Eclectic Lunchbox of Delights

Cibo Matto is a very cool Japanese pop group of two women who sing an awful lot about food.

Here is one of their songs, "Birthday Cake". It's a lot of fun to listen to. The singer sings (and raps) quite quickly and (in some places) unintelligibly. Her accent is very thick, and she slurs over so many words that it's almost impossible for a native English speaker to pick out quite what she's saying.

What I've done below is give my best reconstruction of what I hear when I listen to this song, not knowing the original lyrics. In some places I knew that it was wrong, but I simply put down what I heard.

Then, after that was done, I looked up the original lyrics on the Internet (being sure to get them from a reputable source) just to see how off-base I was.

Very much so, I should admit.

What you should do: listen to the song along to my lyrics first, and see if you agree with most of my transcription. Don't look at the original lyrics until you're finished!

Then, on the next page, I'll show you my lyrics alongside the official "intended" lyrics. You will be amazed.

WHAT I HEAR

Shout, Brenda Lee, you got no property! Shout, Brenda Lee, you know my love is freed. Yes, I'm cooking for my son and his wife, It's his 30th birthday, Poor boy's intimate bowl are the milk of ten years ago It's morning, Mom, isn't it? Shout, Brenda Lee, you got no property! Shout, Brenda Lee, you know my love is freed. Shout, Brenda Lee, you got no property! Shout, Brenda Lee, you know my love is freed! It's fruiting over, it's fruiting over, the shape of love. Hit it! Pick it up! Feel it! Feel it up! Excel sugar, excel salt, excel oil on the energy! Excel sugar, excel salt, excel oil on the energy! Shout, Brenda Lee, you got no property! Shout, Brenda Lee, you know my love is freed. Shout, Brenda Lee, you got no property! Shout, Brenda Lee, you know my love is freed. You were born in the Sixties, can we just say, "C'est la vie?" So what, so what, for your own sake do you have a headache or a heartbreak, are you in the mood to buy the Birthday Cake? Your rip the soda on the out-take, after the part in the birthday cake, (um-hmm), so what, say what, for my own sake Watch out, yo, here I come, yo, I'm-a goin' to change her applesauce, Turn up the T.V. Do you ever eat? Yeah, And if you don't key, take it for the wheat, I'm-a going to show me up for my job But it's morning, Mom, isn't it? Excel sugar, excel salt, excel oil on the energy! Excel sugar, excel salt, excel oil on the energy! Shout, Brenda Lee, you got no property! Shout, Brenda Lee, you know my love is freed. Shout, Brenda Lee, you got no property! Shout, Brenda Lee, you know my love is freed.

All right, are you ready for this? Original lyrics here.