exist†trace – KNIFE

Happy Belated December Igu Day! I thought I could make it before midnight, but alas. ^o^;

Anyway, I love how clear Jyou’s voice is on this track.

I think miko wasn’t doing deep per-song commentary on her blog this far back in the day, but I did find an interesting tidbit about the song “KNIFE” when I searched her blog for this key word.

In this post from July 2010 about the working titles of songs, miko writes that “KNIFE” was tentatively called “Ethnic,” because when she made the demo, it had more of an “ethnic” vibe — “sun, sand, islands, or something like that” — but that as the band worked together on it the atmosphere changed completely.

I really have to wonder how in the world this is the same song as one that was originally called “Ethnic” and apparently had something to do with a tropical paradise. ^o^;

Lyrics in Japanese can be found here on Rock Lyric.

☆

KNIFE

utsurogena machi no ne mado no soto hashitta
yuuutsuna yoake ga mata me wo kojiakeru
kawaranu nichijou ni kawarazu yume wa same
tobikonda meiro ni wa mou modoru michi wa naku

te ni shita netsu wa mada taezu
kotonaru iro wo obi moe

tsukisasaru koe karada wo hikisaite mo kokoro wa yurezu
kono saki wa mou dare mo fumikomase wa shinai seiiki
mamori no tsubasa ookiku hirogeta mama sora ni tadayoi
naifu wa mou tate ni hisometa kimi wo mamoreru nara iranai

mawaridasu tokei to onaji toki wo kasane
tsumugidasu kotoba wa shidai ni riaru ni naru¹

te ni shita netsu wa ima aoku
shizukana hakai shoudou koe

taisetsuna hito mo mamorezu tatakatte nani wo eta no?

omoidashite mou ichido
omoidashite ano yakusoku wo

KNIFE

Hollow street sounds move past my window
The depressing dawn pries my eyes open once more
Unchanging daily routine unchangingly brings me back to reality
There’s no way to jump back into my labyrinth of dreams²

The fire I’d gained still hasn’t died out
It takes on a different color and burns on

Even if the piercing voice rips my body apart, my heart will not waver
Up ahead is the sanctum I won’t let anyone enter anymore
I’ll drift in the sky with my protecting wings spread wide
You hid behind a shield, but if I can protect you, then I don’t need a knife anymore

As time goes on with the turning of the clock³
The words I spin together gradually become real

The fire I’d gained now burns blue
Surpassing the quiet destructive impulse

What did I gain by fighting if I couldn’t protect the people I cherish?⁴

Remember once more
Remember that promise

^1. The written lyrics say 現実 (genjitsu meaning “reality”) where Jyou sings リアル (riaru, from the English word “real”). ⤴

^2. 夢から覚める (yume kara sameru) is a common way to say “wake from a dream.” But these lyrics say 夢は覚め (yume wa same). It’s possible this was done simply to fit into the melody, but to me this difference makes the phrase sound more like phrases that mean “come to one’s senses,” “think realistically,” or “sober up,” hence why I ended up taking some liberties with these two lines. A more direct translation would be “Unchanging daily [routine] unchangingly wakes me from dreams / There’s no way to return to the labyrinth I’d jumped into.” ⤴

^3. I’m not sure about this line. A literal translation would be “The clock starts to turn [and/with] same time goes on.” The word that’s really throwing me is 同じ (onaji “same”). It’s as if the lyric is trying to say that the clock is measuring time and the singer is going through that same time, but…doesn’t that go without saying? Or rather, that’s what you’d expect, otherwise you’d explicitly say something about the clock being off, or your perception of time being radically different from time as measured by clocks. Maybe I’m thinking about it too hard. LOL ⤴

^4. The subject is unstated here; this line could also be directed at the “you” in the song (i.e. “What did you gain by fighting …”). ⤴

^5. This last line makes me wonder if I’ve misunderstood its previous iterations. If the word order were 盾に潜めた君を守れるならナイフはもういらない then I would be 100% sure that the line means “If I can protect you who hid behind a shield, then I don’t need a knife anymore.” But the placement of ナイフはもう at the beginning of the line makes me doubt what いらない (“don’t need”) is meant to refer to, especially since the last line says 何もいらない which is, without doubt, “I don’t need anything,” but the part about the knife is still at the beginning of the line. Then I started to think that maybe the line was actually two in one, i.e. “I’ve hid my knife in my shield already; if I can protect you I don’t need it.” But the break in the lyrics within the line clearly leave 盾に潜めた君 together as a relative clause. So…yeah, I’m not sure about this one. ⤴