I Was Born For This

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Main articles: Journey (soundtrack), Soundtracks

I Was Born For This is the track played during the credits. It's widely considered the most iconic song in Journey. It was composed by Austin Wintory and sung by Lisbeth Scott.

Lyrics[edit | edit source]

Lyric Transcription (romanization) Language Translation Source
Stat sua cuique dies
Stat sua cuique dies
Latin To each his day is given
To each his day is given
The Aeneid (X.467)
Maél is mé tó féran. Old English Time it is for me to go Beowolf, 316-319
ὤλετο μέν μοι νόστος
ὤλετο μέν μοι νόστος
Oleto men mi nostos
Oleto men mi nostos
Homeric Greek Lost is my homecoming Homer; Illiad
C'est pour cela que je suis née French I was born or this Joan of Arc (attributed)
この道や
行く人なしに
この道や
秋のくれ
kono michi ya
yuku hito nashi ni
kono michi ya
aki no kure
Japanese On this road
Which no one travels
On this road
The autumn sun sets
Haiku by Matsuo Bashō
C'est pour cela que je suis née
Ne me plaignez pas
C'est pour cela que je suis née
French Do not pity me
I was born for this
Joan of Arc (attributed)

Notes[edit | edit source]

The Japanese portion was originally written as a haiku. In the song, the first line of the poem is repeated, to better fit with the musical structure.

The musical phrase used for the lyrics that the song gets its name from is used as a leitmotif throughout the soundtrack. The song starts with a shorter version of this leitmotif.

The song uses modern pronunciation for the Greek portion, pronouncing "ω" as "o" (instead of "a"), and "οι" as "i".

For some reason, in both the main version of the song, and the cover in Journey: Transfiguration (which was sung by Laura Intravia, rather than Lisbeth Scott), the word "nashi" (meaning "without") in the Japanese lyrics is somehow pronounced "nishi" (meaning "west"), turning the "a" into an "i". This would change the meaning of the poem to something like "On this road person travels. In the west, the autumn sun sets."

Videos[edit | edit source]