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Old 2009.07.12, 11:07 PM   #47
kuro_neko
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Originally Posted by frecklegirl View Post
I dunno, I disagree. The lyrics don't change so how can the meaning behind them? Plus, when she asks for the cotton handkerchief, it is very much a dig at him. "Hey, I know you said you wanted to get me a gift, and now you're leaving me--so here's what I want, a cotton handkerchief to wipe my tears, JERK." She isn't complaining outright but she is very much making her feelings clear that she is annoyed about this (especially when she calls it "a last selfishness [from me]"--like, "oh, soooo sorry to inconvenience you as your long-distance girlfriend you're supposed to CARE ABOUT"); it's almost passive-aggressive.
really? I don't get that vibe. this song is quite sad to me. then again, most traditional Japanese songs, even pop, contain a melancholy story usually focusing on leaving a loved one or love lost or sake or what have you. I think the Japanese woman in this song is quite traditional, hence when she says "my last selfishness" I don't think she is being passive aggressive, I think she is just being uber polite, the same way when you gift a gift you say something like "tsumaraimono desu kedo" "this is a quite uninteresting gift..." then you follow it with "but please enjoy it!" etc etc. It is just the Japanese trait of putting yourself down in order to be humble and raise your host. Especially with traditional marriages a wife normally puts herself down for her husband, so that is what I sense here. When she says she wants a cotton handerkercheif from him to cry into, I don't think she is taking a snip at him, I sense her as being quite sad and honestly asking this one last favor of him to remember him by. This strikes me as EXTREMELY Japanese. I've had conversations with my Japanese friends and family about this and they all agree. They usually ask when I sing it at karaoke "why would you sing such a sad song?" haha.

as for Ringo, I don't think she was pulling a Strange Little Girls here...She said her record label was being impatient about her lack of work during her pregnancy so she selected music that she was listening to quite a bit at that period and created a cover's album. I don't think she picked the music to put some female cynical commentary spin on them, most of these covers tend to remain pretty true to the spirit of the originals, just with a bit more modernized production. If anything, it reads like Ringo's love letter to her favorite songs.
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