to spend four or five hours a day doing this, though, so I figure I’ll get to where I can crank out an entire album in about half an hour and then aim for maybe two of those, plus a couple “freebies” per day.
Still, easily a few months. Focusing on new (to me) songs and the old standards, though, will help.
