鼓動
PulseLyrics: Sakurai Atsushi
Translation: Lola
Wrapped forever in complete happiness
One day born to the pain of this world, voice raised
Embraced by the mother star telling me goodbye
A heartbeat is heard, surely a pulse begins to flutter and eyes open
Why live? I don't know but nevertheless I do so passionately*
I think I want to go on living if I am loved
I'm sorry, thank you
Your pulse lives in this world, fleeting yet beautiful
The pulse of everything is living in this world, fleeting yet shining
That day I was embraced by absolute peacefulness
One day you will be wrapped in the sadness of this world
Calmly watched over by mother's star that now dies out
A heartbeat is heard, surely a pulse begins to flutter and eyes open
Why was I born? I don't know but nevertheless I live passionately
I think I want to go on living if I am loved
I wish to go on living if I am loved
I'm sorry, thank you
Your pulse lives in this world, fleeting yet beautiful
The pulse of everything is living in this world, fleeting yet shining
Your pulse lives in this world, there is no sadness
The person I love is living in this world, there is no sadness
Notes: * Here the literal word translates as 'intensely' or 'violently', but it's also used during concerts in Japan when telling people to cheer with enthusiasm. So...it's one of those wonderfully versatile words.
楽園
EdenLyrics: Sakurai Atsushi
Translation: Lola
The kingdom of love is here, a paradise where loving people embrace each other, all of eternity can be as inviting as spring
The land of love is a flowering paradise where peace continues to grow
What could you want more than this?
In an unknown city, unknown people bleed, eyes filled with sadness
While here it is a surreal* story
On the television a melodrama of bitter voices talk on an on
With a show of shedding tears lightly, I lowered my eyes
The children of god kill each other in the garden of love and I dream in indifference
The kingdom of love is here, a paradise where we love one another and comfort each other, faces mirroring each other's smile
An incurable illness from a gunshot, we love one another and hurt each other
What do you wish for more than that?
Both my father and mother are kind, burnt earth and black rain
With a show of shedding tears lightly, I lowered my eyes
The children of god kill each other in the garden of love and I dream in indifference
The children of god kill each other in the garden of love and I am here, indifferent to it
Notes: *literally 'dreamy story' but given the context, not many people who see people dying on tv say 'it's like a dream' do they? The image conveyed strikes me as that sort of...detached disbelief when you see suffering in areas removed from you. So while, 'dreamy story' works in Japanese, in English people just don't say that.
Regarding the title, I translated it as Eden but I mean it in the broad sense of the term, not restricted to the Biblical sense. As while the individual kanji could be translated as 'pleasure garden' or 'paradise', the lyrics seem to be about the fall of grace of humanity. Humanity's ignorance towards each other, endlessly. Yet...once there was this paradise. So, I thought Eden fit. That and restricting it to a garden of pleasure seemed...simply too constricting, especially as the paradise he writes of seems like more than pleasure, it's peace & beauty, it's harmony. Pleasure makes it sound like...a garden of debauchery or something. *laughs* But I think it's supposed to transcend all that. Other references of rakuen within the song were simply translated as 'paradise'.