真夜中のドア〜Stay with me – Bilingual Lyrics Japanese/English

• By: 松原みき

Lyrics & Translation

Embark on a captivating journey into the world of Japanese City Pop with Miki Matsubara's iconic "真夜中のドア〜Stay with me." This song, with its smooth disco-funk grooves and melancholic lyrics, offers a beautiful window into Japanese language and culture from the late 70s. Learning the lyrics will not only deepen your appreciation for its poignant message of longing and lost love but also introduce you to key vocabulary and emotional expressions. Its timeless appeal and recent global resurgence make it a special and accessible entry point for language learners to connect with a beloved piece of Japanese music history.

[English]

To you… yes, my love, to you

Yes, my love, to you

To you

I'm me, you're you, and

You said that last night, I kinda feel the same way

On your grey jacket

There's that familiar coffee stain

You're still the same, aren't you?

If we see the two of us reflected in the shop window

Stay with me…

Knocking on the midnight door

Crying, "Don't go home"

That season is right before my eyes now

Stay with me…

While saying your catchphrase

Embracing the moments of us two

Still haven't forgotten, and I treasured them

Love and affection are different things, you know

You were told that last night, I kinda feel the same way

As the second winter comes, your heart that drifted away

When I look back, I always felt you there

Stay with me…

Knocking on the midnight door

A hole opened in my heart

That season is right before my eyes now

Stay with me…

To dispel the loneliness

The needle of the record I placed

Kept repeating the same melody

Stay with me…

[Japanese]

To you… yes my love to you

Yes my love to you

To you

私は私 貴方は貴方と

昨夜言ってた そんな気もするわ

グレイのジャケットに

見覚えがある コーヒーのしみ

相変らずなのね

ショーウィンドウに二人映れば

Stay with me…

真夜中のドアをたたき

帰らないでと泣いた

あの季節が今目の前

Stay with me…

口ぐせを言いながら

二人の瞬間を抱いて

まだ忘れず大事にしていた

恋と愛とは違うものだよと

昨夜言われた そんな気もするわ

二度目の冬が来て 離れていった貴方の心

ふり返ればいつも そこに貴方を感じていたの

Stay with me…

真夜中のドアをたたき

心に穴があいた

あの季節が今目の前

Stay with me…

淋しさまぎらわして

置いたレコードの針

同じメロディ 繰り返していた

Stay with me…

Key Vocabulary

Vocabulary	Meanings
夜 /yoru/ A1	noun - night
ジャケット /jaketto/ B1	noun - jacket
コーヒー /kōhī/ A1	noun - coffee
ドア /doa/ A1	noun - door
季節 /kisetsu/ A2	noun - season
瞬間 /shunkan/ B1	noun - moment
恋 /koi/ B1	noun - romantic love
愛 /ai/ A2	noun - love
冬 /fuyu/ A1	noun - winter
心 /kokoro/ A2	noun - heart; mind
メロディ /merodī/ B1	noun - melody
泣く /naku/ A2	verb - to cry
抱く /idaku/ B1	verb - to hold; to embrace
忘れる /wasureru/ A1	verb - to forget
言う /iu/ A1	verb - to say
感じる /kanjiru/ A2	verb - to feel; to sense
淋しい /samishī/ A2	adjective - lonely
離れる /hanareru/ B1	verb - to separate; to part
繰り返す /kurikaesu/ B2	verb - to repeat
見覚え /mioboe/ B2	noun - familiarity; recognition

Key Grammar Structures

• 私は私　貴方は貴方と

  ➔ Topic marker は and particle と for accompaniment/comparison

  ➔ The first 「は」marks "I" as the topic, and the second 「と」means "with" as in "you with you".

• 昨夜言ってた　そんな気もあるわ

  ➔ Past progressive ～ていた, particle も for inclusion, 気がある, sentence‑ending particle わ (feminine, emotive)

  ➔ 「言ってた」is the past progressive of 「言う」, and 「も」adds the sense of “also” as in “I also have that feeling.”

• 相変わらずなのね

  ➔ Na‑adjective + なのね (explanatory/confirmation with nuance)

  ➔ The copula 「だ」 is replaced by 「なの」 before the sentence‑ending 「ね」, adding a soft, confirming tone.

• ショーウィンドウに二人映れば

  ➔ Conditional ば form with verb 映る (to be reflected)

  ➔ 「映れば」 is the ば‑conditional of 「映る」, meaning “if they were reflected (in the window)…”.

• 帰らないでと泣いた

  ➔ Negative te‑form + と quoting + past verb 泣く (to cry)

  ➔ 「帰らないで」 is the negative te‑form of 「帰る」, and the following 「と」 marks it as a quoted thought before 「泣いた」.

• 口ぐせを言いながら

  ➔ V‑stem + ながら (while doing something)

  ➔ "言いながら" combines the stem of 「言う」 with 「ながら」 to indicate “while saying”.

• まだ忘れず大事にしていた

  ➔ Negative continuative ず + ていた (past continuous) expressing “still was not forgetting and kept cherishing”

  ➔ "忘れず" is the negative continuative of 「忘れる」, and "していた" shows a past continuous action.

• 恋と愛とは違うものだよと

  ➔ Quotative と after a clause to convey a thought or speech; use of とは for contrast; final だよ as informal assertion

  ➔ The final 「と」 marks the preceding clause as something the speaker is thinking/said: “(I) think that love and romance are different.”

• ふり返ればいつも　そこに貴方を感じていたの

  ➔ Conditional ば + sentence‑ending の (explanatory/emphatic)

  ➔ 「ふり返れば」 is the ば‑conditional of 「ふり返る」 (to look back), and the final 「の」 adds an explanatory tone, akin to “if I look back, (you) were always there, you see.”