2

My friend wrote this sentence about these videos:

"これは日本の替え歌王だよ。"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mtjxrf2Vg7g&feature=player_embedded

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aEeELyiLDKg

I'm not grasping the subtleties of this expression, so I'm wondering what the exact meaning is and what would be a good translation into english.

Improve this question
3
  • Is "king of parody" a show, genre or what ? do u think it's a historic term?
    – yadokari
    Apr 30, 2012 at 4:51
  • 1
    Pfft. Those songs are hilarious.
    – Ignacio Vazquez-Abrams
    Apr 30, 2012 at 5:08
  • +1 for the links. Pure awesome.
    – Questioner
    Apr 30, 2012 at 5:35

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
2

歌王(うたおう, utaou) is literally "king of song". Someone who wins a singing contest (popular pastime in Japan, right?) is "utaou".

A contest in general is 決定戦 (ketteisen) and a 歌王決定戦 (utaouketteisen) is a contest to be king of song!

But there are also contests for parody songs, thus: 替え歌王決定戦. If you search for this, you can find no shortage of funny videos.

Your friend probably means that those songs are the typical Japanese material sung in these kaeutaou contests. (So that you do not think this is real Japanese pop, haha!)

Improve this answer
1
  • This one is hilarious: youtube.com/watch?v=cFv6GU9CQ8g　　Singer Ichirou Mizuki, aged 61, (水木一郎, ６１歳) evidently turns an old anime song into a version that is actually about the life of the parody singer: 替え歌ヒーロー　(Parody Song Hero). I understand bits and pieces enough to get a good laugh out of it. :) The cool thing is that he originally performed the real song back in 1977.
    – Kaz
    Apr 30, 2012 at 7:49

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .