- Lyrics & Music: Kazuya Yoshii
- Arrangement: The Yellow Monkey
Original Lyrics
覚えたての指癖で 奏でるは
針を飲まされた男の 悲しい歌
か細い指で 慰めのINSIDE BLUES
すてきな 青い果実
独りの時はまるで オリの中
赤い太陽に目をむいて 黒く塗れば
少年の目は 寂しげなINSIDE BLUES
判らなくていい シビアだと泣いていた
もしも貴方に 今夜僕が釘づけで
百年の恋が 生まれるかもね
まつ毛も濡れる 夢見て眠れ
おやすみなさい さようなら
覚えたてのタバコで まぎらわす
フリージアの花と 孔雀の羽が大好き
やがて二つの魂が 激しく
交差した夜 嫌いだと泣いていた
もしも貴方に 今夜僕が釘づけで
百年の恋が 生まれるかもね
まつ毛も濡れる 夢見て眠れ
おやすみなさい さようなら
夕立は魔女の 仕業だと笑う
夕立は魔女の 涙だと笑う
やがて少年は 恥じらいもなく
厚化粧でショータイム 孔雀の羽をつけて
汚れてしまった 言葉をかき集めて
大勢の前で 歌い出した……
もしも貴方が 今夜僕が釘づけで
百年の恋が 生まれるかもね
まつ毛も濡れる 夢見て眠れ
おやすみなさい さようなら
17歳で 犯された僕のメロディー
貴方も今夜 フリージアの花束と
魔法の夜を おこすベッドで
おやすみなさい さようなら
la la la la la la la…
Romanized Lyrics
oboetate no yubi guse de kanaderu wa
hari wo nomasareta otoko no kanashii uta
kabosoi yubi de nagusame no INSIDE BLUES
suteki na aoi kajitsu
hitori no toki wa marude ori no naka
akai taiyou ni me wo muite kuroku nureba
shounen no me wa samishige na INSIDE BLUES
wakaranakute ii severe da to naite ita
moshimo anata ni konya boku ga kugizuke de
hyaku nen no koi ga umareru ka mo ne
matsuge mo nureru yume mite numure
oyasumi nasai sayounara
oboetate no tabako de magirawasu
freesia no hana to kujaku no hane ga daisuki
yagate futatsu no tamashii ga hageshiku
kousa shita yoru kirai da to naite ita
moshimo anata ni konya boku ga kugizuke de
hyaku nen no koi ga umareru ka mo ne
matsuge mo nureru yume mite numure
oyasumi nasai sayounara
yuudachi wa majo no shiwaza da to warau
yuudachi wa majo no namida da to warau
yagate shounen wa hajirai mo naku
atsugeshou ode showtime kuzaku no hane wo tsukete
yogorete shimatta kotoba wo kaki atsumete
oozei no mae de utai dashita……
moshimo anata ga konya boku ni kugizuke de
hyaku nen no koi ga umareru ka mo ne
matsuge mo nureru yume mite numure
oyasumi nasai sayounara
juu nana sai de okasareta boku no melody
anata mo konya freesia no hanataba to
mahou no yoru wo okosu bed de
oyasumi nasai sayounara
la la la la la la la…
Translated Lyrics
The sad song of a man who was forced to swallow a needle
Played using a fingering technique that he just learned
With such delicate fingers, the comforting inside blues
A beautiful unripened fruit
Being alone is like being trapped in a cage
Rolling his eyes at the red sun, if it were covered in black
The boy’s eyes would be full of lonely inside blues
He was crying out that you don’t need to understand, it’s just so severe
If I can’t take my eyes off of you tonight
A love that lasts 100 years may be born
Go to sleep and dream, with wet eyelashes
Goodnight, and goodbye
Distracted by a brand of cigarettes that he just found out about
He loves peacock feathers and freesias
And on the night when their two souls finally
Crossed paths so fiercely, he was crying out that he hated her
If I can’t take my eyes off of you tonight
A love that lasts 100 years may be born
Go to sleep and dream, with wet eyelashes
Goodnight, and goodbye
He laughs that the evening rain is a witch’s doing
He laughs that the evening rain is a witch’s tears
At last it was showtime for the boy, and without embarrassment
He put on heavy makeup, and donned peacock feathers
And scraping together some filthy words
He began to sing in front of so many people……
If you can’t take your eyes off of me tonight
A love that lasts 100 years may be born
Go to sleep and dream, with wet eyelashes
Goodnight, and goodbye
The melody that violated me at 17 years old
On this bed that will begin this night of magic
And bouquets of freesias, you too will say
Goodnight, and goodbye
La la la la la la la…
Notes
Freesia no Shounen is easily in my top couple of songs from this album. It’s funny, because this is another one I always used to skip over upon re-listening to Experience Movie. It’s the most interesting ballad on the album, both lyrically and musically. The most striking thing about it is the reggae-esque rhythm that hadn’t been heard from Yemon up until this point, and never really would be again. But hearing that description without actually listening to the song, you won’t really get the right idea. Combined with the vocal melody of the verses, it ends up actually sounding slightly haunting. But rhythmically haunting! That serves to make breaking out of that rhythm for the less complicated chorus all that more affecting.
Yoshii has said in interviews that this is a mini autobiography of his early life, and is meant to be a parting song with his past self. Apparently there’s also no particular significance in his selection of the Freesia as a flower here. The perspective seems to shift to “the boy” (Yoshii himself) during the chorus, whereas the verses all seem to be from a third person: Perhaps the current version of him looking back on his past self. Some of this stuff is obviously figurative poetry (being forced to swallow a needle, etc.), but it all works so well to paint a picture in a way that only Yoshii can do. And knowing what the song is about actually makes it possible to trace a timeline of Yoshii’s life through the verses: Him getting into music and learning to play guitar, discovering his love for glam rock and creating an image for himself from that (“peacock feathers”), performing in front of others for the first time as a singer instead of a guitarist (“scraping together some filthy words”)…all with references to being depressed, troubled, and not sure how to deal with women all thrown in between.
But then the choruses are almost something different entirely. I think they’re a combination of how he felt about falling in love back then, and also a little bit of him saying that goodbye to that version of himself as well. The chorus melody is what really brings everything together, and there’s as much emotion in it as we’ve heard in This Is For You and Pearl Light of Revolution (particularly when performed live). It’s not the first or last time we’d hear phrases like “Go to sleep and dream, with wet eyelashes”, which seem a little bit corny if you just read them on paper (or on a website). But I’d really encourage anyone reading this to listen to the song even more than usual to see just how well this all fits together.
Unfortunately Freesia no Shounen hasn’t been performed live too much, at least not on recordings. It’s appeared on set-lists only during Mekara Uroko 7 (1996) and Mekara Uroko 27 (2016). The slow walk away from the mic that he does to fade out the “lalala”‘s at the end in these performances is again so fantastic if you understand the song’s purpose (see the video below for the performance from Mekara Uroko 7).
