Lisa wrote to me…
I was born in Tokyo on Johnson’s Air Force Base and have always had a fascination for anything Japanese: songs, stories, customs, and so on.
There is a song I learned to sing as a very little girl, but the only part I remember is: Mushie Mushie on na ney.
I’m not even sure if the spelling is correct, but translated roughly it is: Friends talking on the telephone.
I would appreciate it if you could tell me anything about this song.
Thank you
Sincerely,
Lisa
If anyone is familiar with this song and can help out, please comment below.
UPDATE: Here are the lyrics to The Telephone Song, followed by a loose English translation. It’s sung/chanted to the tune of London Bridge is Falling Down.
The Telephone Song
(Japanese Transliteration)
Mushi, mushi ah no ne
Ah no ne
Ah no ne,
Mushi Mushi a no ne
Ah so des ka!
It’s like what you’d hear on one end of a telephone conversation. So, roughly in English, that’s…
Hello, un-huh
Un-huh
Un-huh
Hello, un-huh
You don’t say!
Many thanks to Carolyn Barras for sending this song and for the English translation and to Devon Thagard for his comments about the meaning of the words in English.
There’s more about this song in the comments below.
This article was posted on Sunday, November 19th, 2006 at 5:57 pm and is filed under Children's Songs, Countries & Cultures, Japan, Japanese, Japanese Kids Songs, Languages, Mama Lisa, Questions. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
52 Responses to “Looking for a Japanese Song about Friends Talking on a Telephone”
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January 9th, 2022 at 9:46 pm
My dad was in the army and we went to Japan in 1948. I remember that song. I thought I was the only one. We answered the phone mushy mushy.
September 5th, 2022 at 2:25 pm
My father was stationed at an Army post in Japan from 1952-1954. I had my second birthday on the trip over with my mother & 2 sisters. We were taught this song by our wonderful Japanese housekeeper. Oddly enough, I still remember the song to this day! But I never knew what it meant, certainly not that it was about a telephone conversation!