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Have a music!
I was looking for some inspiration when Shiina Ringo's Tsumi to Batsu (YouTube) came on. Much as I can get snobby about, "Oh, you can't really appreciate it unless you can understand the lyrics," this is one of the most sonically perfect songs I know -- those guitars! That screaming! That little rolled "r" on "yamate-doori"!
But it was a few days ago that I heard the song that I really needed to hear, which is Bump of Chicken's Kanojo to Hoshi no Isu (YouTube). Sometimes I feel silly about liking them because they keep singing about optimism and self-esteem and I wonder if their target audience is about fourteen. But what I really like, in this song and in "Diamond" and in a lot of their other songs, is this insistence on your right to make your voice heard. Their insistence on a participatory culture, and not just a culture of commercial production and consumption. You can spend all your time making snarky comments about the American Idol contestants if you want -- but at some point, you've gotta stand up on your chair and start singing.
Bad translation below.
Sitting by herself on a chair
In front of the TV, she lit a cigarette.
On TV, she watched the stars singing,
And said with sarcasm and a puff of smoke,
Do you really think you're gonna be a star?
Just sitting there, unable to do anything,
And even if you do try
You're just going to look pathetic.
What's more pointless than that?
By herself, by the window at night,
She's singing at the stars.
"What is it that I really want to do, anyway?"
She asks, with smoke and anxiety.
That song that you're singing, even while terrified,
Is the song that's understood you,
The song that protected you so many times,
From every kind of fierce rain.
Now, look around!
The stage you should be standing on is right in front of you.
By herself, by the window in the morning,
She's sitting on a chair, singing --
Singing the first melody from someone who wants people to see the real her
Singing part of the song just to hear "Cut!" before it's even finished --
It can't end that way!
Gradually, you start to get closer to yourself
Gradually, you start to see who you really are
What's more joyous than that?
By herself, in front of the TV,
She's standing up on a chair, singing.
But it was a few days ago that I heard the song that I really needed to hear, which is Bump of Chicken's Kanojo to Hoshi no Isu (YouTube). Sometimes I feel silly about liking them because they keep singing about optimism and self-esteem and I wonder if their target audience is about fourteen. But what I really like, in this song and in "Diamond" and in a lot of their other songs, is this insistence on your right to make your voice heard. Their insistence on a participatory culture, and not just a culture of commercial production and consumption. You can spend all your time making snarky comments about the American Idol contestants if you want -- but at some point, you've gotta stand up on your chair and start singing.
Bad translation below.
Sitting by herself on a chair
In front of the TV, she lit a cigarette.
On TV, she watched the stars singing,
And said with sarcasm and a puff of smoke,
Do you really think you're gonna be a star?
Just sitting there, unable to do anything,
And even if you do try
You're just going to look pathetic.
What's more pointless than that?
By herself, by the window at night,
She's singing at the stars.
"What is it that I really want to do, anyway?"
She asks, with smoke and anxiety.
That song that you're singing, even while terrified,
Is the song that's understood you,
The song that protected you so many times,
From every kind of fierce rain.
Now, look around!
The stage you should be standing on is right in front of you.
By herself, by the window in the morning,
She's sitting on a chair, singing --
Singing the first melody from someone who wants people to see the real her
Singing part of the song just to hear "Cut!" before it's even finished --
It can't end that way!
Gradually, you start to get closer to yourself
Gradually, you start to see who you really are
What's more joyous than that?
By herself, in front of the TV,
She's standing up on a chair, singing.