Monday, July 2, 2012

BUCK-TICK-Dress

Guuuuuuys! Guess what! I'm finally back!
I have a few requests from facebook, so I'm starting with them first, leaving my wishlist behind *cries*
No, seriously, again I enjoy requests more than the songs I chose myself, what is this sorcery!?
To be honest, I'm not too familiar with Buck-Tick's general style, but this song is amaaaaziiiing

However, I'm taking a different approach on this one. I won't do it line to line, but I will analyze the song as a whole, since, honestly, there are so many connected things in it I don't even know how to analyze part by part.

Generally, an intro to my interpretation:
If you're familiar with Eroguro style, you probably know some of Edogawa Rampo's stories or have watched some movies inspired by or done as adaptations of Rampo's works. The one I watched, Rampo Noir, has a story Crawling Bugs included in it (it's the last one), and the moment I saw the lyrics to this song, they reminded me of the story. For those who don't know what I'm talking about, here's in short (from some website I can't find now o.O so it was written in one of Rampo Noir online reviews, not by me):
"Crawling Bugs: The story centers around a chauffeur named Masaki (again played by Tadanobu Asano) who becomes obsessed with one of his famous passengers, stage actress Fuyu Kinoshita (Tamaki Ogawa). Masaki is a certified Mysophobe (hates germs & dirt) and gets a nasty rash on his neck when he touches people. Seeing as he is madly in love with Fuyu but can't exactly touch her, he figures a way round this by killing her and taking her home to live with him?! This has to be my second favorite entry as it has some of the most surreal imagery -an almost hallucinogenic set-piece in Masaki's home (mind?) where he paints the dead actress multicolors then unsuccessfully tries to inject her with embalming fluid, resulting in a bloodbath. Plenty of black humor here too - when the police burst into Masaki's apartment he calmly pulls his head free from the rotting belly of his 'lover' and says "what?''. "  
 The things I don't really remember are all the details about his disease (it's been a year since I saw the movie) and it's not so important for what I'm aiming at with presenting this on here. It's the morbid way the man expresses his love to the woman, the way he sees her being alive and all beautiful next to him while she's just a rotting corpse in fact. He was so madly in love with her that he was ready to kill her to make her his.
Okay enough with this intro (not. WATCH THE MOVIE if you have the guts for eroguro, it's amazing!!)

BUCK-TICK
Dress (2005)
DRESS



鏡の前で君とまどろむ 薄紅の指先
その手は不意に弱さを見せて 唇をふさいだ
あの日 君と約束を 交わした
今は二人 想い出せずに
退屈な歌に耳を傾け 窓の外見つめる
僕はドレスをまとい 踊って見せよう
狂ってるかい 教えて
いつか 風にさらわれてゆくだろう
今は二人 想い出せず
僕はなぜ 風の様に雲の様に
あの空へと浮かぶ羽がない なぜ
星の様に月の様に全て包む
あの夜へと沈む羽がない ああ
忘れないで 愛あふれたあの日々
君の顔も 想い出せずに
いつか 風にかき消されてゆくだろう
今は二人 想い出せず
僕はなぜ 風の様に雲の様に
あの空へと浮かぶ羽がない なぜ
星の様に月の様に全て包む
あの夜へと沈む羽がない ああ
僕はなぜ 風の様に雲の様に
あの空へと浮かぶ羽がない なぜ
この愛もこの傷も懐かしい
今は愛しくて痛みだす ああ

(Kagami no mae de kimi to madoromu, usubeni no yubisaki,
sono te wa fui ni yowasa wo misete, kuchibiru wo fusaida
ano hi kimi to yakusoku wo kawashita
ima wa futari omoidasezu 

taikutsu na uta ni mimi wo katamuke mado no soto mitsumeru
boku wa doresu wo matoi odottemiseyou 
kurutteru kai, oshiete

itsuka kaze ni sarawarete yuku darou
ima wa futari omoidasezu 


boku wa naze kaze no you ni kumo no you ni 

ano sora e to ukabu hane ga nai naze

hoshi no you ni tsuki no you ni subete tsutsumu 
ano yoru e to shizumu hane ga nai 


wasurenaide ai afureta ano hibi

kimi no kao mo omoidasezu ni
itsuka kaze ni kaki kesarete yuku darou
ima wa futari omoidasezu


boku wa naze kaze no you ni kumo no you ni 

ano sora e to ukabu hane ga nai naze

hoshi no you ni tsuki no you ni subete tsutsumu 
ano yoru e to shizumu hane ga nai


boku wa naze kaze no you ni kumo no you ni 

ano sora e to ukabu hane ga nai naze

kono ai mo kono kizu mo natsukashii 
ima wa itoshikute itami dasu...)


(Dozing off with you in front of the mirror, light crimson fingertip
this hand that's suddenly showing weakness, closed the lips
that day we exchanged promises
Now, I don't remember us.
I tend to listen to boring songs and gaze through the window
I put on a dress and show my dance
am I crazy? Tell me.
Perhaps, the wind will wash it away once
Now, I don't remember us.
Why do I, like the wind, like the cloud, 
float in the sky, I don't have wings. Why?
Like the star, like the moon, concealing everything,
that night, I sink into it. I don't have wings. Why?
I can't forget these days overflowed with love
I don't even remember your face.
Perhaps, the wind will delete it all once.
Now, I don't remember us
Why do I, like the wind, like the cloud,
float in the sky. I don't have wings. Why?
Like the star, like the moon, concealing everything
that night, I sink into it. I don't have wings. Why?
Why do I, like the wind, like the cloud,
float in the sky, I don't have wings. Why?
I miss this love and this scar,
and now only the pain is loved...)


I'll get straight to it and set a hypothesis that the guy (the narrator, the singer) has killed his beloved one. First is a picture of them in front of the mirror, which might symbolize the past or his memories. There could even be the possibility that he killed her in front of that mirror that reflected the act, and by that saved the memory of it. Dozing off is also a metaphorical word here, it's the memories of them that are "dozing off", fading away. He can't remember anything. We don't have a straight put picture, but I somehow imagine him standing in front of the mirror with a memory of her. His fingers seem red and hands are shaking, as if there is blood on them. He closes the lips on her body. Or he remembers doing so. 
Even though he can't remember anything, there's one reminder. Her dress. 
By listening to boring music and aimlessly staring through the window, he might be trying to forget everything, and flies away in his empty mind. He feels like he's in the sky, even more, like he IS the sky. With her, maybe?
If you're still wondering why I put the unrelated Rampo story in the beginning-here's the spoiler.
What I'm aiming at with this analysis is the direct reverse of it. 
In Rampo's story-the man is alive and his beloved one is alive with him.
In this story-The beloved one is dead and the man is dead with her.
This is a song about madness. About a man that is already dead, even though his body is still alive.
There's an especially interesting word in the refrain. It's the "naze" (Why) that's sung in the end. Neither in the lyrics text nor the song it feels connected to something. It's just there. On the first, it might seem like questioning the reasons why is he flying when he has no wings, but then again, it doesn't make so much sense when you look closer. The other way it might be understood, is "why don't I have wings", which doesn't really make any more sense either. The "Why" is only there, and I think it should be understood as such. Just as wondering, as a simple question to everything and nothing in particular.  
And the last lines are a bit changed when it comes to lyrics. The love and the scars are gone, as he can't remember anything, they're useless, and there's only pain left to "love". 



Not really my best, I confess. I can't go further with surmising as the text itself is pretty confusing. Japanese can be hard to translate, but I've never run into something that's as indefinite as this one. And for me, that's the beauty of this song.

Special thanks to my always faithful YazooNoDorei, as I would be nowhere near figuring all this out without her <3 

Oh and, one more thing guys. As I have a few requests that are somehow really needless, as the songs are pretty simple and straight-forward, I might put only the translations and a few lines of my thoughts in it. Those will probably be multi-posts. So, now you can request translations only, and if I find the song interesting, I will analyze it. Deal? 

1 comment:

  1. Sakurai Atsushi looks pretty exquisite on the cover, too bad we can't analyze this song better. But the song is very striking. For me, this repetitive 'naze' makes the strongest impression.
    I don't think you missed anything and the analysis is pretty good, so keep up with good work!
    Thanks for the credits and I'm looking forward to more collaboration with you. xD

    ReplyDelete