The spring wind out of season gently and lightly pokes at my shoulders
If I can die with you,
I don’t need this life.
The more I think about this dream-like reality, the more my tears fall down.
The beautifully dazzling sun rays of the beginning of spring
melt the sleeping season*
and overflow, just like when a river arrives at the sea.
With my feeling overflowing, I once again cut my hair,
in the look in the those innocent eyes that have lost their colour, lingers my resolve**.
If you will cry for me,
then I’ll have no lingering regret in this world***,
I don’t wish any more than that, so, see you again, one day.
If we can meet by chance somewhere,
please, God,
let us have happiness at least in our next world,
because I’m passing away…
Notes and Other
*=the sleeping season is winter
**=since the song is written by the standpoint of a person committing suicide, the resolve they talk about is about killing oneself
***= it is a Buddhist belief integrated in Japanese culture, saying that in order to probably die, one has to get rid of all his/her lingering regret/affection in this world.
The last single of the band before going on hiatus, probably written with that in mind and therefore creating a parallel between the hiatus and suicide.
“It looks like you are pretty confident about your chest, but that’s not where your beauty is”
That woman is not my type, I don’t like her look nor her personality, BUT!
I’m not lying, I want to meet her, I can’t believe it,
yeah, you are a “Black Lucky Girl*”, aren’t you?
I get “great luck” at the written oracle**,
I win a hundred thousand yen*** at the lottery,
I get all six star-shaped piko****
yeah, you are a “Black Lucky Girl*”, aren’t you?
When I tried to avoid you, suddenly it turned into a bad luck day,
I got stuck into a discussion with a delinquent with regent style hair*****.
“Hey you, I don’t like you,
I’ll punch until you spit your guts out”******
NO! Black Lucky Girl*!
When I buy a lunch-box
there are no chopsticks included,
I even lose the key to my bicycle.
NO! Black Lucky Girl*!
The film that I rent
is going to be projected that friday for free on the road, NO!
I want to see you, no matter what, I love you so much,
my black lucky girl*!
You always wear that dirty necklace,
even if I had to sacrifice my body,
I will never give you to anyone.
You always bring good luck for anything
and never turn anything to nothing,
bringing it back to me.
Are you God?
Are you a Zashiki Warashi*******?
Are you one of the Seven God of Fortune********?
Are you a Chabashira*********?
Are you a Power-spot**********?
Are you a beckoning cat?
No, I am
a black lucky girl*!
Lu-cky girl! Lu-cky girl!
Everybody say Black lu-cky girl!
Lu-cky girl! Lu-cky girl!
Everybody say Black lu-cky girl!
Lu-cky girl! Lu-cky girl!
Everybody say Black lu-cky girl!
Lu-cky girl! Lu-cky girl!
Everybody say Black lu-cky girl!
You know, the lucky charm you gave me,
no matter how lame it is or how much I want to throw it away,
it’s always better to bring it with me.
When I put it into my chest pocket,
the bullet didn’t pierce my body, I wasn’t killed,
I’m so glad I lived through that!
Why we don’t meet anymore?
You got killed in an accident,
I’m all alone now.
When I sold your dirty necklace to a pawn shop,
it turns out it was the long lost necklace of Marie Antoinette***********
and so I got enough money that I can just keep living without doing nothing.
Yeah, you really are until the end,
a “Black Lucky Girl*”
Notes and Other
*= “Ageman” is kinda of a bad term to indicate women who bring luck to their partners while they are together, the “black” part was just added to make it similar to the title of Royz’s “Kuro Ageha” (Black butterfly), of which this song is a parody.
**=it’s simply one of the tickets that one can try his/her luck with at any temple. “Great luck” is the best oracle one can get.
***= around a thousand dollars or euros.
****=piko are a very popular kind of ice cream that comes in a small box containing six pieces. Usually they are round shaped, but they produce even the “lucky” ones with the shape of a star and they randomly put them into the normal boxes.
*****= it’s the classic delinquent hair style in Japan.
******=here’s the delinquent speaking, of course in a very dirty way, almost impossible to translate.
*******= they are small statues of children, said to bring luck and protect households, especially in the Kansai area.
********=As the name suggest, they are 7 divinities that bring luck in different fields.
*********=When a piece of tea leaf falls into your tea cup and remains suspended, it is called “cha-bashira” (literally “tea pillar”) and it is said to bring good luck.
**********= pretty much any area that is said to have some kind of magic aura or power.
***********=as in the Queen of France, it’s probably just not a true necklace, but it has been put there to give it a more fancy aura to the thing.
Words in Italic are in English in the original lyrics
Oh my god, this song is so stupid but genius at the same time, I love it. I think all you need to know is in the notes. Enjoy!
The rain that has started to fall gives me a vague feeling,
it descends down on the city without a sound,
so weakly that I almost don’t understand
if the city is getting wet or not.
If it supposed to rain,
why doesn’t it rain properly?
It gets me on my nerves.
It doesn’t say anything,
but it looks like it’s saying something,
I hate it, I hate it,
shut up!
I am alive,
even though sometime I look like I’m dead,
The fog that I always
carry in my chest never let the sun out.
The rain that has started to fall
gives me a vague feeling,
it slowly soaks into my body
and gets almost disgustingly
to a temperature nor good nor bad.
Even if I’m sad,
my tears don’t fall.
Even if I’m happy,
I can’t smile no more.
The person who I wanted do become is not this,
I just kept running, where am I now?
If it supposed to rain,
why doesn’t it rain properly?
It gets me on my nerves.
It doesn’t say anything,
but it looks like it’s saying something,
I hate it, I hate it,
shut up!
A city where light rain falls,
the city where I live,
what will I do tomorrow?
If it rains more,
if I could cry more,
even if I hurt, even if I hurt,
will I be fine?
Notes and Other
A song about the melancholy feeling of not being able to define one’s deep sadness, just like when rain falls so lightly that cannot distinguish it from fog.
Kanji: Taken from the official comment of the band
Translation
Title (Taken from the official comment of the band): A stinging Spica*
When I looked at you spinning round and round,
I ended up chanting
pain, pain, fly away**!
You know, recently,
we don’t really meet each other’s eyes,
and even if you are there standing, you are not there.
Just as always, inside my heart,
I suffer and then laugh right after.
You know, yesterday, I tried to think
that maybe I’m the one over-thinking about it.
Just as always, inside my heart,
I deceive myself and cry.
But, definitely, right now,
when I look at your face…
Hey, something has happened to you, hasn’t it?
Even though only tears come out,
I’m listening
to the heartbeat of the you of my imagination.
The thorn on your back hurt so much
I ended up chanting
pain, pain, fly away**!
You know, recently,
your replies are a bit ambiguous,
I’m always the only one starting the conversation,
but I have to be the kind myself,
what do you think about me?
I could see my silhouette
inside you get dimmer and dimmer,
even though I remember everything,
however small it may be…
… even that song that you were listening to.
Hey, something has happened to you, hasn’t it?
Even though only tears come out,
I’m caring
about the heartbeat of the you of my imagination.
Hey, let me be by your side!
Even if your thorns prick me,
I once again dream
about that smile of yours.
The one spinning round and round it’s not you***,
won’t you please look at my eyes once again?
The thorn on my back hurt so much,
I realized that when we first got far away,
I’m begging you!
Notes and Other
*=Spica is the name of a star linked to the legend of two lovers who got separated for eternity, except for a single day every year, in which they finally meet. Wikipedia will give you plenty more information, anyway, because of this myth is kinda common to find this theme in love song about longing a far away partner.
**= it is kinda of a chant used to calm down children after they got hurt, so the sentence itself has a cute childish nuance.
***= My translation is not necesarilly gramatically correct, but it felt more correct to translate it this way (the literal translation would be: “It’s not the you spinning round and round”): I’ll keep it this way until I got more proof on how it should be translated.
One other love song from Polkadot Stingray, this time talking about the relation between the main character and the partner who, when together, end up hurting each other, but long for each other when they are far away.
Hi, happy 2020! It has been some time since the last update, I think 6 months or so (maybe not that much, but they do feel like a really long time).
Also, I’m so sorry for not having been consistent with my uploads and replying to comments veeeeery late, so, again, I’m sorry. Sure, 2019 was a busy area, and although I feel I managed to do many important things in my life, I also feel like I ended up spending more time planning rather than doing what I planned. I don’t know, it’s strange, but it felt like I couldn’t be completely efficient, even when it was about translation: on one hand I feel like I can translate waaaay faster than before, but on the other hand I couldn’t push myself doing it. SO, I’M SORRY!
Next, there’s a good news and a bad news. The good one is that, having to study for my master thesis, I learned so much useful knowledge on both Visual Kei and, more in general, about the scene in Japan from the 80s: all useful notions for the blog.
The bad news is that I’m not done with my studies: this situation will probably go on until June or so, even though I should have less things to do than this fall.
Whatever the case, I’ll keep translating pretty much any release that catches my ear AND all the songs that I will need to integrate in my thesis, hopefully giving a decent commentary on it: there’s going to be classics alongside personal picks.
I don’t know how the rest is going to unravel, for now, let’s start this year with some positivity!