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Victor Harmonica Super Special Music Sheet (Bikutȃ hȃmonika chô tokusen gakufu) No. 35
大阪新町浪花踊の唄 アラモードぶし
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Song of the Naniwa Dance, Shinmachi Osaka: Song a la Mode (Ōsaka Shinmachi Naniwa odori no uta: A-ra-môdo bushi)
Victor Harmonica Super Special Music Sheet (Bikutȃ hȃmonika chô tokusen gakufu) No. 35
大阪新町浪花踊の唄 アラモードぶし
Designer: Artist unknown, Japanese
Lyricist: Saijō Yaso (Japanese, 1892 – 1970)
Composer: Nakayama Shinpei (Japanese, 1887 – 1952)
Publisher: Bikutā shuppansha (Japanese)
Lyricist: Saijō Yaso (Japanese, 1892 – 1970)
Composer: Nakayama Shinpei (Japanese, 1887 – 1952)
Publisher: Bikutā shuppansha (Japanese)
Japanese
Shôwa era
1931 (Shôwa 6), May 25
Medium/Technique
Color lithograph; ink on paper
Dimensions
Height x width: 26.5 × 37.5 cm (10 7/16 × 14 3/4 in.) (open)
Height x width: 26.5 × 19.4 cm (10 7/16 × 7 5/8 in.) (closed)
Height x width: 26.5 × 19.4 cm (10 7/16 × 7 5/8 in.) (closed)
Credit Line
Gift of Mary and Robert Levenson
Accession Number2023.1165.1-3
NOT ON VIEW
ClassificationsMusical scores
DescriptionTranslation of lyrics from Japanese, by Kuniko and Kendall Brown:
"On an erotic kimono, attach a foppish (guro) collar
The dyed pattern is ‘nonsense, nonsense’
There it is, that, that, ‘a la mode, a la mode.’
It’s a love ‘match’ even if it burns and dies out
Mine is a ‘lighter,’ an endless love, endless love
There it is, that, that, ‘a la mode, a la mode.’
When told to come* to the road where we cannot go
That name love road, who named it, named it
There it is, that, that, ‘a la mode, a la mode.’
We have forgotten all the English we learned
Only the word, ‘it,’ we can’t forget, can’t forget.
There it is, that, that, ‘a la mode, a la mode.’
Open and reflecting, our teary eyes
Waiting so long, with a ‘compact, compact’
There it is, that, that, ‘a la mode, a la mode.’
Made to bear the burden of love
I’ve become an ‘air girl,’ who made me, made me?
There it is, that, that, ‘a la mode, a la mode.’"
*play on words of “come” and “love”
"On an erotic kimono, attach a foppish (guro) collar
The dyed pattern is ‘nonsense, nonsense’
There it is, that, that, ‘a la mode, a la mode.’
It’s a love ‘match’ even if it burns and dies out
Mine is a ‘lighter,’ an endless love, endless love
There it is, that, that, ‘a la mode, a la mode.’
When told to come* to the road where we cannot go
That name love road, who named it, named it
There it is, that, that, ‘a la mode, a la mode.’
We have forgotten all the English we learned
Only the word, ‘it,’ we can’t forget, can’t forget.
There it is, that, that, ‘a la mode, a la mode.’
Open and reflecting, our teary eyes
Waiting so long, with a ‘compact, compact’
There it is, that, that, ‘a la mode, a la mode.’
Made to bear the burden of love
I’ve become an ‘air girl,’ who made me, made me?
There it is, that, that, ‘a la mode, a la mode.’"
*play on words of “come” and “love”
ProvenanceBy 2019, Mary and Robert Levenson, Belleair, FL; 2023, gift of Mary and Robert Levenson to the MFA. (Accession Date: December 13, 2023)