Since I only had one song left to do from The Only Garden, I figured this would be a fitting time to do it and once again give thanks to Silphion for showing me the liner notes from his physical copy of this great EP. I wouldn’t have been able to do this anytime soon without your help!

There are several miko blog posts that talk about this song, but for the most part, they cover more technical aspects such as what equipment & settings were used to record. So, I’ll mostly just summarize a few points I found interesting.

“Power of ‘ONE'” was first used as the name for the fifth concert in Igu’s “Monthly One-Man Show” series. It took place on August 19th, 2017, at Ebisu club aim. miko wrote about it the next day. You can see the set list at that post.

The song called “Power of ‘ONE'” was first performed live on January 9th, 2018. Later in the year, everyone who went to the April 7th show at Shibuya Tsutaya O-Crest got a free copy of the CD single. This was promoted with a short trailer on YouTube:

In her post from this time, miko wrote that the song’s inception was the concert of the same name from the previous year. When it came to making the song itself, the band thought about everything they’d been through, while also wanting to make each of their and their instruments’ personalities stand out in their own unique way. She talks about the lyrics a little more in-depth, so I will translate that part below the lyrics translation.

Lastly—as far as this long introduction—in her 2020 blog post from before The Only Garden‘s release, miko linked to her previous post as part of the song’s explanation; mentioned that with this release fans who couldn’t go to the concert to get the CD and overseas fans could finally have it; and expressed doubts over whether the message “Someone out there needs YOUR strength, no matter how weak you think your strength is” actually reached whoever needed to hear it, but concluded that it was still important and worthwhile for them to keep singing this song.

And with that, on to the song translation!

☆

POWER OF “ONE” (vocal retake ver.)

jirijiri kubi wo shimeru you ni
kimi wa dareka ni owareru loser?
jiyuu kogare kodoku ni natte?
chigau jibun wo motomete

“ONE of them” “all for ONE”
itsu datte hito ni magirete
“only ONE” “number ONE”
mujun wo toitsuzukeru sekai de

(BABY) yume wo miru
(Oh yeah) the shiny ONE

hitori kiri de nakitakunaitte
sonna fuu ni chiisakunaranaide
kimi ga iru koto kimi ga tsuyoku omou koto
kanarazu tsunagarun da
This is… the POWER OF “ONE”

itsuka owari ga kuru no nara
sore wa utsukushii mono kana?
kyuuna nagare ni nomareru you na?
chigau tsuyoku motto

“ONE of them” “all for ONE”
itsu datte hito ni amaete¹
“only ONE” “number ONE”
kotae wo mekuritsuzukeru sekai de

(BABY) yume wo miru
(Oh yeah) FIVE of us

hitori kiri de nakitakunaitte
sonna fuu ni chiisakunaranaide
kimi no hitokoto kimi no sono ippo ga
keshiki wo kaeteikunda
This is… the POWER OF “YOU”

imagine YOU when YOU can’t love YOU

hitori kiri de nakitakunaitte
sonna fuu ni chiisakunaranaide
kimi ga iru koto kimi ga tsuyoku omou koto
kanarazu tsunagarun da

me wo akena yo kao wo agena yo
kimi wa mugen no hoshi no kakera sa
bokura ga utai bokura ga sakebi kitto
kanarazu kaete miseru sa
hitotsu no hikari wo te ni
This is… the POWER OF “ONE”

POWER OF “ONE” (vocal retake ver.)

Like gradually digging your own grave²
Are you some loser being hunted down?
You wanted freedom but ended up alone?
You’ve got it all wrong, seek yourself out

“ONE of them” “All for ONE”
Always lost in a sea of people
“Only ONE” “Number ONE”
In a world that keeps asking contradictions

(BABY) Dream on
(Oh yeah) The shiny ONE

You say you don’t want to cry alone
Don’t be ashamed like that
The fact you’re here, the things you believe strongly,
Will surely all tie together
This is… the POWER OF “ONE”

If this will all end someday
Maybe that would be a beautiful thing?
Like being washed away in a sudden current?
You’ve got it all wrong, even more strongly—³

“ONE of them” “All for ONE”
Always clinging to other people
“Only ONE” “Number ONE”
In a world that keeps changing the answers

(BABY) Dream on
(Oh yeah) FIVE of us

You say you don’t want to cry alone
Don’t be ashamed like that
One word from you, that one step you took
Will change the whole landscape
This is… the POWER OF “YOU”

Imagine YOU when YOU can’t love YOU

You say you don’t want to cry alone
Don’t be ashamed like that
The fact you’re here, the things you believe strongly,
Will surely all tie together

Hey, open your eyes! Lift your head up!
Cuz you come from an infinity of stars
What we sing, what we scream,
Will surely change everything, you’ll see
With one light in our hands
This is… the POWER OF “ONE”

Excerpt from miko Blog, April 20, 2018

Then there’s the lyrics. Since this song was made to unleash Jyou’s potential, it’s a given that it would be cool. (LOL) Jyou’s task was to add detailed expressions to that. And when it comes to recording songs we’ve been performing live, Jyou always goes far beyond what I’d been imagining at the demo stage. So I asked myself, why exactly is that?

The answer I came to was this: During live shows, there’s an exchange, a meeting of hearts, a conversation through song happening between Jyou and all of you, the audience. In other words, there’s something that neither I nor the other band members can understand; it’s the “POWER OF ‘ONE'” that Jyou and only Jyou can have.

Of course, instruments each have their own worlds, too. But when it comes to songs, there are words, and even though I’m the one who writes the lyrics themselves, once they’re taken up onstage, those words become Jyou’s words, and a new continuation of my story is born, one that I can’t know.

Not that I asked Jyou about it, but I’m sure that’s how it is. Yeah. (LOL)

Anyway, the point is that all of you are indirectly participating in the recording process. And the lyrics are closely tied to this band. So precisely because of that, I want to tell all the dear people before me, all of you, that you’re not alone.

In this song, there’s the lyric “The fact you’re here, the things you believe strongly, will surely all tie together.” But that doesn’t mean that I want to just accept everything passively. The choice to be here and the choice to think certain things may seem like small, inconsequential choices, but what you choose, your decisions throughout your life come together and surely become a source of strength.

The fact that all of you come to our shows, listen to our CDs, and think “I can do my best tomorrow,” each of those things comes together, and that gives us great strength.

The world tells us we should all be equal while simultaneously pressing us to reach for the top. Within those contradictions, the only ones who can look at you with the correct criteria are the people who are dear to you, and you yourself. So don’t think of yourself as “just me,” believe in your little strength, and use it to its greatest power. That’s a good way to live.

---

^1. Not a big deal, but the written lyrics say 他人 (tanin) “other people” but Jyou sings just 人 (hito) which is person/people. ⤴

^2. I’m assuming the lyric “kubi wo shimeru you ni” is a reference to the idiom 自分の首を絞める (jibun no kubi wo shimeru) which means “to wring one’s own neck.” This is usually expressed in English as digging one’s own grave, instead. ⤴

^3. The verb is left unstated, but I assume this line could be something like “live even more strongly,” or “fight harder against the current,” something like that. ⤴