I had a strange dream. Outside, in the dark scenery
I was getting the feeling that even you, I would, never again, be able to meet
A new world that I slip into, looking into the looking-glass and putting on my shoes; ¹
Running, I made even the dawn into an ally, and the rain was letting up
My words are always clumsy so please, give me wings
For you, scared of tomorrow, hugging your knees to your chest
From when to when was until yesterday or maybe tomorrow?
Because they were the sorts of days,
the colour of sepia,
where you seem to forget to breathe
A new world that I slip into, looking into the looking-glass and putting on my shoes; ¹
If I look back, there is no yesterday—I run to the area where light shines
Memories get blurred, get worn down
I won’t let them be erased—those that reflect in my irises
of you, ephemeral, seeming to disappear
A new world that I slip into, looking into the looking-glass and putting on my shoes; ¹
Running, I made even the dawn into an ally, and the rain was letting up ²
My words are always clumsy so please, give me wings
For you, scared of tomorrow, hugging your knees to your chest.
.
NOTES / INTERPRETATION:
oo1. Though 世界 (world) is written in the lyrics booklet for this line, what Show actually sings is 新世界 (new world). That word can be used to refer to the Americas and Australasia euphemistically, but given Show’s penchant for fantasy worlds and the dreamy imagery in this song, I chose a more general meaning.
oo2. In the song itself, the first version of the chorus is sung a second time just before the last verse, though this is not written in the booklet.
Thoughts. The way this is written is somewhat confused and disjointed at parts which underlies how it is meant to be the speaker recounting a strange, half-forgotten dream to someone else. Sepia is a rather rare colour in ALICE NINE. lyrics, and if memory serves, there are just two other songs in which it appears: Heavenly Tale and ROSARIO. I may have to re-think things if I come across the word in another song down the line, but I do wonder what it means. Is the speaker breathless because they have been motionless for an indeterminate period of time, or are they breathless because they have been going nonstop? In Heavenly Tale, it is a theatre that is painted in sepia before the curtain raises. Are the players scrambling, or are they frozen in their positions, breathless with anticipation of the coming performance?
These are the sorts of things I like to turn over in my mind while I listen.
.
アリス九號. ★ 光彩ストライプ → 銀の月 黒い星 (将・2005)
ALICE NINE. – kousai STRIPE | From gin no tsuki kuroi hoshi (Show – 2005)
Original text translated from Japanese.
Song composed by 沙我 (Saga).
Listen on Spotify / Apple Music.
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Translation also on the Alice9Lives Archive.