Long time no write, I know! I’ve actually been busy digesting a lot of new music, but especially Six Lounge’s latest album “3”. While there are a lot—well, EVERY song is great, honestly–one song that’s caught my attention is “Silent Seagull”. It’s a fast-paced melody with enduring vocals that carry over racing chord progressions. Given the title, it lends the feeling of flying in circles with the scene blurring behind the image of a seagull.
Funny enough, the main riff reminds me a lot of the song from ‘The Bulb’ called ‘Violent Wind/ 切り裂く風 (‘切り裂く‘means tear/cut through in a violent way, and ‘風’ means wind, but I’m not sure how to translate them together. On Google it says ‘wind breaking’, but I feel that’s too literal???). “Silent Seagull” even uses the lyric’切り裂いたのは心の底から 叫んでた ハイエナ/What cut through from the bottom of my heart, Hyena was screaming.’, which made me think of 切り裂く風’ EVEN MORE, but I think it was just a coincidence because the story is totally different. But it’s the story of the song that drew me in the most, although it’s actually also very catchy.
While I often like to teach through lyrics, this song has no repetition appropriate for a lesson. So instead, I’m going to translate it to English to the best of my ability. I’ll also highlight any vocabulary I think will be easy or interesting to pick up from the song. I’ll put my interpretation of the song at the end so we can unpack it together. I hope it’ll help you appreciate this poetry as much as I do. Unfortunately I can’t post the song, but you can listen on Spotify, iTunes, or buy the album to enjoy the fun album art ❤
焼きつけ 風 静かに 頬を突き刺して/やきつけ かぜ しずかに ほほをつきさして
The burning ( this is like ‘sunburn’ burn, not ‘in flames’ ) wind quietly pierced my cheek
冷えつけ 月光 確かに 感覚無くせたら/ ひえつけ げっこ たしかに かんかくなくせたら
After the cold moonlight certainly made me go numb
切り裂いたのは 心の底から/ きりさいたのは こころのそこから
What cut through from the bottom of my heart
叫んでた ハイエナ/さけんでた はいえな
Hyena was screaming
かごめかごめ 籠の中で 夜明けの晩へと/ かごめかがめ かごのなかで よあけのばんへと
Bird in the cage (apparently this is the name of a children’s game!) , in the cage, to the break of dawn
うわの空 凍えます/ うわのそら こごえます
Absentminded, will freeze
ここに居場所はいない/ここにいばしょはいない
This is no place to be
冷えつけ 風 確かに 頬を突き刺した/ひえつけ かぜ たしかに ほほをつきさした
The cold wind certainly pierced my cheek
飛べないのなら 翼なんていらない/とべないのなら つばさなんていらない
If you can’t fly, you don’t need wings
笑ってた ハイエナ/わらってた はいえな
Hyena was laughing
かごめかごめ 籠の中で 裸足になったら/かごめかごめ かごのなかで はだしになったら
Bird in a cage, after I went barefoot in the cage
今だけは 見えますか？/いまだけは みえますか？
Can you see only now?
熱いこの身体が 時雨だす 震えます/あついこのからだ しぐれだす ふるえます
Hot, this body will emit a gust of wind and rain, shivering
うまく生きてみたい/うまくいきてみたい
I want to try living well
あなたが中に 溢れるほど/ あなたがなかにあふれるほど
You are inside, enough to overflow
壊れそうなうちに/こわれそうなうちに
Just before it’s about to break
ああ ずっと 閉じて込めてやりたい/とじてこめてやりたい
Aaah, I want to lock it up forever
はらはらと かすむ目が 始発のベルを待つ/ はらはらと かすむめが しはつのべるをまつ
On edge, eyes glazed over, I wait for the bell of the first departure
時雨だす 震えます/しぐれだす ふれえます
Emit a gust of wind and rain, shivering
誰も気にしてない/だれもれきにしてない
No one cares
殺してみたい/ころしてみたい
I want to try to kill it
心の中を/こころのなかを
What lies in my heart (not sure about this translation)
Looking at the lyrics as a whole, the story seems to come together as about breaking free. Perhaps the ‘silence’ of the seagull is suggesting that the ‘seagull’ is powerless; no voice and no freedom, as suggested by the part: ‘If you can’t fly, you don’t need wings’. However, as we move to the last few lines of the song, I wonder what the ‘I want to try to kill it’ is about. Is it talking about the cage? Or maybe the doubts that’d been put in the seagull by ‘Hyena’?
AND HOW DID IT GET IN A CAGE IN THE FIRST PLACE?? Is Hyena the thing that’s keeping it locked up, or is the cage a metaphorical powerlessness over…outside influences???
While the song moves from expression of weakness to ones of strength like ‘a gust of wind and rain’ and ‘lock it up forever’, or ‘kill’, somehow I don’t get any feelings of optimism. Maybe the seagull has to destroy something in itself before it can be free, which is why I’m left feeling kind of…hopeless. Although, this also may be because of the way Yuumori SINGS this lyric. It ends on a minor key and gives no sense of resolution at all. If this were a music video, I imagine the seagull thinking up this great plan to escape and get back the power it’d lost, but have the video end on the seagull still locked in the cage.
Of course this is all speculation, and as a non-native speaker, I’m sure that there are a lot of nuances I got wrong. Still, poetry is suppose to leave you thinking, and Shintaro never fails to get the cogs turning~
Until next time! Happy learning 🙂
that foreign music blog🌎 
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