English Lyrics {Your thoughts}

[hanabiwings]

I began listening to Japanese music waaay back when SPEED was at the top of the charts in 1997. Anyway, the first songs I heard were from that group and a few other singers.

All of the songs I first enjoyed featured English lyrics to accent the song. Usually, it was only a line or two throughout the song. Sometimes, a key phrase in the chorus was in English. This definitely wasn't a new thing, singers like the Southern All Stars, Matsuda Seiko, and CHAGEASU had been singing English for years.

Examples of English accent lyrics:

Graceful World
Deai mo wakare mo subete wa bokura no tame ni aru
Kono aoi hoshi no moto ni umareta koto wo yorokobiaou
Fulfill my Dreams

- Graceful World by Every Little Thing

Anata wa toori sugita ato kizuku
And I'll be crying forever

- tears by Fayray

Flying fall down
Habatakinagara ochite yuku no
Kimi no soba e

- Flying by Garnet Crow

{All roomaji by

And there Ryuichi , used here for demonstrative purposes only.}

And there are many other examples in popular songs. Anyway, my question is: what is your take on English being used in song lyrics?

I personally really enjoyed listening to English in Japanese songs when I first began listening. It gave me a way to understand parts of the songs when I understood little Japanese. It was also, in my eyes, a stylistic and artistic move on the part of the lyricist. It's definitely not just to be "trendy" in my eyes. There are also definite asthetic qualities to singing parts of the songs in English. It sounds unique to hear phrases in a foreign language. One need only look at Latin music that has made it big in America to hear phrases or background vocals in Spanish. I think that it's one of the nice things about listening to foreign music.

What are your thoughts?