The Kiddie-4F9

Finally a new post! A bit lighter and happier but nothing less meaningful song this time! 4F9 by The Kiddie.

I should start with the name of the song. Yusa's birthday is 9th April (a day before mine <3) so we have 4th month F 9th day. When written and read in japanese, it can be Shi-Fu-Ku (至福) which means supreme bliss or beatitude. The word is mentioned in the end so I think that's it.

So, let's begin:

THE KIDDIE

Noah (15.April 2009.)

4F9

"ねぇ、聞いて　悩んで痛んで決めた事なの

後悔なんて残さないように

僕らの未来へ終止符を　僕らの手で突き刺すんだ"

(Nee, kiite, nayande iyande kimeta koto na no,

koukai nante nokosanai you ni,

bokura no mirai he no shuushifu wo  bokura no te de tsukisasunda)

(Hey, listen, is worrying and being hurt a decision

made in order not to leave things like regret behind?

With our hands we thrust a full-stop on our future)

In most translations I've seen, it says: "is worrying and hurting just a given?". I'm not sure what to think of it. "Kimeta koto" really is a confusing phrase since there's no person who performs the action. It can be translated as an "already decided thing (as-fate)" or as "something we've decided". And just that little detail changes the meaning drastically. However, a third line in this stanza gives me the little hint that the translations I've read weren't right, and that it's actually US who decide to feel that way. That third line is a very strong one, he mentions "us" twice which isn't the usual behavior of japanese language. 

What shouldn't be understood wrongly is the third line and "putting a full-stop our future". It took a long time for me to understand this. The particle used here is vital. It's  へ (he/e), which indicates moving towards something. So we finish and block the regrets (and similar things) from our future in order to make it better, and not block our future as it can be understood after just a fast reading of a text. So basically, these first lines of a song, put in simple words: we decide to take the trouble of worrying and being hurt right now, because we don't want to leave the bad feelings for the future.

"でも、なんで？　反対に走り出したみたい

理性飛び越え背中オス衝動が止められない

変かな？　最後にはもう喚くしかないのかな？"

(demo, nande? Hantai ni hashiridashita mitai

risei tobikoe senaka osu shoudo ga tomerarenai

hen kana? saigo ni wa mou wameku shikanai no kana?)

(But, why? It seems like we start running backwards

jumping over the reason, unable to stop the impulses that push our backs,

is it weird? will we have no other choice but to cry in the end?)

It really might seem that we are making our future better by worrying now, but what about the present? Problems always occur and because of it we're always so distracted from enjoying this very moment. We "start running backwards" (make no good progress) because we're always feeling bad for this or that, which doesn't really solve anything. Ignoring the "reasonable" thing to do (solving whatever it is), we follow our impulse to worry and question&review the possible solutions. So, knowing this, really, WHY? "Is it weird" to know you yourself are doing this but never really realize it while doing it? So worrying and not actually solving anything all the time just pile up our worries and in the end we're so lost and really don't have an idea what to do, so we just sit in the corner, cry and pity ourselves? 

"嫌だよ　僕は此処にいたいんだ

君もそうでしょ？　顔にでかっく書いてある

大きな夢より今を抱きしめたい　ただ今を願うよ"

(Iya da yo, boku wa koko ni itainda

kimi mo sou desho? kao ni dekakku kaitearu

ooki na yume yori ima wo dakishimetai, tada ima wo negau yo)

(It's so unpleasant. I want to be here

You too, don't you? It's written hugely on your face

more than a big dream I want to embrace the present, I wish only the "now")
*this part repeats with no changes

Hard time translating "Iya da yo", I must confess. I don't think there's a good expression for that in english. It's something like saying "oh no" or "too bad", but not even quite like that. Learning Japanese, you'll get just a feeling for this expression, I really don't know how to explain it. Sorry for that lol

Anyway. I don't think these lines require a lot of explaining. It's pretty clear what Yusa wanted to say, having the previous in mind. There's a good explanation for the last phrase "tada ima" from Antares489.wordpress.com : "Yusa’s playing with words here ... giving the phrase a double meaning of “right now” and “I’m home”, an expression one would normally greet people with when returning home. Both are formed by the same syllables but said slightly differently." 

a deleted part is "writing the kanji in hiragana" which might be a mistake since it's the opposite, writing the part normally in hiragana with kanji. The rest is just perfect! 

"サヨナラは言えないくらいに抱いてよ

その瞳の奥の奥に焼き付けて　ずっと置いておいて

サヨナラを言わないでいいように

時間よ止まれ　いつまでも　君と笑い合ってたいんだ"

(Sayonara wa ienai kurai ni daite yo

sono me no oku no oku ni yakitsukete, zutto oite oite,

sayonara wo iwanai de ii you ni

jikan yo tomare, itsumademo, kimi to waraiattetainda)

(Hug so much that I can't say goodbye

Print it in the deepest depths of these eyes, so that it always stays there

do it so that it's okay not to say goodbye 

stop the time, forever, I want to laugh with you)

Judging from the previous, the "embrace" mentioned in a chorus is referring to "the present", and not any particular person. However in the last line of the chorus we again see there's another person beside him in that moment. Since, as I've mentioned numerous times before, japanese doesn't use grammatical person often, it's very hard to decide whether Yusa wants to "hug and stay in that moment forever" or "be hugged by the other person". The following lines suggest that it's possibly the first version, having the very moment printed inside his eyes (I believe he wanted to say "brain" actually, but it isn't really poetic, isn't it?) and never forget it. Just like people, moments and happenings are alive for as long as we remember it.

*

"潔しをウリとするくらい　ジメジメしたのは苦手だから

フラッと出掛けるよ　ちょっと煙草買いに行くノリで

ココロに太陽を抱いて　雨の日も長い夜も

大丈夫さ　怖くないからさ"

(Isagiyoshi wo uru to suru kurai, jimejimeshita no wa nigate dakara

furatto dekakeru yo　chotto tabako kai ni iku nori de

kokoro ni taiyou wo daite　ame no hi mo nagai yoru mo

daijoubu sa　kowakunai kara sa)

(To the extent that I'd sell my pride, I am awful when being gloomy, so

I aimlessly go out, like "just to buy cigarettes"

when you keep the Sun in your heart, a rainy day and a long night,

are alright, because you're not afraid)

Well the bridge now tells a different story, and if we go back, we can sum up the whole song in just this. It's written very directly, so I don't think there's need to analyze too much. Well, don't take it too seriously, and I'm sure you'll know what he means.

"サヨナラにサヨナラしたら戻るよ

何年何光年先の☆でも　ずっと持って追って

サヨナラは言わないでいいんだ

ココロの奥の奥で　いつまでも　みんな笑い合ってるんだもん"

(Sayonara ni sayonara shitara modoru yo

nannen, nan kounen saki no hoshi demo, zutto motte otte

sayonara wa iwanai de iinda

kokoro no oku no oku de, itsumademo, minna waraiatterun damon)

(If you say goodbye to a goodbye, it'll come back,

always holding and running after a star of how many years, how many light years away,

it's alright not to say goodbye

in the deepest depths of your heart, always, everyone is laughing)

oh look! a star! ☆☆☆!

The first line is a bit confusing, yet it's very simple. I think it's just about throwing away a personal habit of making farewells, because we really do carry all the precious people and moments in our hearts forever (the last line). A star probably symbolizes dreams, love and passion we hold and always chase after. 

"今日という日が　そう　いつまでも至福でありますように。"

(Kyou to iu hi ga, sou, itsumademo shifuku de arimasu you ni.)

(This very day, keep it as a beatitude forever)

So, here's the name of a song ^^ 

And this last line adds up to the importance of the today, of the right now that is only now and never again. It suggests that there aren't any super-special moments of your life you should keep in your memory and heart forever, but that everything is equally important. Be happy that you're where you are, be happy because you're alive, because, well, that's our greatest bliss.

I give this song 5/5 stars ^-^ ☆☆☆☆☆

This used to be my favorite song back in 2009, and I'm so glad I did this. I should probably do some more happy sounding songs, I felt kinda gloomy after my previous two analyses... Oh I love The Kiddie <3

(next to come, requested-Matenrou opera-Designer baby)

D'espairsRay-琥珀 (Kohaku)

Oh I got my first request already! ^o^
Made by a friend, truth to be said, and on facebook. But definitely a headstart for this blog, I'd say ^--^ thanks Milica!
Anyway what I forgot to mention is that I make these analyses directly, with just once read lyrics before I start doing line by line. The main reason is that, knowing how lyrics and poems are usually made, I want to follow the flow of thoughts of the writer, not the general finished work, which, I must confess, when it comes to my own songs, ends up as something a bit different than what I wanted it to be.
So, getting on to this:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xpRA7GFSXU

D'espairsRay

Redeemer (11.March 2009)

琥珀 (Amber)

"都会に埋もれた

君はまるで迷子のよう

悲しみを秘めた顔で笑っていた... "

(Tokai ni uzumoreta

kimi wa marude maigo no you

kanashimi wo himeta kao de waratteita...")

(Hidden in the city

you are completely alike to a lost child,

laughed with a face that was hiding sorrow...)

This is a very metaphorical part, and a great introduction into the song. If we manage to imagine the city as a human soul, and a human soul as a reflection of the outer world (the city), it's very easy to understand these lines. There's a reason for using the phrase "lost child", with "child" as an essence-a person lost in, or still exploring this world, and their own soul. It also explains a bit why the girl is laughing and smiling, trying to hide her true feelings. It indicates that she is a fearful person, that doesn't seem to understand this world yet.

"何もかも信じられずに囁いた

「誰もいない...」

か弱く途切れた細い声"

(Nanimokamo shinjirarezu ni sasayaita

"daremo inai..."

kayowaku togireta hosoi koe)

(believing nothing you murmured

"no one is here..."

with a frailly interrupted thin voice)

With this quote we find out that the reason the person's soul is filled with sorrow is loneliness. There's nobody and nothing to believe in. The quoted sentence is not finished either. No one is there to do what? Most probably, to give her support, to give her strength to carry on, according to the following line which expresses her weakness.

"抱きしめたい 悲しみが君を覆い尽くすなら

激しさで溶かしてみせよう"

(Dakishimetai, kanashimi ga kimi wo ooi tsukusu nara

hageshisa de tokashite miseyou)

(I want to embrace you, if sorrow covers you

I shall dissolve it intensely)

*this is the refrain, it repeats with unimportant changes, such as word tints that can't be expressed through english

This was a very hard line to translate. "Ooi tsukusu" doesn't really exist as a phrase (I know of). "Ooi" is a cover, a mantle, and "tsukusu" is "to exhaust" or "to serve to something". I want to try to explain the "cover" I used, as it must be understood as a very serious word, much stronger than the usual "cover" or "conceal"-"If it completely conceals you", or "if it serves as a mantle that hides you". Also, the "intensely" I used can also be translated as "violently", but I believe it just means "I should devote myself to it".
So if we understand it like that, the line makes a much deeper meaning. "I want to embrace you, because I know that you're hiding your true self because you're afraid, but you don't have to fear me, and I will devotedly work on gaining your trust, and opening you up, dissolving your coating." These lines literally scream "you can trust me", in a good way, of course. Actually, I believe these are the gentlest and warmest lines I've heard in my life, it's just so beautiful...

"かけがえの無いもの

ひとつふたつ... また失う"

(Kakegae no nai mono

hitotsu futatsu... mata ushinau)

(Irreplaceable things

once, twice... and losing again)

A reasonable reason for a person to stop believing, for losing hope. She is repeatedly losing things that are precious to her, in either a material or abstract world of her mind, and naturally she starts fearing what will happen next, she becomes afraid of everything that has any power to hurt her or take something away.

"眠らないこの街に星は飾れない"

(Nemuranai kono machi ni hoshi wa kazarenai)

(Stars aren't decorating this sleepless town)

Beautiful line. Again we come across the "city" phenomenon, the connection of her soul and her surroundings. Going along with the previous sentence, stars would be her precious possessions, and there's nothing to shine and decorate her soul as she's lost it all.

"いつからか僕らの声は

ぬくもりを失った

傷つくばかりの世界だから"

(Itsukara bokura no koe wa

nukumori wo ushinatta

kizutsuku bakari no sekai dakara)

(How long ago have our voices

lost their warmth

because of this world that only wounds?)

Now Hizumi takes us into a wide picture. It's not just the two of them who've lost the warmth in their voices and gentleness in their words, but the whole world and humanity. People only hurt each other, and have, with a valid reason, lost the ability to trust each other. So the person he sings about in the whole song could just be a reflection of the general human fate, the world we're all doomed to live in.

"寄り添って 悲しみをこの身深く刻んで

傷痕が燃え尽きるまで"

(Yorisotte, kanashimi wo kono mi ni fukaku kizande

kizuato ga moetsukiru made)

(getting close together, while sorrow is deeply carving into this body

until the scars burn out)

There's not much to say about this sentence, except that it indicates the strength of the pain she is feeling-so strong that it carves into the body, making deep scars.

"心とは裏腹の言葉はもういらない

恐れずに... 心は傍にいるから"

(Kokoro to wa urahara no kotoba wa mou iranai

osorezu ni, kokoro wa soba ni iru kara)

(Unneeded are the words that are contrary to the heart,

don't be afraid... Because our hearts are close together)

Again we come across the importance of the outer world to the human, and the contrary to it importance to keep in touch with inner human qualities in a harsh world. These lines are much more closely connected to the "How long ago have our voices lost their warmth because of this world that only wounds?" than latter lines. So we get back to the big picture of a world with the two of them in a center of it all, deciding not to give in to the surroundings, deciding to trust each other.

*

"星の無い空の下 今も震える君に

聞かせたい夜明けの歌を...

見せたいこの世界の光を..."

(Hoshi no nai sora no shita ima mo furueru kimi ni

kikasetai yoake no uta wo...

misetai kono sekai no hikari wo...)

(Under the sky without stars, To you who are still shaking

I want to sing this song of the dawn...

I want to show you the light of this world...)

She is still shaking, but Hizumi is showing her that there is something beautiful to this world, like the daybreak that is coming. He wants to show her that there is hope. These beautiful lines are leading us to a happy ending.

Introductory post+Boogieman-Recurrence

So hi there ^^
I'm not sure if I can make this blog what I want it to be, but here's my idea put in simple language:
You know how we always do profound analysis of poems and songs in school classes? I want to do it for Visual kei lyrics I find interesting. I want to get deep into the brain of the lyrics writer, and get good assumption, if not the true meaning of what's behind the lyrics. I plan on doing this by analyzing line by line, translating it directly.
I'm still just a high school third grade student, but I don't think this is an impossible task ^^


Oh, and, you can feel free to give me requests and suggestions ^o^


Starting off with Boogieman's Recurrence. Not the happiest jumpiest song to start with, but definitely a good example of what I want to do in the future.

Boogieman

Libido (21.January 2009.)

recurrence.

lyrics: Junno, music: Yuana

"最後に見た君の顔、寂しげで俯く

後悔は陽の光を遮り影を落とす"

(saigo ni mita kimi no kao, sabishige de utsumuku

koukai wa hi no hikari wo saegiri kage wo otosu)

(The last (time I've) seen your face, looking down in loneliness,

regret interrupts, casts shadow on the sunlight.)

First of all, the tenses used in this stanza are kinda confusing. Junno starts with past tense, which supports the rest of the lyrics, but then suddenly switches to infinitive. It makes me believe the "sunlight" actually represents the other person's usual personal traits, the optimism and cheerfulness that are now overshadowed by regret and loneliness. By the "shadow cast over the sunlight", he might think of something alike to solar eclipse, the eclipse that happened on that someone's heart. Regret is a very strong word here, because the other possible translation would be repentance, and not something like sadness for the things that can't be helped. So the person is the one guilty for the way he or she (I'll use she from now on, but I'm not sure who is this song addressed to) feels. The fact that she is "looking down" is supporting the assumption.

"代わり映えのない日々は『振り返るな』と促す"

(kawaribae no nai hibi wa "furikaeruna" to unagasu)

(days without changes for the better are warning "not to look back")

I must note that "furikaeruna" (don't look back) is used as a strong prohibition mood, a negative imperative, so I felt that "warn" is a better word to use than "urge" or "suggest".

This line might be the vital point of the song. Yet it's impossible for me to figure out if Junno thinks of himself or the person to whom the song is dedicated. Japanese is like that, I guess.

But what I can figure out is that it, besides supporting the "regret" I talked about, indicates the strong fear of what has happened/was done in the past. It might also explain the name of the song very well. In the following parts of the song, we can see that the fear is felt not only towards the past, but the future too, with only a minimal inkling of hope. It explains the general gloomy feeling of the melody and the song itself very well.

The future doesn't seem brighter, the days keep on coming and going in the same sorrowful mood and from that, (I might be jumping into conclusions now) the "don't look back" is an opposite of the "what doesn't kill me-makes me stronger".

Another meaning might be that (long gone) past was a good one, and that remembering those times will be painful for the beholder. This theory is a bit more convincing one, because of the rest of the song. The future isn't promising, and one is aware that it's impossible to bring back the happiness that was back then.

"色褪せた君を手にし、眺める事が罪でも・・・ "

(Iroaseta kimi wo te ni shi, nagameru koto ga tsumi demo...)

(In hand holding the discolored you, overlooking is a crime, but...)

In this line it's obvious that Junno is the one who performs the action.

Something here makes me think he feels a bit superior to the one he's "holding in his hand", he feels pity for the person who is "fading". The person who was once alike to the "sunlight" (first stanza), but who is now dying inside. I'd rather translate the "overlooking" or "gazing at" as "staring", but that's just not the word used. However I have a strong feeling he wanted to use mitsumeru (stare) but it just sounded too harsh. It really feels like a crime or a sin to stare at someone you can't help, doesn't it?

"移り変わる季節の中、君を想うよ

白黒に褪せた思い出を手繰り寄せ"

(utsurikawaru kisetsu no naka, kimi wo omou yo

shirokuro ni aseta omoide wo taguri yose)

(In the changing seasons, I think of you,

pulling in the last moves on memories that faded into black and white)

The first line of this part might not be so important for the song itself, but it's noting that Junno is not having any negative feeling towards the other person which couldn't be 100% confirmed from the previous.

The other line has a lot of feelings in it. Like the person, memories also got discolored. It could be because he can't watch her the same way he did before, she lost her charming colors and memories of how the past was were affected by it. Again I wasn't sure how to translate, this time the line's predicate. "Pulling in" is as in "pulling the rope", and "the last moves" are as in the game of, eg chess, the conclusion of everything. Their together memories are coming to an end, possibly by force. The force might be the reason for her regret. Further speculations would be too much, I think.

"幾億の星の下、僕は祈るよ

『光溢れる日々を』と・・・"

(ikuoku no hoshi no moto, boku wa inoru yo

"hikari afureru hibi wo" to...)

(under how many hundreds of millions stars, I pray

"days overflowed by light"...)

The hope that future might get better reflects here. The enormous number of stars probably have the meaning of how much he wishes the prayer will come true.

The second and the last sentence of the song, his prayer, is not finished. It leaves the opportunity to make our own meaning to the whole song. Does he want those beautiful days of the past back? Or does he just hope he can find light in his life again? Really, if you think of it, each ending would make the whole song completely different. That's the beauty of unfinished, it leaves the space to put our own feelings to it and relate to the song better.