Hide Your Face
Dice
Lyrics: hide
Translation: w_b
The world ahead of you seems haunted
You're chased by time's unforgiving weight
Pursued by the ghosts of your past
And as you rot away
Some are swept away, others you make peace with
Cross yourself now as the conduit to your consciousness is cut
Let's bring into bloom the flower of your dreams
Before it can wither it'll be plucked
Its bud will blossom with time
And tell you which ideals it holds true to
Hold on to your dreams
You won't see ahead when we step into this sea
And when no familiar sight remains
Lie down to sleep, flowers in your arms
If you reach out your hands will be pushed away and into oblivion you'll fade
Your compensation for transience is a wasteful release of libido
You'll realize this painful struggle is the reason
While in the mirror your reflection still screams to be taught the purpose of existence
Let's water that parched flower you carry within
And if your body is not barren yet
It might burst into bloom or wither away
On one of the two the dice will fall
We'll bring into bloom the flower of your dreams
Before it can wither it'll be plucked
Its bud will blossom with time
And tell you which past it holds on to
Scanner
Lyrics: hide
Translation: w_b
Up in Heaven
Even Einstein marvels
At your brain of unfathomable
Cosmic size
At the sight of your smile
Bright as the morning dew
From her frame even Mona Lisa
Packs her bags and flees by night
What do you see? What do you want?
What is it you want to do?
I keep staring at you
I'm always observing you
It's for you that I watch you with a smile
So come on, love me!
I'm being nice to you
And when I don't say a selfish word
When I let you talk with me
Be jealous, lash out, show your true nature (1)
* Scan your brain, Scan your bone.
I can see through it all
Scan your brain, Scan your bone.
So kid yourself now while you can
Scan your brain, Scan your bone.
You're an imitation, a paper tiger
Scan your brain, Scan your bone.
You should be howling that ignorance is bliss
Scan you all
If I split your head open
And looked inside
I'd find a laughing tanuki
Bald as a rubber ball (2)
Go and sleep peacefully now
Don't cry when I take your head
Curse your wordly belongings
The bell will toll their impermanence
*repeat
Scan your brain, Scan your bone.
Scan your brain, Scan your bone.
Scan your brain, Scan your bone.
Scan your brain, Scan your bone. Scan you all
Notes:
1. This line is make up of three expressions, 'tsuno dase', 'yari dase', and 'shippo dase'. hide chose to write the first word of each phonetically in katakana instead of using the proper kanji. And that's why I'd argue you can also interpret this line in a literal way. "Show your horns, brandish your spear, show your tail." It makes the person in question seem like quite the demon, doesn't it?
2. If anyone knows the significance of a bald tanuki, please let me know? A tanuki is known as a trickster among other things so maybe being bald would mean it has run out of tricks? I can only speculate.
Eyes Love You
Lyrics: Yukinojo Mori
Translation: w_b
In the city of Sodom
My crimson gaze collects beautiful women
Like a moth or butterfly pinned by a needle
You can't stir now that you're mine
How useless the heart is
I don't even want to touch upon it, My Love
At night blue eyes
Are a swirling mozaic of madness and despair
In the dark I'll run my tongue all over your body
So water my rose
* Eyes love you. but my heart can't love you so
This afterimage of a Venus
My eyes love you so let's make love
In this room from a fantasy
Eyes love you
Now that I've cast you aside
My eyes love you, to imprison you inside of a tear
It's my dream to make you sink in
...there are no laws to try an obsession by (1)
Not long ago you confessed to strangling an angel
I felt like it was love that died
How useless the heart is
You learn everyone's tormented, from up close
* repeat
Notes:
1. hide sings 'yume' while in the booklet the line reads 'mousou (yume)'. While 'yume' has the meaning of a dream or fantasy, 'mousou' is a delusion, a fantasy gone wild, an obsession. To me it feels more appropriate for that line given the nature of the lyrics.
D.O.D. (Drink or Die)
Lyrics: hide
Translation: w_b
It's our usual golden waters shower time
Gentlemen and ladies, boys and girls will act the fool over drink
The hated sun has gone down and there's a sea of alcohol waiting
This is our science lab where we soak in formalin (1)
Whether a preaching or a crying drunk, at the end we're all the same
Shake Your Head. Shake My Head.
But is it worth drinking if I dread the hangover?
Then drink three days and nights straight and you won't be afraid (2)
GUN! GUN! GUN!
My brain's melting yet still the empty bottles shine
DAN! DAN! DAN! DAN!
And I don't care what happens once my memory fades
My fingers are shaking and my speech is slurred
But I'm a 180% proof human firebomb (3)
From town to town, from bar to bar
I'm an eternal alcohol gypsy
Nihonshu, bourbon, beer with absinthe
Shochu, doburoku, tequila (4)
I'm ready for anything, bring on the alcohol
No use dreading the hospital now, will you drink?
If you get hurt, why not party in Obstetrics and Gynecology?
DAN! DAN! DAN!
I'm gettin' hungin' over & over
But I don't care, Just wanna drink
Give me alcohol.
GAN! GAN! GAN!
Go crazy out of my mind.
D.O.D. Nought to choose.
D.O.D. Call me stupid.
D.O.D. Fuckin' It's my way.
Notes:
1. Formalin is a formaldehyde solution (about 40% formaldehyde to 100% water) used to disinfect and preserve.
2. There's a funny play on words going on here. You see, in Japanese a hangover is called 'futsuka yoi' or literally, 'second day drunkenness'. So if you're scared of being futsuka yoi, then drink for 3 days and you'll have nothing to fear!! ;p
3. Literally, a human Molotov. You know, that bomb in a bottle. ;p
4. Nihonshu is Japanese rice wine. Shochu is usually distilled from barley, sweet potatoes or rice and is about 25% proof. And Doburoku is often homebrewed sake, unrefined and sometimes...chunky.
Doubt
Lyrics: hide
Translation: w_b
Go on, give up that secret
Give up that dirty, juicy (1)
Fishy secret
You're all clutching hidden in your hands
And the instant it hits fertile ground
It'll turn into a tasty Dinner you'll tear into
Leftover scraps flung about
Take me Trash Take me Trash You Trash
Come on, show me the frogs you've collected in your pond (2)
With tears in my eyes
I beg the Noh chanting frogs that I look alike
Hey Gentlemen, is that water simply that sweet?
Gentlemen, if there's a diamond beneath it then eat up this shit
Doubt Doubt Doubt You, if they let you slaughter a lump of meat you'd even cut through the bone
Doubt Doubt Doubt You, so goes the song about the elegance [transience] of rabies (3)
Doubt Doubt Doubt You, if they let you slaughter a lump of meat you'd even splinter the bones
Doubt Doubt Doubt Doubt Doubt You
You're blind to what's right before your eyes
Your offers aren't worth the price
I won't be a chihuaua begging for treats
I used to dance to your tune
Swimming in the pond that is my dilemma you're all self-hating Jelly Fish
Scraps of music dangling from your henoheno moheji faces (4)
Whose true colors I've never seen
Doubt Doubt Doubt You, there you were laughing but you're murderers in your dreams
Doubt Doubt Doubt You, and the techno skulls on your fancy clothes
Doubt Doubt Doubt Doubt Doubt You
And the bratty bullshit you romanticize
Doubt Doubt Doubt You, don't assume I'm faceless like you
Doubt Doubt Doubt You, if they let you slaughter a lump of meat you'd even cut through the bone
Doubt Doubt Doubt You, you really are blind to what's before your eyes
Doubt Doubt Doubt Doubt Doubt You
The twins inside my head scream
Doubt Doubt Doubt You, gorge yourselves now on these shards of chaos
Doubt Doubt
Doubt Doubt
Doubt Doubt
Doubt Doubt Doubt Doubt
Doubt Doubt Doubt You
Hey Gentlemen
Notes:
1. I just wanted to point out how cool the original Japanese line is here. 'ギトギト油ギッシュ', 'gitogito aburagisch'. 'Gitogito' = sticky, oily, grimy. 'Aburagisch' is boy speech actually, an amalgam of the word for oil, 'abura', and ~isch, an ending used in German adjectives. And while 'aburagisch' literally means fat or chubby, I find pretty clever the fact that it's been paired up with 'gitogito', a word that would be used to qualify something oily.
2. 井の中の蛙, 'i no naka no kawazu', is the saying embedded in this line. It can be taken as big fish in a small pond but another meaning lurks behind~ And that is, a person who is ignorant or inexperienced in the ways of the world. So to show the frogs one's accumulated in a pond could be taken as admitting to one's ignorance.
There's more to this play on words though! 'Kawazu' actually means frog, as well as 'kaeru' which hide uses two lines down. So yes, it is the Noh-chanting frogs who are in that pond. Or maybe is it Noh-chanting ignorants? You decide.
On top of that, there is also the saying "i no naka no kawazu, taikai wo shirazu". Literally, a frog inside a well knows nothing of the ocean. It refers to people who, knowing absolutely nothing of the wide world, are proud of their limited, narrow views.
3. The reason you see the word 'transience' in brackets is because while hide sings 'elegance', in the lyric booklet he has added 'transience' to the line, right after 'elegance'. It's a pretty effective way of giving the sentence double meaning.
4. A henoheno moheji is a cartoon/caricature face drawn using hiragana characters. You can see an example here, on wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henohenomoheji
A Story
Lyrics: hide
Translation: w_b
The broken clock tells a story
"I want all to close their eyes
I want to think it all a dream
When I wake"
You and I will become debris
Covered in worn out words
And dusty memories
Before and after, nothing will remain
Holy fallin'
The wind piercing my skin carries forth sand
Holy fallin'
By the time we awake we'll have become but a mound beneath the sand
The broken clock tells a story
The broken clock tells a story
The broken clock tells a story
I'm staring at a broken clock...
FROZEN BUG '93
Lyrics: hide
Translation: w_b
HUMAN LOVES & HUMAN VICES
DECADE OF EDGES & DECADE OF RICH
FROZEN VOICES & CLOSIN' HEART
GE' OU' HERE BEFORE I'M IN BED. DEAD IN BED.
ELEVEN, 12, 13, ......45
BLACK SHEEP WAS RUNNING INTO MY HEAD.
I GOT A HANGING OVER DAY BY DAY.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY SWEET D.N.A.
In time yesterday will thaw
Memories smeared with vomit will spew forth
I am terrified of those insects
Wriggling round and round the inside of my head
* FROZEN MASS, FROZEN BUG.
I HAVE SEEN YOU EAT YOUR OWN.
FROZEN MASS, FROZEN BUG.
I WANNA EAT YOU GOVERNMENT GIRL.
FROZEN MASS, FROZEN BUG.
WHO KNOWS WHO I AM? I DON'T CARE.
FROZEN MASS, FROZEN BUG.
HOW CAN I GET YOU? I'M PARALYZED.
I DON'T KNOW WHAT I WANNA KNOW
CAN YOU KILL ME? CAN YOU BITE ME?
MY OPTINAL BRAIN & EXTRA COCK
WHERE IS MY JESUS? WHERE AM I GOIN'?
When morning comes those insects will change
They'll grow colorful wings
WANNA BE A MOSQUITO
WANNA BE A MOSQUITO
WANNA BE A MOSQUITO
WANNA BE A MOSQUITO
* repeat
FROZEN MASS, FROZEN BUG.
WHO KNOWS WHO I AM? I'M IN TRANCE.
FROZEN MASS, FROZEN BUG.
I'M KINDA FEELIN' FROZEN BUG
Blue Sky Complex
Lyrics: hide
Translation: w_b
A suffocating stench of herbs
Beneath the blue god of death
Oh blue sky. Beneath you insolent flowers bloom off-season
Feel like a suicide, I become ordinary when even my sex appeal melts off
Coloring the world in pastels
In off-key chocolate hues
Oh blue sky, It's just a sunshine junkie.
Ah I'm in a gaudy waking nightmare so Ge' out my way
Constantly checking my watch I keep inquiring about their mood
Until my brain dries up like a sea urchin and I throw myself down awaiting the night's curtain
Oh blue sky. Make yourself beautiful for this is our last farewell
Oh suicide. Make me laugh by rising in the West and sinking into the East sometime
* Runnin' through, Under the sun.
Runnin' with the moonlight shinin'
Ridin' on the wind,
Com'n' get me babe.
Runnin' through, Under the sun.
Runnin' with the moonlight shinin'
Ridin' on the wind,
Com'n' take me to nightmare.
I wanna make love with moonlight,
Bask me dark and vice.
I find out something new life,
Don't wanna let me go.
Wanna make love with moonlight,
Please take me to the darkness.
Wanna make love with moonshine.
Please take me deep & deep.
* repeat
Runnin' through, Under the sun.
Runnin' with the moonlight shinin'
Ridin' on the wind,
Com'n' get me babe.
No blue-sky, No blue-sky, No blue-sky, Blue sky complex.
No blue-sky, No blue-sky, No blue-sky, Blue sky complex.
Oblaat (1)
Lyrics: hide
Translation: w_b
My eye's oblaat is stuck
And won't come off
Yet you pretend not to notice at all
Once you start talking you go on and on
Yet without this guy you'd be at a loss
And nothing serious would ever get done
You're too paranoid about balancing duty and your human desires (2)
Is there no good will in this world? (3)
Blind bird in cage (so what!?)
It's so easy way
Bound by the burden
Of monochromatic gold and silver
We share in our persecution mania
In this sterile bubble (4)
Never mind my friends the stones that cut your feet when you walk barefoot
Yeah Make it rough Make me high
Never mind my friends those rainy days when without an umbrella you might get drenched
Just laugh it off if that's as bad as it gets
Again this morning my eye's oblaat rears its weak neck
The moment I wake it asks with a scream which reality [dream] should it show me (5)
Never mind my friends, it's better to turn a blind eye
Don't you broaden your mind
Never mind my friends, fly out the window without a care (6)
Get along with everyone, spread the superficiality
Wiped out Ha Ha Ha
Never mind my friends, let's tell our story with these curious words
And flip off those who laugh (7)
Never mind my friends those rainy days when without an umbrella you might get drenched
Just laugh it off if that's as bad as it gets
Take it easy dear my friends
I don't wanna see anymore
Leave me alone
Go away from me now
Ge' away ge' away ge' away ge' away
Right now!!
Coatin' OBLAAT
Coatin' OBLAAT
Notes:
1. The word 'oblaat' itself comes from the Dutch language. It's the colorless and tasteless gel that you find surrounging pill capsules. It gives the pills their shape and makes them easy to swallow. Interestingly, there's an expression, オブラートに包む, 'oblaat ni tsutsumu' (lit. to wrap something in an oblaat), which means to say something indirectly, to avoid words that might make too harsh of an impact.
2. Ok, that's a pretty loaded sentence. First, there's 疑心暗鬼, 'gishin anki'. If you're going to use a single word to translate it, then I find 'paranoia' fits best. 'Gishin anki' means getting carried away with your suspicions, how when you suspect one thing everything else starts looking suspicious as well. Then there's 義理と人情, 'giri to ninjou', which is a pretty important japanese concept. (although you could say it applies not only in Japan...) In very simple terms, it's the balance each and every person has to find in their life in order to be able to function as a part of society. The balance between 'giri', their moral and social obligations, and their 'ninjou', their human feelings and desires.
3. The original expression this sentence is derived from, is 渡る世間に鬼はない, 'wataru seken ni oni ha nai'. Meaning, there is goodness to be found everywhere.
4. Erm...what can I say about this. If you know anything about Japan...you'll know what kind of a paranoid, xenophobic bubble it is.
5. Again, the double lyric 'reality [dream]' comes from the booklet, except that this time hide sings the word in brackets. Think about it. ;)
6. I used 'without a care', however, the word 極楽トンボ, 'gokuraku tonbo', actually has a few very interesting meanings. It can describe a slovenly son who forever stays under his parents' care. It can be a derogatory word to call an unemployed person who idles their life away, someone who isn't serious or committed to anything. Or it can be used to describe a person who is overly optimistic and completely out of touch with reality, a meaning that personally I find fits the lyrics like a glove.
7. This is another expression hide played with, the original being 笑う門には福来たる, 'warau kado ni ha fuku kitaru'. A house filled with laughter will be blessed with peace and happiness.
Tell Me
Lyrics: hide
Translation: w_b
I watch myself, beaten by the winds of fame
Yet not allowed to fade
With no sign of a compromise to come
My silhouette is outlined in lights
Inside this illusion
My body dances a pantomime of contrasts with my heart
Every time I'm wounded I bury the hurt
So that I'll remain myself
* Tell me, Somebody tell me, Please tell me
Even that which remains unsaid
Tell me, Somebody tell me, Please tell me
Your voice has not reached me yet
I seek this parody of love
Yet find no answers, no purpose, nothing but greed
You won't hear this drifting voice of mine
Until I have turned to ash
Tell me, Somebody tell me, Please tell me
Who is it that blocks my sight?
Tell me, Somebody tell me, Please tell me
Is it you I am looking at?
Tell me, somebody tell me, Please tell me
Is this how you see me?
Tell me, Somebody tell me, Please tell me
That's not how I see myself
* repeat
I still can't hear your song
Singin' my song for me.
Singin' your song for you.
Singin' my song for me.
Singin' your song for you.
Honey Blade
Lyrics: hide
Translation: w_b
In one fleeting moment you're in full bloom
In my dreams I see you, pheromones grow strong
Even your stoic skin sheds blood
I hate even your pale bud
Look around, Look around into HONEY BLADE
Let me see, Let me see your HONEY BLADE
Show me, Show me, Show your HONEY BLADE
Inside out, Inside out, Make it HONEY BLADE
I'll give my shattered angel a DEEP KISS
Gather her up and cry as we MAKE LOVE
What you say, What you say, What you say HONEY BLADE
Lick it up, Lick it up, Lick me HONEY BLADE
Bite me, Bite me, Bite me HONEY BLADE
Makin' love. Make it what? Make it HONEY BLADE
Stay asleep inside me
We'll bask in the world's envy
Why don't you sleep in my hand baby?
Why don't you dance on my mind baby?
Why don't you smile for me?
Please, Please, Please don't let you go.
* I thanked God the summer of your birth
The third summer I received God's blessing
The tenth summer I hated the blood you shed
The fourteenth summer I broke you
When I awake you're nowhere to be found
There's a cattleya and a letter left behind (1)
That day, that time, just then, I should have
I should have destroyed you
Wanna see, Wanna see, Wan'you HONEY BLADE
Don't go way, Don't go way my HONEY BLADE
I look around, Look around you HONEY BLADE
Makin' love, Makin' love, Make you HONEY BLADE
Now as I stare at a photo of you
To my forehead I lift a cold GUN
And now the trigger...I...
Good-bye sweet my HONEY BLADE.
Sweet sweet my HONEY BLADE.
Good-bye sweet my HONEY BLADE.
Sweet sweet my HONEY BLADE.
Good-bye sweet my HONEY BLADE.
See you born again......
Notes:
The passage marked with an asterisk isn't in the lyric booklet. It's the spoken lines present in each version/performance of the song.
1. Cattleyas are a type of orchid. If you look around, you'll find that they're associated with sexuality or, a person's 'mature charms'.
50%&50%
Lyrics: Yukinojo Mori
Translation: w_b
Propelled by your dreams like a pinball
You rush towards the town's heavenly panorama
Spread you erotic lies into the night
And dance the bump mechanically, LADY! (1)
The doctors are helpless
As with the new strain you turn logic to panic
Notorious gigolos are in hysterics
What a curiously queer complication
Around love a gloom spins Round & Round
Reflected by all Boys & Girls
Just like the sun and the moon's Hide & Seek
One will never catch the other
You're 50%&50%
The twin fires of your wild eyes and your jeweled heart
Invite perversion into your world
50%&50%
You're veiled in mystery, let's exhange fiery kisses
After you've let the angel in your heart fall asleep
You've been broken but this night I'll melt you into a stream of sighs
So Kiss me! ...Feel me! ...Give me!
...I'll turn your loneliness into a rose
...water it every morning
...and if you're sad, prick me so I can share in your pain
* You're 50%&50%
The twin fires of your wild eyes and your jeweled heart
Are weaving an invisible maze
50%&50%
You're veiled in mystery, let's exhange fiery kisses
After you've let the angel in your heart fall asleep
This night I'll melt all of you into sighs
Completely melted you sigh at night so Kiss me!
*repeat
An angel and a devil
Dance and solitude
Jewels and tears
Laughter and sadness
A man and a woman
The heart and the body are 50%&50%
Notes:
1. The Bump is a type of dance!! From the 70s, no less, and consisting of bumping one's hips against other people's. It even has its own wiki page HERE!