Lyrics (Letras) - I will become the rain, the stars

Back in the days of livejournal, I used to visit different music blogs for jpop recommendations, sometimes scoring entire album downloads, this was, of course before the days of music streaming. One of the few blogs that still continues this trend is the ever reborn JpopMusic80s (but this blog doesn't include any reviews or opinions on the music).

Through those blogs, and in the early days of growing my Jpop collection, I stumbled upon an album labeled TV Hits 4. Obviously, this was a compilation album for songs that were made popular in Japanese TV shows or dramas. Unfortunately, none of the tracks had titles or artist names. I like to be very meticulous with my music collection and I somehow managed to identify most of the songs, or just simply named them whatever portion of the lyrics stood out to me.

There was one song in particular that kept haunting me, and all I had to go for it, were the repeating lyrics that went "boku wa [something] ni naru...". As searches for song lyrics become ever more flooded with results that only list massive websites that have copy-pasta lyrics and translations in an endless (uncredited) loop, those smaller blogs curated by true aficionados keep getting buried at the bottom of the internet.

With my slowly growing knowledge of the Japanese language, I once again tried to pin down this song in hopes of finding it's origin, the lyrics, a translation, and the owner of the incredibly haunting voice that performs it.

This year, I finally deciphered the mystery, but apparently the songs is so obscure (for anywhere that is not Japan) that there were no romaji lyrics, and no translation for it. So guess what I'm going to do?

The song in question is "ぼくは雨となり星となる" sung by Yoshikazu Mera (米良美一). It was featured as either the opening or ending song to Shikoku 死国 (which I'm going to translate as Land of the Departed, and not Country of the Dead, which is quite a literal translation of the kanji) a TV Horror drama from 1999.

Here we go! First the lyrics in Japanese with Kanji.

ぼくは雨となり星となる — 米良美一

あの空をみて
悲しみの宇宙の外に出て
あの空をみて
その何処かで二人は会える
君にあげようこの涙
太阳に変えたら
冬の终わりで
途方に暮れないように
耳をふさいで走り出す君の
となりにある虹に ぼくはなりたい
いつだって

ぼくは雨になり 君を守るだろう
ぼくは星になり 君を照らすだろう
ぼくは土になり 君に话すだろう
ぼくは时になり 君と生きるだろう

きれいな月を
きれいねとつぶやいた
君の瞳が 世界で一番美しかった
ある日涙がこぼれだす
君から离れない歌に ぼくはなりたい
いつだって

ぼくは雪になり 君に积もるだろう
ぼくは月になり 君に教えるだろう
ぼくは炎になり 君に宿るだろう
ぼくは风になり 君に触れるだろう

ぼくは雨になり 君を守るだろう
ぼくは星になり 君を照らすだろう
ぼくは土になり 君に话すだろう
ぼくは时になり 君と生きるだろう

君と生きるだろう

Now for the romaji version.

Boku wa ame to nari Hoshi to naru - Yoshikazu Mera

Ano sora wo mite
kanashimi no uchuu no soto ni dete
Ano sora wo mite
sono dokokadeni futari wa aeru

Kimi ni ageyou kono namida
taiyou ni kaetara
fuyu no owari de
tohou ni kurenai youni

Mimi wo fusaide hashiridasu kimi no
tonari ni aru niji ni boku wa naritai
itsudatte

Boku wa ame ni nari, kimi wo mamoru darou
Boku wa hoshi ni nari, kimi wo terasu darou
Boku wa tsuchi ni nari, kimi wo hanasu darou
Boku wa toki ni nari, kimi to ikiru darou...

Kirei na tsuki wo
[ kirei ne ] to tsubuyaita
Kimi no hitomi ga
sekai de ichiban utsushikatta

Aru hi namida ga koboredasu
kimi kara hanarenai uta ni boku wa naritai
itsudatte

Boku wa yuki ni nari, kimi ni tsumoru darou
Boku wa tsuki ni nari, kimi ni oshieru darou
Boku wa honoo ni nari, kimi ni kadoru darou
Boku wa kaze ni nri, kimi ni fureru darou...

Boku wa ame ni nari, kimi ni mamoru darou
Boku wa hoshi ni nari, kimi ni terasu darou
Boku wa tsuchi ni nari, kimi ni hanasu darou
Boku wa toki ni nari, kimi to ikiru darou...

Kimi to ikiru darou...

My English translation to this song:

I will become the rain, the stars - sung by Yoshikazu Mera

Look up at that sky
To step outside from your universe of sadness
Because up there in that sky
We will meet someday

I would give these tears to you
if I could make them as warm as the sun
So that at the end of winter
you won't feel desolate

I want to become the rainbow by your side
covering your ears as you rush along

And always remain

I will become the rain, so I may protect you
I will become the stars, so I may shine on you
I will become the ground, so I may speak with you
I will become time, so I may live with you

"Isn't she beautiful" I murmured
about the beautiful moon.
Even as your eyes were
the most beautiful in the world

There will come a day
when tears will flow (from your eyes)
I want to become the song
that won't let you go

And always remain

I will become the snow, so I may cover you
I will become the moon, so I may teach you
I will become a flame, so I may dwell within you
I will become the wind, so I may caress you

I will become the rain, so I may protect you
I will become the stars, so I may shine on you
I will become the ground, so I may speak with you
I will become time, so I may live with you

I will live with you

Spanish translation for this song.

Me convertiré en lluvia, en estrellas

Mira ese cielo
para escapar de tu universo de tristeza
mira hacia aquel cielo
en el que algun día nos vamos a encontrar

Te daría estas lágrimas
convertidas en rayos de sol
para que no sientas desolación
cuando se acabe el invierno

Quiero ser el arcoiris que va de tu lado
mientras escapas cubriéndote las orejas

Y por siempre ser...

Me convertiré en la lluvia, y te protegería
Me convertiria en estrella, y te alumbraría
Me convertiré en la tierra, y te hablaría
Me convertiré en tiempo, y contigo viviría

"Qué bella es" murmuré
sobre la hermosa luna
Tus ojos son lo mas bello de este mundo

Cuando llegue el dia en que esos ojos
derramen lágrimas
Quiero ser la canción que no te abandonará

Y por siempre ser...

Me convertiré en nieve, y te cubriría
Me convertiré en la luna, y te enseñaría
Me convertiré en llama, y dentro de ti viviría
Me convertiré en viento, y te acariciaría

Me convertiré en la lluvia, y te protegería
Me convertiria en estrella, y te alumbraría
Me convertiré en la tierra, y te hablaría
Me convertiré en tiempo, y contigo viviría

Y contigo viviría

I hope this post finds another poor soul that might have been tormented with deciphering where this haunting melody came from, cuz if not for nice stuff like this, what good is the internet for!?