the mAsque - Koichi Domoto lyrics & translation
Please find an English translation of 'the mAsque' from me. This is a song from Koichi's solo album Spiral. I've also included the Japanese original and a romanization.
There is a lot of manipulation of the vocals in this one, so it's a bit hard to hear the lyrics. Grateful for the lyric booklet. I really do like the lines in this song quite a bit, regardless. Again, only a few lines are actually in Japanese, a lot of this song was written in English.
Any mistakes or errors are my own and do let me know if you spot anything. Many thanks!
Koichi Domoto - The mAsque
Lyrics: Nao Tanaka
Composition: Nao Tanaka
Arrangement: Nao Tanaka
Release: 2015/07/08
Album: Spiral
Japanese
writing a symphony
キミに詠む孤独のstory
writing a symphony if you want
キミに紡ぐ調べで幕は開き
late at night
誰でもないmasquerade
let me shout
Maskの裏のaria
月の夜 幻
眩しい程のcarnival
螺旋の様に絡み
絡み続けてゆくsymphony
rely on the Mask
can you feel the love
there’s nothing there
where is the Mask?
rely on the Mask
can you feel the love
deep down I know
give me the Mask
rely on the Mask
dancing all through the night
顔を隠したままのshall we dance
dancing all through the night if you want
仮面が素顔の外せないsyndrome
late at night
誰でもないmasquerade
love is blind
Vailの裏のaria
仮面の織りなす
光と影のcontrast
心を隠すのに
心を欲しがるparadox
rely on the Mask
can you feel the love
there’s nothing there
where is the Mask?
rely on the Mask
can you feel the love
deep down I know
give me the Mask
rely on the Mask
月の夜 幻
眩しい程のcarnival
終わる事の無い
幕切れに身を委ねよう
rely on the Mask
can you feel the love
there’s nothing there
where is the Mask?
rely on the Mask
can you feel the love
deep down I know
give me the Mask
rely on the Mask
Romaji
writing a symphony
KIMI ni yomu kodoku no story
writing a symphony if you want
KIMI ni tsumugu shirabe de maku wa aki
late at night
daredemo nai masquerade
let me shout
Mask no ura no aria
tsuki no yoru maboroshi
mabushii hodo no carnival
rasen no you ni karami
karami tsuzuketeyuku symphony
rely on the Mask
can you feel the love
there’s nothing there
where is the Mask?
rely on the Mask
can you feel the love
deep down I know
give me the Mask
rely on the Mask
dancing all through the night
kao wo kakushita mama no shall we dance
dancing all through the night if you want
kamen ga sugao no hazusenai syndrome
late at night
daredemo nai masquerade
love is blind
Vail no ura no aria
kamen no orinasu
hikari to kage no contrast
kokoro wo kakusu no ni
kokoro wo hoshigaru paradox
rely on the Mask
can you feel the love
there’s nothing there
where is the Mask?
rely on the Mask
can you feel the love
deep down I know
give me the Mask
rely on the Mask
tsuki no yoru maboroshi
mabushii hodo no carnival
owaru koto no nai
makugire ni mi wo yudaneyou
rely on the Mask
can you feel the love
there’s nothing there
where is the Mask?
rely on the Mask
can you feel the love
deep down I know
give me the Mask
rely on the Mask
English
writing a symphony
reading out loud a story of loneliness
writing a symphony if you want
the curtain rises with a melody spun for you
late at night
nobody’s masquerade
let me shout
an aria behind the Mask
a moonlight night, an illusion
such a dazzling carnival
entwining like a spiral
a continually entwining symphony
rely on the Mask
can you feel the love
there’s nothing there
where is the Mask?
rely on the Mask
can you feel the love
deep down I know
give me the Mask
rely on the Mask
dancing all through the night
with our faces concealed shall we dance
dancing all through the night if you want
a syndrome, the Mask cannot be removed from your real face
late at night
nobody’s masquerade
love is blind
an aria behind the Vail
woven by the Mask
the contrast between light and shadow
although it conceals the heart
a paradox that they want the heart
rely on the Mask
can you feel the love
there’s nothing there
where is the Mask?
rely on the Mask
can you feel the love
deep down I know
give me the Mask
rely on the Mask
a moonlight night, an illusion
such a dazzling carnival
it’s never-ending
let’s surrender until the curtain falls
rely on the Mask
can you feel the love
there’s nothing there
where is the Mask?
rely on the Mask
can you feel the love
deep down I know
give me the Mask
rely on the Mask
Notes and comments:
1. The mAsque / the Mask / 仮面
All three mean the same thing, however 'The mAsque' that appears in the title never shows in the lyrics... at least not in the romanized words. 仮面 appears a couple of times, and I contemplated if I should translate this as 'mAsque' but decided not to and just used 'the Mask' in English.
2. the Mask
This song has a lot of voice manipulations, so sometimes it’s a bit hard to hear what’s being said. I’ve gone by the official lyrics and even listening closely with the lyrics, I have to say it took me a long time to hear all the words! ‘the Mask’ in the lines ‘give me the Mask’ and ‘rely on the Mask’ are particularly difficult! It took me a long time. I’d be a bit lost without the lyric sheet for this one, that’s for sure.
3. Vail
The original lyrics use Vail, so I’ve left this spelling in… but I’m pretty sure they mean Veil. Vail is an archaic word not really used in English anymore (the meaning also doesn't make sense... it's a verb) and veil (noun) makes more sense here. I like to think the capitalization means this is the Veil between the material world and the spiritual world… but it could just be a normal veil (haha).
4. キミに紡ぐ調べで幕は開き
The curtain rises with a melody spun for you
There’s a few ways to translate this in English… we use ‘spin’ also in the metaphorical sense of spinning a tale just like in Japanese, but in Japanese, you can also spin a tune, melody, etc… I kept 'spun' because I really liked it, but maybe it’s too much of a stretch in English. If it’s not clear, it’s ‘music that’s been made for you’ in plainer words.
幕は開き can be translated as the beginning or the start, but literally, the curtain opening/rising, or the act (of a play) begins or opening act. I kept 'the curtain rises' because I think the meaning again is clear in English and I liked the imagery that comes to mind with it.
5. 幕切れに身を委ねよう
Let’s surrender until the curtain falls
At the end we have 幕切れ which means ‘the close of a play’ or ‘fall of the curtain’, or just ‘(the) end’. Again I’ve gone with more theatre translations because I think it fits best with the song and we use the terms in a similar way in English, although maybe I should say ‘opening act’ and ‘final act’ … but I liked to use ‘curtain’ since it’s ‘curtain’ in the Japanese and I like the visual image of the curtain that comes to mind.
6. Capitalization
Additionally, I kept lower casing for the initial of each line to mirror the English used by the original lyrics, both in the romaji and the English translation.