Luna Sea - Ray Translation
So, here is my second translation!!
I decided to translate this song (not because of Ruki >.> Although, he's the reason why I heard it the first time...) but because I really like how Kawamura sings the lyrics especially toward the end, where he starts spaces out the syllables of each word as the song fades. As with other songs I decide to translate, I pick this one because I already knew a good amout of words in the song -or at least knew their root word. I figure by doing that, it will be easier for me to learn more words by their association with words I already know.
For this song, I found two other translations both which I thought were really nice. I kept a good deal of what both translators had done since I thought it was clear and done quite well. I believe that Luna Sea songs, lyrically are very spare in comparision to lyricists like Ruki or Shou who happen to use many syllables and longer phrases and I think that may make them easier to translate. I personally love Kawamura's lyric style-that isn't to say I don't love other lyrics styles but I think its very open and artisitic. Often times, only several words or a phrase will be sung for several measures of music, and its sparity adds power and significance to those words.
Links for other translations
1. 2.
Usurenai Kimi no nioi to
Your fadeless scent and
Adokenai Hohoemi ga
innocent smile
Fusagareta Konna yoru demo
Are blocked from me tonight but
Kono mune wo Kogashiteiku
My heart is burning
Dakishimeteitai Subete wo wasurete
I want to hold you closely, forgetting everything
Douka shiteru yo Ray
Something is wrong-Ray
Arifureta Tokimeki ja naku
These are not common heart beats
Kono omoi Sodateyou
That bring up these memories
Hoshi ga utau
The stars sing
Gosenfu no ue de
On the music score,
Aeru hi wo Matteiru
I am waiting for the day we meet
Dakishimeteitai Kurushimetakunai
I want to hold you closely-I don't want to hurt you
Kikenna kurai Ray Kimi wo
Periously, Ray (You~) *
Futari no mirai ga Betsu no katachi nara
If our two futures take seperate shapes
Kimi no omokage ni Ikiru darou
I will live in your vestage **
Tatoeba Dareka to Kimi ga yume mitemo
For instance, with someone else you dream and
Tatoeba Kokoro kara Ore wo keshitemo
For instance, from your heart, you erase me
Hohoemi Yasashisa Afureteru nara
The smiles-the tenderness, if they are overflowing
Aa Dakedo ima
Ah, but now...
Dakishimeteitai Subete wo wasurete
I want to hold you closely, forgetting everything
Kikenna kurai Ray Kimi wo
In the dangerous darkness, Ray (You~) ***
Hoshi ga chiribameta Iki shini no hikari
Embedded in the stars, the light of life and death
Sora no chikai wo
The vow of the sky
Dakishimeteitai Subete wo nugisute
I want to hold you closely, shedding everything
Towa no hikari wo Todoketai
The light of eternity, I want to reach...
Usurenai Kimi no nioi
Your fadeless scent
Yogorenai Ano hohoemi
Those stainless smiles
Usurenai Kimi no hitomi
Your fadeless eyes
Kieyashinai Kono omoi
These indistinguishable feelings...
* You may notice in the other translations, the translators opted from including the "kimi wo" part. In the first translation, she mentioned that it was most likely the recipient of the previous verbs which is most likely the case. But in an artistic sense, I think its very important to keep that in the translation because it adds an added sense of attachment, confusion, and beauty to the lyric. I decided to add in parentheses you~. At the moment, I can't concieve of another way of added it into the translation and keeping it comprehensible English.
** Vestige in this sentence is an awkward word but it seems to be the only word in the English language that can equate to that meaning. The second translator decided to use the term "for you" but that loses a lot of meaning. After messing around, I decided that the first translator was correct in just going with direct translation of the word however awkward it is. For clarification's sake, vestige is like the remains. I suppose I would describe that line as meaning that he will continue living for the memory of her face, the memory he has of her presence-he will live in its remains (think more of ghost like and not body like >>)
*** Now, when I first came across the second translation, I was very surprised to find that she translated the same term in two different ways! At first, I was a bit disgrunted since I believe trying to stick to the syntax and structure as much as possible. If they lyricist decided to repeat a phrase, its important to repeat it exactly since it can throw off not only the beauty of its construction but its meaning. But I soon discovered something quite interesting. When one puts the entire phrase together, it means periously but in its seperate parts it means, the dangerous darkness. I thought that was quite beautiful and a bit intentional on Kawamura's part, considering the main image of the song and its immediate following of that term. So, I decided to leave what the second translator had decided to do because I think its the best way to depict the depth of the lyrics.
Interpretation
Unlike "Distress and Coma," I won't write an epically long interpretation which in all honesty is needed in order to express the jam-packed complexity of Ruki's lyrics. For "Ray," I will say that its a beautiful example of imagist poetry and it displays the dark perspective Kawamura takes on Love Songs. "Ray" though isn't his darkest, funnily enough considering the title.^-^ You may not know what imagist poetry is but it stems from East Asian poetry and its when an spare image holds deep meaning, often times it is far more spare than "Ray" but the part I would like to zone in on is the part about the heavens and the stars. What I believe he is doing there is the classic concept of eternity embedded in the stars and how these never changing constellations tell of the past and the future, and stand as they are figurtively and literally, against the backdrop of the impenetrable darkness of night time and of life and death (as he notes). I find it kinda funny now that I think about it-but I have a poem that incorporates a similar concept XDDDD but what he is doing there, is comparing the mortality and unavoidable changes of life and love to the unchanging heavens. It is like the comparison of light and darkness, the night sky and the rays of the celestial bodies. The song though finds its beauty in his expression of desire not only for the one he loves, who he can only now remember but also for the light of eternity, which as a human he cannot obtain but can only come close to in his undying, unfading love. I think there is a lot to that concept-not that I necessarily agree with it but its very beautiful in its humanity and its tragedy.
Notes:: The new lj bar is being a B*T** andthe formatting is driving me crazy. I'm sorry if it was hard to read >.>
I'm also wondering if I should sub this live video....hmmmm
Well, let me know what you think ^^
I decided to translate this song (not because of Ruki >.> Although, he's the reason why I heard it the first time...) but because I really like how Kawamura sings the lyrics especially toward the end, where he starts spaces out the syllables of each word as the song fades. As with other songs I decide to translate, I pick this one because I already knew a good amout of words in the song -or at least knew their root word. I figure by doing that, it will be easier for me to learn more words by their association with words I already know.
For this song, I found two other translations both which I thought were really nice. I kept a good deal of what both translators had done since I thought it was clear and done quite well. I believe that Luna Sea songs, lyrically are very spare in comparision to lyricists like Ruki or Shou who happen to use many syllables and longer phrases and I think that may make them easier to translate. I personally love Kawamura's lyric style-that isn't to say I don't love other lyrics styles but I think its very open and artisitic. Often times, only several words or a phrase will be sung for several measures of music, and its sparity adds power and significance to those words.
Links for other translations
1. 2.
Usurenai Kimi no nioi to
Your fadeless scent and
Adokenai Hohoemi ga
innocent smile
Fusagareta Konna yoru demo
Are blocked from me tonight but
Kono mune wo Kogashiteiku
My heart is burning
Dakishimeteitai Subete wo wasurete
I want to hold you closely, forgetting everything
Douka shiteru yo Ray
Something is wrong-Ray
Arifureta Tokimeki ja naku
These are not common heart beats
Kono omoi Sodateyou
That bring up these memories
Hoshi ga utau
The stars sing
Gosenfu no ue de
On the music score,
Aeru hi wo Matteiru
I am waiting for the day we meet
Dakishimeteitai Kurushimetakunai
I want to hold you closely-I don't want to hurt you
Kikenna kurai Ray Kimi wo
Periously, Ray (You~) *
Futari no mirai ga Betsu no katachi nara
If our two futures take seperate shapes
Kimi no omokage ni Ikiru darou
I will live in your vestage **
Tatoeba Dareka to Kimi ga yume mitemo
For instance, with someone else you dream and
Tatoeba Kokoro kara Ore wo keshitemo
For instance, from your heart, you erase me
Hohoemi Yasashisa Afureteru nara
The smiles-the tenderness, if they are overflowing
Aa Dakedo ima
Ah, but now...
Dakishimeteitai Subete wo wasurete
I want to hold you closely, forgetting everything
Kikenna kurai Ray Kimi wo
In the dangerous darkness, Ray (You~) ***
Hoshi ga chiribameta Iki shini no hikari
Embedded in the stars, the light of life and death
Sora no chikai wo
The vow of the sky
Dakishimeteitai Subete wo nugisute
I want to hold you closely, shedding everything
Towa no hikari wo Todoketai
The light of eternity, I want to reach...
Usurenai Kimi no nioi
Your fadeless scent
Yogorenai Ano hohoemi
Those stainless smiles
Usurenai Kimi no hitomi
Your fadeless eyes
Kieyashinai Kono omoi
These indistinguishable feelings...
* You may notice in the other translations, the translators opted from including the "kimi wo" part. In the first translation, she mentioned that it was most likely the recipient of the previous verbs which is most likely the case. But in an artistic sense, I think its very important to keep that in the translation because it adds an added sense of attachment, confusion, and beauty to the lyric. I decided to add in parentheses you~. At the moment, I can't concieve of another way of added it into the translation and keeping it comprehensible English.
** Vestige in this sentence is an awkward word but it seems to be the only word in the English language that can equate to that meaning. The second translator decided to use the term "for you" but that loses a lot of meaning. After messing around, I decided that the first translator was correct in just going with direct translation of the word however awkward it is. For clarification's sake, vestige is like the remains. I suppose I would describe that line as meaning that he will continue living for the memory of her face, the memory he has of her presence-he will live in its remains (think more of ghost like and not body like >>)
*** Now, when I first came across the second translation, I was very surprised to find that she translated the same term in two different ways! At first, I was a bit disgrunted since I believe trying to stick to the syntax and structure as much as possible. If they lyricist decided to repeat a phrase, its important to repeat it exactly since it can throw off not only the beauty of its construction but its meaning. But I soon discovered something quite interesting. When one puts the entire phrase together, it means periously but in its seperate parts it means, the dangerous darkness. I thought that was quite beautiful and a bit intentional on Kawamura's part, considering the main image of the song and its immediate following of that term. So, I decided to leave what the second translator had decided to do because I think its the best way to depict the depth of the lyrics.
Click to viewInterpretation
Unlike "Distress and Coma," I won't write an epically long interpretation which in all honesty is needed in order to express the jam-packed complexity of Ruki's lyrics. For "Ray," I will say that its a beautiful example of imagist poetry and it displays the dark perspective Kawamura takes on Love Songs. "Ray" though isn't his darkest, funnily enough considering the title.^-^ You may not know what imagist poetry is but it stems from East Asian poetry and its when an spare image holds deep meaning, often times it is far more spare than "Ray" but the part I would like to zone in on is the part about the heavens and the stars. What I believe he is doing there is the classic concept of eternity embedded in the stars and how these never changing constellations tell of the past and the future, and stand as they are figurtively and literally, against the backdrop of the impenetrable darkness of night time and of life and death (as he notes). I find it kinda funny now that I think about it-but I have a poem that incorporates a similar concept XDDDD but what he is doing there, is comparing the mortality and unavoidable changes of life and love to the unchanging heavens. It is like the comparison of light and darkness, the night sky and the rays of the celestial bodies. The song though finds its beauty in his expression of desire not only for the one he loves, who he can only now remember but also for the light of eternity, which as a human he cannot obtain but can only come close to in his undying, unfading love. I think there is a lot to that concept-not that I necessarily agree with it but its very beautiful in its humanity and its tragedy.
Notes:: The new lj bar is being a B*T** andthe formatting is driving me crazy. I'm sorry if it was hard to read >.>
I'm also wondering if I should sub this live video....hmmmm
Well, let me know what you think ^^