“I”

  • Lyrics & Music: Kazuya Yoshii
  • Arrangement: The Yellow Monkey

Original Lyrics

女神が僕にチャンスを与えた
足枷外して踊るのさ
欲望の海に身を投げダイビング
愛を捜して泳ぐのさ

命の宿るカトレアの花
喜びと苦しみ秘めた花
胸にさして

無機質な時代にうえたSEX
右往左往に手を伸ばしてる
アバンチュールの汗にまみれて Baby
金切り声で幸せと
僕は愛撫のために生きてます
ふしだらと誠実を勲章に
ハイになって

歌うハレルヤ
トゥリルラ トゥリルラ
自由な愛は素敵さ
トゥリルラ
宴終わらない

Fuck me! Fuck me! Fuck me I need it!
Fuck me! Fuck me! Fuck me I need it!
Fuck me! Fuck me! Fuck me I need it!
Fuck me! Fuck me! Fuck me I need it!

君が欲しくて涙が出そうだ
僕は自由さ誰もしばらない
目を見開き君の名を呼ぶ
ハイになって
殺されたい

歌うハレルヤ
トゥリルラ トゥリルラ
夢中な夜は素敵さ
トゥリルラ トゥリルラ
永遠にハレルヤ
トゥリルラ トゥリルラ
自由な愛が全てさ
トゥリルラ
宴終わらない

ハイになって 灰になって 灰になるまで
ハイになって 灰になって 死ねるのが最高!


Romanized Lyrics

megami ga boku ni chance wo ataeta
ashikase hazushite odoru no sa
yokubou no umi ni mi wo nage diving
ai wo sagashite oyogu no sa

inochi no yadoru cattleya no hana
yorokobi to kurushimi himeta hana
mune ni sashite

mukishitsu na jidai ni ueta SEX
uousaou ni te wo nobashiteru
aventure no ase ni mamirete Baby
kanakiri goe de shiawase to
boku wa aibu no tame ni ikitemasu
fushidara to seijitsu wo kunshou ni
hai ni natte

utau hallelujah
tu-li-lu-la tu-li-lu-la
jiyuu na ai wa suteki sa
tu-li-lu-la
utage owaranai

Fuck me! Fuck me! Fuck me I need it!
Fuck me! Fuck me! Fuck me I need it!
Fuck me! Fuck me! Fuck me I need it!
Fuck me! Fuck me! Fuck me I need it!

kimi ga hoshikute namida ga dasou da
boku wa jiyuu sa dare mo shibaranai
me wo mihiraki kimi no na wo yobu
hai ni natte
korosaretai

utau hallelujah
tu-li-lu-la tu-li-lu-la
muchuu na yoru wa suteki sa
tu-li-lu-la tu-li-lu-la
towa ni hallelujah
tu-li-lu-la tu-li-lu-la
jiyuu na ai ga subete sa
tu-li-lu-la
utage owaranai

hai ni natte hai ni natte hai ni naru made
hai ni natte hai ni natte shineru no ga saikou!


Translated Lyrics

A goddess gave me a chance
Taking off my shackles, I dance about
Diving, I throw myself into a sea of desire
And I swim in search of love

A cattleya orchid in which life dwells
A flower that hid both happiness and pain
Stab it into my heart

Sex has grown in this inorganic era
I’m reaching out every which way
Drenched in sweat from our adventure, baby
I scream out how happy I am
I live for your caress
Wearing sincerity and debauchery as medals
Getting high

Singing hallelujah
Tu-li-lu-la, Tu-li-lu-la
Free love is wonderful
Tu-li-lu-la
The party never ends

Fuck me! Fuck me! Fuck me, I need it!
Fuck me! Fuck me! Fuck me, I need it!
Fuck me! Fuck me! Fuck me, I need it!
Fuck me! Fuck me! Fuck me, I need it!

I want you so much I could cry
I’m free, bound by no one
I open my eyes and call your name
Getting high
I want to die

Singing hallelujah
Tu-li-lu-la, Tu-li-lu-la
These nights spent in ecstasy are wonderful
Tu-li-lu-la, Tu-li-lu-la
Forever hallelujah
Tu-li-lu-la, Tu-li-lu-la
Free love is everything
Tu-li-lu-la
The party never ends

Getting high, turning to ash, until I turn to ash
Getting high, turning to ash, being mortal is awesome!


Notes

I - Yoshii (Smile Tour, 1995)
Yoshii almost showing some nipple (Smile tour, 1995)

After the last four songs of the album being not so great, “I” really manages to pull things back up. It sounds like it would have been at home on Jaguar Hard Pain, but this isn’t Yemon writing a song targeted at that sound from that album. This is just them writing songs in the same way they did then, and because of that it feels much more genuine.

I - Band (Smile Tour, 1995)
From the Smile tour, 1995

While the guitar and bass lines keep things moving along, the real star of the show musically is the keyboard. It provides the main melody during the parts when Yoshii isn’t singing, and goes to an organ (which is quickly starting to become a Yemon essential) during the chorus, which really makes this more than just a standard hard rock number. This is also some of the most emotion we’ve gotten out of Yoshii’s vocals so far this album, even apart from his extremely good screamed “Fuck me, I need it!” after the first chorus.

I - Heesey (Four Seasons tour, 1996)
Heesey during the intro (Four Seasons tour, 1996)

The quality of the lyrics is better than most of what’s been on the album too. It’s no masterpiece and there aren’t too many specific phrases I would call out, but it’s just way more solid than the last four songs. At the end there’s some play with the phrase “hai ni natte”, with two alternate meetings depending on whether the “hai” is written in katakana or with a kanji: “Getting high” or “Turning to ash”. This is fine, but I feel like I’ve heard it done in enough other lyrics to not be too impressed (though maybe Yoshii was one of the first to do it, I’m not sure). I also wish “tu-li-lu-la” was an actual lyric instead of just a filler. But ultimately those are both pretty minor criticisms.

I - Yoshii (Four Seasons tour, 1996)
Yoshii’s dramatic pose during the “mune ni sashite” lyric

The only mention of the lyrics I was able to find was in a 1995 interview in Vicious magazine. When the interviewer commented asked about them and said “I thought that it might supposed to be something like your soul crying out?”, Yoshii responded:

My soul crying out? I’m not Kamachi Yamada (A well known poet and painter that died at the age of 17) (Laughs) Well, there definitely is some amount of desire in those lyrics, a man’s real intentions.

Kazuya Yoshii, Vicious Vol. 10, 01/1995

“I” hasn’t been played live too much. It appeared on set-lists during the Smile tour (1995), the first half of the Four Seasons tour (late 1995 – early 1996), and that’s it.

(“I” at their first Nippon Budokan concert just after Smile’s release, 1995)