I happened to notice that this is my 100th post. ^o^

It’s been a while since I said this, but I mostly don’t post the lyrics in Japanese text anymore because technically you’re supposed to have permission to do that; the sites I link to do. I request that people not copy-paste my translations into other websites (or steal them and present them as their own, of course) so I think the least I can do is similarly respect the artists’ & publishers’ rights and not post the original lyrics. That said, translations might be illegal too. I’ve seen conflicting answers to this question online. Are they “derivative works” (=illegal) or “transformative works” (=legal…?) All I can say is that I’m not profiting off of this, as I pay to keep this site ad-free.

Anyway…lyrics in Japanese can be found here on J-Lyric. Translation and romanization below, as well as a translation of miko’s blog post about this song.

☆

KISS IN THE DARK

makkana umi wo oyugu watashi wa
hanayaka de zankokuna suteeji ni tatsu piero¹
makkana kuchibiru warau watashi wa
kurayami tento ni namida kakusu

doko ni demo iru na mo naki hana ga
kaoritatsu bara ni koi wo shita

kindan no kajitsu ni te wo nobashite
koukai to urayami ga kienai
kanjou wo koreseba raku ni nareru to
kyou mo mata hitori odokete miseru

makkana kanojo no hoho ni furetai
wagamama de gouman de yokubari datta watashi
makkana takane no ichirin gurasu ni
toge made itoshii doku no rikyuuru

doko ni demo iru na mo naki hana wa
omegane ni kanawazu tsumamitorare

haritsuketa egao de kansei abi
nani mo shiranai kanojo ni warawareru
mujuuryoku to mahou wo sujigakitate
asu mo mata kanojo wo matteiru dake

kurutta you ni mawashita orugooru
namida no kakera ga natteru wa

kindan no kajitsu ni te wo nobashite
koukai to urayami ga kienai
kanjou wo koreseba raku ni nareru to
kyou mo mata hitori odoketa furi
honto naraba…
aishiteru wa karada wo doku ga yowasu
motto mite supotto de kogashite
sono hitomi sumitsuite mo ii nara
nuitsuketa kokoro mo waruku wa nai wa

KISS IN THE DARK

I swim a bright red sea,
a clown standing on a gorgeous, cruel stage
Bright red lips smile,
I hide my tears in the dark tent

A common, insignificant flower
Fell in love with a fragrant rose

I reach out for the forbidden fruit
Regrets and jealousy remain
It’ll be easy if I kill my emotions
I play the fool alone again today

I want to touch her bright red cheeks
I was selfish, arrogant, and greedy
The bright red flower beyond my reach
In my glass, a poisonous liqueur, precious down to its thorns

The common, insignificant flower
Gets plucked without winning favor

I bask in cheers with my pasted-on smile
She laughs at me, knowing nothing
I put together a plot in zero-G and magic²
All I can do is wait for her again tomorrow

The music box turned as if breaking down³
The fragments of tears are crying out

I reach out for the forbidden fruit
Regrets and jealousy remain
It’ll be easy if I kill my emotions
I pretend to play the fool alone again today
If it were true…
“I love you!” The poison intoxicates my body
Look at me more, burn me with the spotlight
If I could settle down in those eyes,
Then a sewn-on heart isn’t so bad

miko Blog, May 19, 2012

Hello!

While each day gets us closer to the album release, today we start rehearsing for the concert on May 23rd! The album comes out that same day, so it’s gonna be a show filled to bursting with energy. Don’t miss out on our three-band show at Shinjuku LOFT!

For today’s song commentary & making-of post, I’ll be talking about “KISS IN THE DARK”!

This was the fourth track on our major debut EP TRUE. Looking back, I think that “Little Mary~” came to be precisely because of this song, and the new songs on VIRGIN came to be thanks to those two tracks. The reason I started thinking, “I want our shows to be even more visual!” was because I wanted to portray the character in this song, so I think it’s no exaggeration to say that this song represents the core of our current stance.

By the way, I remembered some secret making-of stories that I didn’t mention at the time of TRUE‘s release, so I want to list those here.

At the last refrain in the song, where it says “ai shiteru wa~ karada wo doku ga yowasu,” did you notice that the tempo slumps to a crawl, then goes back to the original tempo? It’s a common arrangement in that type of music,⁴ but my point of reference was actually the Disney movie Aladdin.

When Aladdin goes to Jasmine’s palace as Prince Ali, the music has this part where the tempo similarly slows down. I thought that, as well as the scene itself, was pretty cool, and decided to put that effect into “KISS IN THE DARK.”

That said, I haven’t watched Aladdin since way back when, and haven’t heard that song in so many years, so why did it float up from the depths of my memory now? It’s weird. LOL

Another thing is the part right around the middle of the song where the tempo also slows down, but then there’s this totally unrelated music mixed in. That was one thing I was a stickler about. It’s like music from an amusement park playing in the background of our performance. And if you listen really, really closely, you can hear the sounds of a circus, too. So listen while picturing the scene in your mind, and think about what each sound corresponds to.

Well then, there are only two songs left. At the same time that I finish writing these song explanation posts, you’ll all have VIRGIN in your hands! I feel so anxious I can’t relax, like I want that day to come quickly, but also don’t want it to come.

But no, no, I want everyone to listen to it soon after all!

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^1. The lyrics in Japanese say 道化 which is pronounced “douke,” but Jyou sings it as “piero” (from the French word “pierrot” meaning “clown”). The Japanese word originally referred to a comedic role within kabuki theater, a buffoon type not necessarily decked out the way most modern Westerners imagine a clown. ⤴

^2. I’m pretty sure that these English words say what the Japanese words say but I don’t get it. Does it refer to the act the clown is putting on? Is the clown a trapeze artist as well, like a Cirque du Soleil performer, hence the “zero-G and magic”? Is the “plot” the story the performance tells the audience, or is it the clown’s delusions about what they’ll do when they meet the “rose”? ⤴

^3. I suppose it’s possible that this means “I cranked the music box like I’d gone crazy,” but…I feel like if that were the intended image, the Japanese lyrics would’ve been 「狂った様にオルゴール回した」instead of what’s written here, 「狂った様に回したオルゴール」. The latter basically turns 狂った様に回した into one long adjective modifying オルゴール. The image I get is of either the music box having a mechanical failure, or just literally “winding down,” hence making the music sound funny as the tempo slows to a crawl before dying out completely. ⤴

^4. miko just says “that kind of genre” but doesn’t specify what kind that is. I assume she meant jazz, or maybe swing specifically. ⤴