"I am sending you an old kid's song 'Shabondama, Soap Bubbles'. There isn't a Japanese person who doesn't know the kid's song 'Shabondana'." -Sadao Mazuka

Notes

野口雨情　作詩／中山晋平　作曲
The author of "Shabondama" is Ujoo Noguchi and the music composer is Shinpei Nakayama.

Pronunciation:

Shabon-dama tonda, yanemade tonda,
Yanemade tonde, kowarete kieta

Shabon-dama kieta, tobazuni kieta
Umarete suguni, kowarete kieta
Kaze kaze fukuna, shabon-dama tobaso

Comments

"Please listen to the midi tune. You will notice it's a similar tune that you've heard in a church. Yes, it's the hymn, 'Jesus Loves Me'. You can hear that the tune of the Japanese song is an 'approximation' of the hymn." -Sadao

Jesus Loves Me

Jesus loves me! This I know,
For the Bible tells me so.
Little ones to Him belong;
They are weak, but He is strong.
Chorus:
Yes, Jesus loves me! Yes, Jesus loves me!
Yes, Jesus loves me! The Bible tells me so.

Japanese:

主われを愛す　主は強ければ
われ弱くとも　恐れはあらじ
(くりかえし) わが主イェス　わが主イェス
わが主イェス　われを愛す
わが罪のため　さかえをすてて
天(あめ)よりくだり　十字架につけり
みくにの門(かど)を　ひらきてわれを
招きまたえり　いさみて昇らん
わが君(きみ)イェスよ　われをきよめて
よきはたらきを　なさしめたまえ

You can hear background music for this song in the mp3 recording below...

Download

Many thanks to Mackenzie Wang for sharing the background music to this song! Mackenzie wrote, "We sang a few songs that I found on your website in a little outdoor spring show last month, and my husband and I created backing tracks for each. I would love to provide them to you so they can be shared with the community."

Download MIDI Tune

Thanks and Acknowledgements

Many thanks to Sadao Mazuka for sharing this song, the translation and the midi. Photo by Monique Palomares.