Rant on song lyrics...

[Mintkit]

This is so completely random, but I just have to rant on about it.

So, pretty much all of you know that I listen to Japanese music all the time, right? Some of you are probably wondering why, or are fed up, or don't care. This so totally does not belong on FE, which is why it''s in the OOCness stuff, eh, I'm just stating my opinion and seeing who else out there agrees.

See, this is my opinion on America songs: baseless, shallow, and meaningless. They have nothing special about them. Something that repeats "Friday, Friday, gotta get down to Friday" is just ridiculous. Seriously. What does that all mean in the end? This is why I do not like pop music. This goes for all the other singers out there too - Canadian ones, English ones, whatever.

... and then comes the Japanese. Their lyrics might be senseless, but they hold deeper meaning. They're more beautiful and mean so much more. Here's a segment I copied from Uninstall... I know this is the dub, but it's pretty similar to the original anyways so it doesn't matter.

Now my heart is empty and numb, save for an unrelenting impulse to destroy all things that I can see
It is born from all of the pain, for I have lost the will to choose the day I'll crumble away

Typical reactions: the singer is considering suicide, the singer is emo, the singer has no self-esteem, the singer has lost hope, etc. But first of all, lemme get something straight: can you tell the difference between this and Friday? Or Baby? Or just about every pop song nowadays? The wording, vocabulary, everything is already much better.

Now... the meaning. The suicidal beliefs people think of, they're not true. See, Uninstall is the opening theme of this anime called Bokurano, and is basically the whole anime summed up in a few minutes. How so? Well, this is the catchphrase of the anime: "You can win and die, or lose, die, and take the world with you." 15 kids, called pilots, have to pilot this giant robot in battles with robots from other parallel Earth universes. The loser's universe is destroyed. The winner keeps going. The catch is, every time a robot moves, it drains on the pilot's life energy. Meaning, whoever the set pilot is for each round dies after each battle. If you know that you're up next, then you know that you're guaranteed to die - the difference is if you'll take your world with you.

Knowing that information, does this become a bit clearer? Work this backwards. "I have lost the will to choose the day I'll crumble away". That's right. The next pilot is informed immediately after a battle. You spend days, weeks, months maybe wondering when your battle would be, and when you would die. "It is born from all of the pain", well of course knowing your death is coming will cause pain. "Now my heart is empty and numb, save for an unrelenting impulse to destroy all things that I can see". Try this yourself... and see what meaning you can make of it. And with the rest of the song.

Okay fine, you think that Uninstall isn't that TYPE of song? Then take O2, which in my opinion (the middle at least) almost seems like rap. Not quite though. Or maybe even Yuukyou Seishunka. Sensibility. I can guarantee that the lyrics, while some of them might not make sense at first glance, sound a lot better than American ones.

I admit, not all Japanese songs have deep lyrics. So? The tune is already pretty good. Stories by Hitomi Kuroishi, for instance, doesn't have the greatest lyrics. So? I love the tune. And the voice. Hitomi's voice is so amazingly angelic that it's utterly peaceful. None of the American artists have granted me that yet.

There's some beauty of listening to sounds but not knowing what they mean... I've been listening to World End for months before realizing that there was a dub for it. What was once just a jumble of syllables mashed together turned into something amazing and much more meaningful... the original tune just doesn't sound like what the lyrics say. See what I mean? (No I don't think any one does)

Well... there ends my rant. I dunno, I guess I just wanted to let it all out for once. =D So who else agrees? And what are your opinions on music?

[Accalia]

Well, I sort of agree. Some music has pretty good lyrics, though. I like P!nk's 'Perfect', and 'So What', because both of them have this sort of 'haters gonna hate' fighter's charm, and Perfect is just so uplifting and confidence-boosting.

I like Living on a Prayer, because it just has such a strong beat that it makes me wanna go out there and... well, live on a prayer, do something really dangerous, save the world, whatever. I wish fantasy books were real and people really did have adventures

And I like Eye of the Tiger, because it makes me wanna go hit something. It's a 'survive' song.

Sure, the meanings are pretty simple, but they're strong and uplifting and I like them.

Down with pop - rock forever.

[Mintkit]

I like songs with really deep meanings, like Uninstall. If not, it's got to have poetic lyrics.... you know what I mean by "poetic", right? Like this:

"So the earth still turns, and it will never cease, though we may wish it to; but planted in my mind, an orange flower still blooms in memory of you".

[Accalia]

I have a problem with poetic lyrics. They never seem to have any decent rhythm or any kind of civilised meter. I like my rhythms strong and patterned. I like songs with really strong beats that make you go "I WANNA GO OUTSIDE DO SOMETHING WITH MY LIFE AND JOIN THE ARMY AND HIT SOMEBODY"

XDDD

[Renen]

Some pop music is good....WHAT ABOUT THE I WANNA GO HUNGER GAMES VERSION??? HUH?!?!?!~?!?!?!?

They did Perfect on Glee...I got mad because, um, CAN YOU SAY GAY CLICHE? Of COURSE they made Klaine sing it. Of COURSE.

I like old songs better than Japenese songs. Like the Sound Of Silence. WAAAAY deeper meaning than any dub I've ever heard. IMHO. Japenese dubs are good...but you can tell EXACTLY what they mean and if that doesn't in some way apply to your life...then..whatever. I like music that I can relate to.

And music that tells stories.

[Mintkit]

Same!! I was SO obsessed with Ash Like Snow because EVERY SINGLE LINE had something to do with my life. Especially this: "Every time that I'm cut by broken shards of what was once a dream, I will reach into the darkness of my heart and I will try to find the strength to carry on." I can SO relate to that and.... Yeah.

Personally I still love originals better than dubs for the most part. For instance, some songs like, say, Cruel Angel's Thesis, has a better tune than the lyrics (which sucks mostly) and.... yeah.

Sound of Silence... lyrics please? =D And the interpretation?

[Mintkit]

Same!! I was SO obsessed with Ash Like Snow because EVERY SINGLE LINE had something to do with my life. Especially this: "Every time that I'm cut by broken shards of what was once a dream, I will reach into the darkness of my heart and I will try to find the strength to carry on." I can SO relate to that and.... Yeah.

Personally I still love originals better than dubs for the most part. For instance, some songs like, say, Cruel Angel's Thesis, has a better tune than the lyrics (which sucks mostly) and.... yeah.

Sound of Silence... lyrics please? =D And the interpretation?

[Sparksetter]

The Sound Of Silence is kind of a song that...I don't know how to explain this...it's beautiful and deep, but once you try to interperet and analyze it...it takes away some of that depth. I'll just post the lyrics.


Hello darkness my old friend
I've come to talk with you again
Because a vision softly creeping
Left its seeds while I was sleeping
And the vision that was planted in my brain
Still remains
Within the sound of silence

In restless dreams I walked alone
Narrow streets of cobblestone
'Neath the halo of a streetlamp
I turned my collar to the cold and damp
When my eyes were stabbed by the flash of a neon light
That split the night
And touched the sound of silence

And in the naked light I saw
Ten thousand people maybe more
People talking without speaking
People hearing without listening
People writing songs that voices never share
And no one dare
Disturb the sound of silence

"Fools," said I, "you do not know
silence like a cancer grows.
Hear my words that I might teach you
Take my arms that I might reach you."
But my words like silent raindrops fell
And echoed in the wells of silence

And the people bowed and prayed
to the neon god they made
And the sign flashed out its warning
In the words that it was forming
And the sign said
"The words of the prophets are written on the subway walls
and tenement halls
and whispered in the sounds of silence."

That has to be one of my favorite Simon and Garfu..scrap that, one of my favorite songs. Of ALL TIME.

[Wrenstar]

Awww. Pretty song. I've never been able to get into Simon and Garfunkel. My mum has a CD, but even at top volume it's almost too quiet for me to hear.

Meh. Probably just my useless hearing.

[Renen]

Simon and Garfunkel sing kinda quietly...but they ARE very poetic.

[Mintkit]

*is addicted to Again* It sounds so amazingly fast but I love the lyrics...

[Azura]

I'm addicted to Requiem for a Dream. It makes me go all giddy in the chest. Music can affect me pretty big XD and the movie it's from is horrible. Don't watch it. It creeps me out. Gave me nightmares. *shiver*

Then again, everything gives me nightmares.

[Mintkit]

*looks for random quotes from songs*

Sunset will come and the sunrise as well
Day will lead into night
But I have lost my will
It's like I'm standing still
The dust that I sweep away
Just piles higher like snow
~My Soul, Your Beats

I thought it would be found at last
When all the memories that I have lost
Awaken finally
When I have them back
The curtain will fall
On this endless tale
~My Soul, Your Beats


All of my thoughts undone
I just began to run
You grabbed onto my hand
And it had begun
Yesterday's in the past
Tomorrow is coming fast
It's the simplest truth there is
I see
~My Soul, Your Beats

I thought the time had finally come
Watching a thousand mornings passing by
Each bringing a new day
~My Soul, Your Beats

I thought it had been found at last
Watching the last day finally fade away
Like millions of dreams
I waved it goodbye
And said with a smile,
"I'm grateful to you."
~My Soul, Your Beats

I have saved them all, every memory, but now they fall,
to eternity, they scatter in the wind,
leaving me to strum one more goodbye,
one more farewell
~Akatsuki no Kuruma


Like a little child I long for the warmth of a hand to cling upon
But the blazing wheels of tragedy casts me aside without a care
~Akatsuki no Kuruma

Even if I lose every memory I'll chase them all far across the seas
To bloodstained deserts where every breath creates
The rhythm of sayonara
~Akatsuki no Kuruma

Your eyes hold such innocence
You're blind to the fate that will soon come to pass
But it's summoning you with a touch like a sigh
You seek it without knowing why
~Cruel Angel's Thesis

But someday I know that you will be awakened
And your eyes will finally see
~Cruel Angel's Thesis

And the moon is shining above
It wishes to show just how fragile you are
You're so frail and slight in its silvery light;
Our fate is not one we can fight
~Cruel Angel's Thesis

Love is the thread of the story that's woven
Of future and present and past
I may not ever ascend to the heavens
But I know my love will still last
~Cruel Angel's Thesis

So have you forgotten what you've learned,
The happiness you once said you'd earned?
Well maybe you're just too blessed to see
The things that are right before your eyes
That you have been born onto this earth
And that you've been breathing since that birth
You just seem to overlook the fact
That these are really both miracles
~Closer

They tell you to chase after all your dreams
And that you must go on with no hesitation
Although those words sound beautiful
They will still only lead to frustration
I'll try to keep some courage inside my heart
That will help me live through another day
And I'll never take it for granted
Let's go
~Closer

The stars we used to know
No longer glow
Obscured by all the ash that falls like snow
~Ash Like Snow

All of my hopes are in a shroud of desolation
Dreams I that once had have all been crushed
Now that everything's changed, I have been holding on so desperately
To the precious things
That I cannot protect
~Ash Like Snow

No matter how we try to win this war
It never ends!
And why must it be me
Who does the fighting?
~Ash Like Snow

Even if all the light around us is extinguished
Even if the Earth is turned to dust
I won't ever forget
That tiny wish that burns eternally
It will guide us to a better world, somewhere
~Ash Like Snow

In exchange for the glory that can overcome the choking dark
I have given up the strength I used to protect what I love
~Ash Like Snow

Every time that I'm cut by broken shards of what was once a dream
I will reach into the darkness of my heart,
and I will try to find the strength to carry on!
~Ash Like Snow

Although it seems like I am chasing after the past, what I want is place where the sky is alive and like home to me
~Again

Tears are nothing but the shape of our own weakness
And they won't bring any absolution
~Again

To chase my wishes I'll carry on living
And I will always remember the depths of the darkness
~Again

But try to realize that I have closed my eyes
Just because the world is too harsh
And I'm willing to blind myself
~Again

And my heart turned red with this passion
And it almost devoured my whole being
'Cause in truth I'd held onto hope
From this reality
~Again

And I really want to scream out, but can you even hear me?
~Again

How do you unlock this door that has no key?
Can you think of a way?
We can't go back to the beginning
The story's begun, and the future awaits
Open up your eyes
Open up your eyes
~Again

So the earth still turns, and it will never cease, though we may wish it to,
but planted in my mind, an orange flower still blooms in memory of you
~Akatsuki no Kuruma

And until the peace that I long to hold
Has found release from its cage of gold
Please do not let your light ever die away
So that the wheel of fate will turn
Eternally
~Akatsuki no Kuruma

I want to make this shattered dream
An echo that is felt in the future yet to come
~World End

You must try
To keep the world from tears
So return to where you once began
Far beyond the world you know
To the light
~World End

The sky I saw upon that day is what I know will come when my wishes are fulfilled
And in that future we'll return to where the world began in a pure cacoon of white
As a spark within the wind
~World End

Wanting to reach the light is not so simple
Hidden so far beyond your grasp as you try to touch it
~Prototype

Insidious silence
Has served to herald every mistake, and the rift that exists in this world tears from the force of your guidance
The gaze that is judging you
Will show no mercy
Even as you are trembling from the guilt that's inside you
It will not even see blatant hypocracy
Though that may be why you have made the choice to fight
~Prototype

Wreckages surrounding things that once were living
~Prototype

The clashing of all these feelings inside
Is ceaseless, and so you are starting to waver
All the things you once believed have been decaying and you start to doubt
Aren't they just the flawed and uncertain prototypes
And what counts is you so your life should carry on
In the end...you're starting to fade, you're starting to fade
~Prototype







... I can't pick for Uninstall. Every line is just amazing.

It came from somewhere, beyond the farthest reaches of the world that we know, like a creature of shadow
It came to mock us, for we are so naive that we can't comprehend it, and truly we are fragile and small
I cannot hold onto the truth, as it slips right through my fingers like a picture that is made of smoke
I don't know how I will last, because my body is so weak that I may crumble away

Uninstall, uninstall
I was told that I am just a single speck of dust,
and cannot be more, but I do not understand or grasp the true meaning
Uninstall,
I no longer have a choice but to pretend
I am brave, for a soldier has to be brave,
Uninstall

Our unseen thoughts have been growing ever sharper, unbeknownst to us, deep within the subconscious
But an inkling of what has been occurring is revealed to me as, I hear the restless monsters when I sleep
Now my heart is empty and numb, save for an unrelenting impulse to destroy all things that I can see
It is born from all of the pain, for I have lost the will to choose the day I'll crumble away

Uninstall, uninstall
If there's no one who can take this burden in my place,
then there's no choice, but to take my simple life and,
Uninstall,
And it makes me want to end it all with my own hands
Is it wrong? Surely it's alright to want to,
Uninstall

Uninstall, uninstall
I was told that I am just a single speck of dust,
and cannot be more, but I do not understand or grasp the true meaning
Uninstall,
I no longer have a choice but to pretend
I am brave, for a soldier has to be brave,
Uninstall

[Renen]

I'm addicted to Alex Goot's covers.

[Renen]

My brain just doesn't GET Japenese songs. Like, they're good, but part of me thinks that the lyrics are too flowery. And flowery is not neccesarily equal to good.

I like older music. Quieter music. There are people who can listen to heavy metal and hardcore rock at full-blast volume. Not me. My music is always turned way down low. And when I listen to music, I think.

Like my band teacher says. "We live in a world where we're trained to tune out music. We listen to it while driving to the car, while shopping, while doing homework. And that's fine, but sometimes music just needs to be listened to. to be concentrated on. Not shoved in the background. not shoved into the back of your mind. Sometimes, you need to lisetn to music for music's sake."

[Volefur]

Some of the best songs are the ones with no words at all (*cough* Lux Aeterna from the Requiem for a Dream movie *cough*)

That song is the ULTIMATE muse song.

Well, I mostly use Eye of the Tiger for Aza's muse, because it just fits her so nicely. And I use Living on a Prayer for Wrenstar occasionally, and that Wolf Clan music is always good for fighting muse, and Time Forget is perfect for sad/peaceful posts.

But Lux Aeterna works for everything.

[Mintkit]

Yeah, Lyta's right. *shrugs* I listen to my fair share of OSTs, too.

[Azura]

I like being diverse. I'm more than happy to listen to heavy metal rock on the radio at home, get in the car and sing along to my little brother's pop tunes, and be driven to a concert full of Mozart and Bach. Then come home with my mum's jazz-and-soul CD on, and get home and look up folk on YouTube.

Well, I think that's diverse. Maybe I'm just weird. Whatever.

[Renen]

I'VE BEEN ADDICTED TOR REGINA SPEKTOR LATELY.

He stumbled into faith and thought
God, there is all there is
The pictures in his mind arose
And began to breathe
And all the gods and all the worlds
Began colliding on a backdrop of blue

Blue lips, blue veins

He took a step but then felt tired
He said I'll rest a little while
But when he tried to walk again
He wasn't a child
And all the people hurried fast, real fast
And no one ever smiled

Blue lips, blue veins
Blue, the color of our planet
From far, far away
Blue lips, blue veins
Blue, the color of our planet
From far, far away

He stumbled into faith and thought
God, there is all there is
The pictures in his mind arose
And began to breathe
And no one saw and no one heard
They just followed the lead
The pictures in his mind arose
And began to breathe

And no one saw
And no one heard they just followed the lead
The pictures in his mind awoke
And began to breed

They started off beneath an olive tree
And they chopped it down to make a picket fence
And marching along the railroad tracks
They smiled real wide for the camera lens
As they made it past the enemy lines
Just to become enslaved in the enemy lines

Blue lips, blue veins
Blue, the color of our planet
From far, far away
Blue lips, blue veins
Blue, the color of our planet
From far, far away

Blue, the most human color [x3]
Blue lips, blue veins
Blue, the color of our planet
From far, far away


This is my favorite song of hers.

[Mintkit]

*prods* Bob, you're wanted on Where The Heart Is. =D

Hmm... my iTunes is a weird collection of random anime songs, their respective dubs (some don't have any), piano-fied versions of songs, OSTs from Trauma Team, Second Opinion, New Blood, Under the Knife, Under the Knife 2, Ace Attorney, Justice For All, Ace Attorney Investigations, forgot if there was Trials and Tribulations, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Code Geass, Portal, uhh... you get the point. Oh, and Vocaloid-fied songs too. =D

Guys, I swear, you need to listen to Hitomi's songs. I love her, um, style. Her voice. The effect. *squirm* Listen to Continued Story or Stories to see what I'm talking about.