What happens when a 20-something salaryman with no formal musical training, who was introduced to 60s-80s Western music at age 3, talks about Western music

Hello everyone. It's the season for delicious mandarin oranges. How are you all doing in these increasingly cold days?

I'm Mikan, an employee at SKY PerfecTV!.

It has already been over a month since the article I wrote about Yabai T-Shirts Yasan was posted. Thank you to everyone who read it.

As a side note, I later realized that the article had been posted by Yabai T-Shirts Yasan's official Twitter account. I looked at it three times, and I was so happy that I cried while working. With that joy in my heart, I want to do my best today to talk about what I 'love,' so that I can resonate with even one other person who shares that same 'love'.

Can you all remember the first song in your life that you thought, 'I love this song!'?

This is a question that is surely difficult to answer accurately. I don't really know either. But when I look back on episodes of encountering music in my childhood, memories of being in the car driven by my parents come to mind first. As soon as the car started, I would sit in my child seat in the back and chant like a magic spell, Please play the CD!, and before long, music would start playing in the car. It was a very happy moment.

For one CD, I especially liked tracks 1 and 4, and when they finished, I would chant the magic spell again, 'Play it one more time!', and listen to it repeatedly until we reached our destination. Another CD was filled with songs that, to this day, have left an impression on me as my 'summer songs'.

The 'one CD' was the album 'JEWELS' by the British rock band Queen, which became a hot topic in a movie a few years ago.

Track 1 was 'I was Born to Love You', and 4 was 'Don't Stop me Now'.

The 'other CD' was The Beach Boys' 'Endless Summer'. Among them, the one that makes me feel summer the most is track 2, 'Surfer Girl', and I still listen to it without fail every summer.

I listened to many other CDs as well. Most of them were Western music, especially from the 60s to the 80s.

In addition to the aforementioned Queen and The Beach Boys, there were The Beatles, Journey, Michael Jackson, EAGLES, Simon & Garfunkel, and Carpenters. During the Christmas season like now, it was a habit to play albums featuring Christmas songs by famous artists such as Wham!, Celine Dion, and (though they are mainly 2000s artists) Britney Spears.

It was completely my parents' gifted education, but if the songs I listened to in the car back then hadn't been Western music, I might not have come to love Western music this much. (After that, I grew up, encountered the overseas drama 'Glee' in junior high school, and fell deeper and deeper into the swamp of Western music, but that's for another time...)

Western music naturally became a part of my life before I even realized it. So, it was difficult to even notice the feeling of 'liking Western music,' but it seems I do like Western music. Even looking at my music subscription service, the amount of Western music is overwhelmingly large. So, what is it that I like about Western music? If I were asked to talk about its appeal, what would I answer?

The artist's personality, voice, singing ability, and singing style. Lyrics that fit perfectly with the woven sound. Songs that seem to speak for my feelings. Live performances that make you forget to breathe. Many charms come to mind, but this is not limited to Western music. Therefore, honestly, it is difficult to say, 'This is what's good about Western music!' or 'This is what's amazing about Western music!', unless it's about a specific artist. If it were a professional in that field or someone who has researched it much more than I have, they might be able to talk about how 'this melody by a Western artist of this era is amazing,' but sadly, for me, who listens to music only by feeling, the melody just ends with 'I like it somehow! It's amazing somehow!'...

(As a side note, a program where such 'professionals in the field' talk about Western music called Yogaku FREAK is currently being distributed on SKY PerfecTV! Program Distribution, so please check it out. How many times have I wished I could have lived in the same era as the guests who appear on this show... *Please note the distribution period.)

But if I were to force myself to talk about it, I love the lyrics of Western music.
In junior high school, I was taught in English class that "English is a language that loves rhythm." It is a strange sensation to think that a "language" loves "rhythm." What does that mean? I have never really been conscious of rhythm while speaking Japanese; if I had to say, I just think the 5-7-5 syllable structure is pleasant. (I tried to sound cool saying that, but I am embarrassed to admit I only recently learned that the term 5-7-5 syllable structure actually exists.)

When I listen to Western music with that in mind, it makes perfect sense. I realize that the rhythm is good and the words are spun together very comfortably. Since it happened to be playing while I was writing this, let's feel the rhythm in the chorus of Bon Jovi's masterpiece 'Livin' on a prayer,' which everyone has surely heard at least once.

Whoa, we're half way there

Oh-oh, livin' on a prayer

Take my hand, we'll make it, I swear

Oh-oh, livin' on a prayer

I would like you to pay attention to the last word of each line.
'there', 'prayer', 'swear'. Please say them out loud.If you don't want to say them out loud, please, by all means, listen to the original song. I will say it one more time. Please listen to the original.Everything ends with the same sound; in other words, these lyrics use what is commonly known as "rhyme."

You might think, "Hmm... so what...?" But I really love how these lyrics are woven together. I think, how beautiful, how fun. Because even though they end with the same sound, each one has a completely different meaning. They weren't brought together by mere convention; they must be words the songwriter intentionally chose.

And what is even more profound is that it is all done in a single note. In Japanese, you can basically only fit one "character" per note, not a "word." In Western music, you can fit a word into a single note, carrying more information than just the sound. And by skillfully fitting in words that produce the same sound like a word game, they ultimately set the message they want to convey to a melody.

Mmm!! English!! Isn't it beautiful!!

To think that a tough-looking guy was sliding a pencil over paper with a glass of whiskey in hand, thinking, "What should come after this word..."!!

Romance!! Cheers!! Thank you!!

Now, if you ask me if every song and every lyric follows this, I have to say no. But besides rhyming, there are many lyrics where you can feel the good rhythm of English. The famous The Beatles seem to value this rhythm in particularand I think they probably even intentionally use incorrect grammar for that purpose, though that is just my speculationand if you listen closely to the English Christmas songs playing everywhere during this season, you will find many lyrics that make you think, "That makes perfect sense."

Western music is woven with such elaborately crafted lyrics. For those who shy away from it saying, "I don't really understand English," I hope you will try listening to it just to enjoy English as a "sound."

SKY PerfecTV! is currently broadcasting programs where you can enjoy Western music! Please check them out here!