The Lyrics Discussion Thread

[Osiris12345]

^ Interesting point about Tegami and Rakujitsu being sister songs. I've always felt like they were of a similar mold lyrically. And I love the interpretation that Tegami is the person who left and Rakujitsu is the person that was left behind.

The Shouso Strip recording of Tsumi to Batsu has always been my favorite song of hers, solo or Jihen. I've made that no secret on this forum. But I've always had a question about one of the lines in the lyrics. What exactly does "Don't love dangerous screams" mean?

[frecklegirl]

Well, let's pick this apart! That's not my translation (someday I'll replace it with my own) but it's a pretty literal rendering of exactly what the Japanese says! Let's see if we can delve deeper...

不穏な悲鳴を愛さないで

The first word, fuon, translated as 'dangerous' by the other person, comes up in my dictionary as 'unrest/turbulence/impropriety.' When I look it up in another dictionary I get 'disquieting' and 'threatening.' Also meanings like 'unsettling', 'troublemaking,' 'rabble-rousing.'

If I were translating I don't think I'd go with 'dangerous,' but in any case the line still doesn't make a whole lot of sense. You also have to think--because this is left vague in Japanese by nature--is it one scream (or shriek), or multiple screams? Is it a specific scream or just a general one? "Don't love the disquieting scream[s]/Don't love a disquieting scream"? Many options to decide among.

And what exactly does "disquieting scream" mean, is it possibly a previously used/common phrase that refers to something? This is when I Google the phrase... and look! I find a Japanese Yahoo answers asking the same question. "What the heck does this line mean?" (So we know it's mysterious even in Japanese!) The person answering says it refers to the time when she was hospitalized for working too hard basically, and the "scream" is when she was continuing to sing despite being so busy she was pushing herself too hard (and this was corroborated by an interview with her). In that case we know it's referring to something specific so we can say "the." But it's probably plural since she wasn't just singing once. "Shriek" also seems to refer more to singing so I'd choose that over "scream" (some people would think a shriek sound fits right in with her nasal voice).

This is also probably--I don't know since I haven't delved into the lyrics myself yet--part of a longer phrase. So it's not "don't love" so much as "without loving... [do something else]" -- like a command not to love them/think they're good since they're born out of something bad. I think, anyway. My opinion could change as I get deeper into it.

I ended up giving a lesson on translation/peek into my thought process when I translate I guess!

"Without loving the disquieting shrieks..."

[Osiris12345]

Thank you so much for the help, frecklegirl! I really appreciate it! You've actually helped me have a much better understanding of the line, especially given the context you provided with Ringo's personal life. It's posts like those that really make me look forward to seeing your translations!

[s3r3nity]

I didn't know where else to put this...but anyone have any ideas as to why Sigma is called Sigma? I know the symbol means "summation" in mathematics, but I don't know if that fits the lyrics or not...any ideas?

[AaryaSiddharth]

koko de kiss shite (kiss me here) is one of my favorite lyrics of SHIINA in English. I love that song. sid to Hakuchuumu is also nice and lovely.