*Scroll for Lyric translation to English*

いつも何度でも - Itsumo Nando Demo (Always With Me), from Studio Ghibli film Spirited Away (千と千尋の神隠し).

Music by Yumi Kimura, Lyrics by Wakako Kaku. 

Recorded at home by Merina Dobson-Perry in 2020. Special thanks to Yukiko Kano-Hoshiba for language coaching! <3

Lyrics (English translation): 
作詞：覚和歌子/英語詞:Yumi Kimura/Julie Rogers
作曲：木村弓

Somewhere, a voice calls, in the depths of my heart
May I always be dreaming, the dreams that move my heart

So many tears, of sadness, uncountable through and through
I know on the other side, of them, I'll find you

Every time we fall down to the ground,
we look up to the blue sky above
We wake to its blueness, as for, the first time
Though the road is long and lonely and the end far away, out of sight
I can with these two arms, embrace the light

As I bid farewell, my heart stops, in tenderness I feel
My silent empty body begins to listen to what is real

The wonder of living, the wonder of dying
The wind, town and flowers, we all dance one unity

Somewhere, a voice calls in the depths of my heart
Keep dreaming your dreams, don't ever let them part

Why speak of all your sadness or of life's painful woes
Instead let the same lips sing a gentle song for you

The whispering voice, we never want to forget,
in each passing memory, always there to guide you
When a mirror has been broken,
Shattered pieces scattered on the ground
Glimpses of new life, reflected all around

Window of beginnings, stillness, new light of the dawn
Let my silent empty body be filled and reborn

No need to search outside, nor sail across the sea
Cause here shining inside me, it's right here inside me
I've found a brightness, it's always with me

*With thanks to Chihiro Matsumoto (JETTT) for providing this translation!*

Itsumo Nando Demo - いつも何度でも (Always With Me)

Classically trained soprano Merina Dobson-Perry is a working artist and the owner of South Winnipeg Studio, a private voice instruction studio.