The days where we laughed together
Vanished as if by mistake ¹
Beyond bubbles of soap ²
What people define as
“A Normal Person”
Is a pipe dream entirely
It’s a gentle lie
So don’t cover your ears
Even though it’s all deception
Stay and bloom beside me anyway ³
A pain without subjective symptoms
Had already laughed and hidden inside you
Even in a downright lie ⁴
You look for treasure
From a starry night sky
I will definitely lead you away
Imitations though we are
Our hearts, they’re right here
And I’m already inflamed —
So that you won’t lose your way
It’s a gentle lie
So don’t cover your ears
Even though it’s all deception
Stay and bloom beside me anyway ³
.
NOTES / INTERPRETATION:
oo1. The word uso (used several times in this song) generally means a factual lie… however, it can also be used to convey doubt that something could actually be true. I chose to phrase it that way here. There’s a contrast between the uso in this line, and the uso used later on in the song. Here, there is a connotation of disbelief. In all other instances, a lie is a calm statement of fact.
oo2. The soap bubbles may be in reference to the COVID-19 pandemic which was declared March 11th 2020. I’m not certain when exactly these lyrics were written, but they probably were finished just after the pandemic began to spread worldwide and disrupt plans… to put it lightly. Whether or not this was an intentional reference at the time it was written, it will remain a little indicator of the era in which this album was released.
oo3. The anyway was a style choice I made to make the verses flow a little smoother in English and is not what was written in Japanese; luckily, it changes the meaning of the original line very little. Translating it as stay and bloom was also a style choice. Normally this conjugation would give us the simple gerund of the verb, but it sounds a little clunky in English to say be blooming beside me, so I took a small liberty with the phrase.
oo4. The Japanese term for downright lie is quite literally a bright-red lie. That bit of imagery is interesting, and gets lost in translation.
アリス九號. ★ CYAN → 不夜城エデン (将・2020)
ALICE NINE. – CYAN | From NIGHTLESS CITY EDEN (Show – 2020)
Original text translated from Japanese.
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