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blue bird 作詞・作曲・編曲：コモリタミノル
Song Credits
Back to コモリタミノル. I should add that both コモリタミノル tracks on the album are solo works with him writing both the lyrics and music as well as arranging it himself. Also, the greedy bugger also monopolised the performance and chorus on the track so this is effectively an 松浦亜弥-コモリタミノル duet of sorts.
Title
My local professional football club is Cardiff City whose nickname is "The Bluebirds" and the local amateur team has stolen that nickname as well (I'm sure it's Googleable but I'm not going to say explicitly) so "blue bird" holds, I wouldn't say importance, but there is some affinity of sorts. The problem is, neither of them are as good as they think they are so the less connection, the better!
Birds have poetic symbolism because they can fly which is the ultimate romantic fantasy. But maybe blue holds significance like in 「ダブル レインボウ」? We'll see...
Once the title of the album was decided, this song had to be the fifth in sequence I don't think it's coincidence because there are 11 songs and only one of them has a colour in the title so the position makes sense. Just in case you've switched off on me...
Red - Orange - Yellow - Green - Blue - Indigo - Violet
There are a lot of other songs with the same title by other artists including Avex's Queen 浜崎あゆみ, Giza's Garnet Crow and Sir Paul McCartney. There are tons, literally too many for me to count (because I can't be bothered so by definition more than I can) but I am familiar with absolutely zero of them! I do know The Beatles' 「Black Bird」 though. Oh, and 「The Birdie Song」!
The last thing about the title I'll go into in the Lyrics and Translation section... needs some of the lyrics to explain.
Opening Thoughts
I hadn't heard any of this song before I got the album so the style took me completely by surprise.
blue bird
見送りはしない
I won't see you off
だってしゃくじゃない？
But isn't it a pain
転勤するなんて
Having to relocate?
別れじゃあるまいし
It's not a separation
テイクオフは
At take-off
大井埠頭で手を振るよ
I'll wave from Ooifuto *
空に覆いかぶさってく
あなたが乗ってる飛行機
As the plane you're on passes overhead
心でつぶやいたGOOD LUCK FOR YOU
A "Good luck for you" murmured in my heart
母親みたいな気持ち（笑）
Mother-ish sentiment (LOL)
あなたはblue bird
You're a blue bird
帰る場所はわたしよ 忘れないで
You belong with me, don't forget
blue bird
blue bird
秋の空へと高く 消えていった
You went disappearing high into the autumn sky
距離に試されて
Being tested by the distance
弱気になって
Becoming unsure
ヨコシマ溢れても
My head filling with untruths
築いた絆は確かな印し
The collected bonds are a sure sign
信じるっきゃないでしょ
I just have to believe!
気が済むだけ空見上げ
Just to please myself I looked up at the sky
気が済むだけ瞳閉じた
Just to please myself I closed my eyes
いつの間にか茜のカラス
Before I knew it a crimson crow
もう着いた頃かもね
Had already arrived... (not sure about this part)
あなたはblue bird
You're a blue bird
何度でも同じ夢 見せてくれる
No matter how many time you show me the same dream
blue bird
blue bird
それぞれの時超えて また会えるね
Our separate paths will cross and I'll be able to see you again
あなたはblue bird
You're a blue bird
帰る場所はわたしよ 忘れないで
You belong with me, don't forget
blue bird
blue bird
秋の空へと高く 消えていった
You went disappearing high into the autumn sky
あなたはblue bird
You're a blue bird
何度でも同じ夢 見せてくれる
No matter how many time you show me the same dream
blue bird
blue bird
それぞれの時超えて また会えるね
Our separate paths will cross and I'll be able to see you again
* Take care here. 『大井埠頭』 is 『おおいふとう』 but is officially "Ooifuto" in English, just like 『北海道』 is 『ほっかいどう』 but becomes "Hokkaido" and 『東京』 is 『とうきょう』 but "Tokyo". Incidentally, I don't know why the double O at the start of "Ooifuto" remains. It may be because it's a 『おお』 rather than 『おう』 but I just see it as another screw up because of romaji.
Lyrics and Translation
Similar to his other song on the album 「HAPPY TO GO!」, not a whole lot of this song is technically grammatically correct but it's with acceptable casual speech limit.
So what do we have here? Someone's leaving? So soon? We've only just started!
Not a lot needs explaining but 大井埠頭, or 大井ふ頭 as it's more commonly written, is an area that sits along the west of Tokyo Bay about 2 miles south of the famous Rainbow Bridge. 大井 is a name (that literally means "big well"), 埠頭 is a pier or dock (place where ships are loaded, be they passenger or freight ships). Most of the place is Tokyo's international dock for cargo transfer to and from container ships but along the Western part of the "island" (I'll come back to this) and looking rather out-of-place is a sports park (official site). It's an altogether more remarkable place than the rest of 大井ふ頭 if we ignore the fact that it should be underwater! Yup, like so much of Japan's coastline around cities, 大井ふ頭 is in fact reclaimed land, as is the "island" south of one that's immediately south of it (the two markers are the huge sports park in 大井ふ頭). That "island", my friends, is the rather confusingly named Tokyo International Airport. It's confusing because flights from 羽田空港, as it's otherwise called, are mostly internal around Japan. But it's useful because now we know that our girl is standing somewhere in 大井ふ頭 waving to her guy who has departed from 羽田空港 so he most probably hasn't gone abroad. We could have guessed that from the third line telling us why he was going (relocation) but this gives that theory a bit more weight.
The bridge and chorus speak for themselves but I translated the bridge using more complete sentences than the Japanese lyrics which are all just noun phrases and not actually sentences. 『心』 again and an emotional heart again. What I said in 「今はレットイットビー」 isn't much of a rule is it?
But comparing "mind" and "heart" in this context explains why I settled on the latter. The 『（笑）』 in the chorus is a singing direction, rather than a lyric. It's similar to musical direction in scores like "brillante" (brightly) or "giocoso" (cheerfully)! 
There's only one other Aya song that has directions and that's 「ね～え？」 (which uses a quite a few). The chorus is a reminder that the departing person is a boomerang and the plane has gone. Simple enough.
In the second verse there's a bit of uncertainty in her mind but she knows it's something she shouldn't be concerning herself with. The word 『ヨコシマ』 in the last line there means things that are deviant from reality, or otherwise things that are sideways to dodge an issue. Here it's the former in that any negative scenario she creates in her head is far from the truth. Even so, she is having the doubts.
Still having a good think about the second bridge. It'll stay as it is until I can come up with something better but I hope that's sooner than later. I know... I'm rubbish!
But despite the negativity of this part, I don't think the optimism is gone. No matter how many times she's shown the dream (of a non-return it seems) she's certain that their futures are at the very least destined to cross again, if not become entwined. Then it's a repeat of the choruses. It could be interpreted that the last 「あなたは」 that sounds like Michael Jackson from the Jackson 5 days could be a sort of desperation cry but I don't feel it's like that because of the same reason as before. Someday the two halves will be reunited. Oh, I have to mention the 午後の紅茶 style 「ああぁ!」 as well. I love that part.
The last thing about the lyrics is the thing about the title 「blue bird」 that I left from earlier. The biggest airline in Japan is Japan Airlines (JAL) which flies white planes with a bit of a red rising sun (from the national flag) on the tail. It's the airline that Hello! Project use for fanclub tours to Hawaii. The second largest is All Nippon Airways (ANA) which is actually larger that JAL in terms of domestic flights. Its livery is white with a distinctive blue wedge starting just below the nose and running the length of the fuselage to the tail. Airplanes are sometimes, albeit not very often, called "birds" so ANA may actually be what 「blue bird」 refers. The crimson crow later could then be the arrival of a JAL flight but if it is, it's very oblique!
Musical Style
Starts R&B with a bit of turnstyle mixing, then a hit of an 80's 8-bit bassline and then overlays of... calypso? It definitely has a Caribbean flavour to it and it follows the baseline a couple octaves higher. The music sounds like it's layered underneath the vocals more than usual so her voice is very prominent. The chorus (again we're talking コモリタミノル in his backing singer capacity) throughout is really nice and pretty effective, especially in the chorus.
I also expected the last part of the bridge to drift into a bit of tremolo (where a note fluctuates), a bit like 『気持ち～』 rather than 『気持ち→』. That's how to hold a note!
(I willtry to expand this later)
Thoughts and Conclusion
I make no bones about not particularly liking incorrect English in a song. I think it always spoils it, even if the rest of the song is great. Even if the message that was meant to be conveyed is great, like here with "GOOD LUCK FOR YOU", the slight error sort of detracts from it. Yes, another gripe about コモリタミノル and his English! I've occasionally murdered the Japanese language but I'm not making money out of it! The problem is the Japanese particle に which translates into a million different English conjunctions including "to" and "for" so that's where the mistake was made. However, that's nowhere near enough to make a sizeable dent on the song which is sweetness wrapped in an unfamiliar package.
Two songs by コモリタミノル and I've come to the conclusion that his favourite thing to say is 『じゃない』! That's not important though. Two songs and that's his lot. I like both of them (despite them being hard to understanding) and I expected neither to be honest, definitely not this one. I take my hat off to him for making the decision to write such an unusual song.
Romaji (aka primary cause of Miki's death stare)
Miokuri wa shinai
Datte shaku ja nai
Tenkin suru nante
Wakare ja arumai shi
Teiku ofu wa
Ooifutou de te wo furu yo
Sora ni ooikabusatteku
Anata ga notteru hikouki
Kokoro de tsubuyaita guddo rakku foo yuu
Hahaoya mitai na kimochi (shou)
Anata wa buruu baado
Kaeru basho wa watashi yo Wasurenai yo
Buruu baado
Aki no sora e to takaku Kieteitta
Kyori ni tamesarete
Yowaki ni natte
Yokoshima afurete mo
Kizuita kizuna wa tashika na shirushi
Shinjirukkyanai desho
Ki ga sumu dake sora miage
Ki ga sumu dake hitomi tojita
Itsu no ma ni ka akane no karasu
Mou tsuita koro kamo ne
Anata wa buruu baado
Nando de mo onaji yume Misetekureru
Buruu baado
Sorezore no toki koete Mata aeru ne
Anata wa buruu baado
Kaeru basho wa watashi yo Wasurenai yo
Buruu baado
Aki no sora e to takaku Kieteitta
Anata wa buruu baado
Nando de mo onaji yume Misetekureru
Buruu baado
Sorezore no toki koete Mata aeru ne
And Finally...
Something that may have been missed. 『あなた』 means "you" but is actually from the kanji 『貴方』 which separately mean precious (貴)and person (方). Who is Aya's precious person? Why, the blue bird of course!
Song Credits
Back to コモリタミノル. I should add that both コモリタミノル tracks on the album are solo works with him writing both the lyrics and music as well as arranging it himself. Also, the greedy bugger also monopolised the performance and chorus on the track so this is effectively an 松浦亜弥-コモリタミノル duet of sorts.
Title
My local professional football club is Cardiff City whose nickname is "The Bluebirds" and the local amateur team has stolen that nickname as well (I'm sure it's Googleable but I'm not going to say explicitly) so "blue bird" holds, I wouldn't say importance, but there is some affinity of sorts. The problem is, neither of them are as good as they think they are so the less connection, the better!
Birds have poetic symbolism because they can fly which is the ultimate romantic fantasy. But maybe blue holds significance like in 「ダブル レインボウ」? We'll see...Once the title of the album was decided, this song had to be the fifth in sequence I don't think it's coincidence because there are 11 songs and only one of them has a colour in the title so the position makes sense. Just in case you've switched off on me...
Red - Orange - Yellow - Green - Blue - Indigo - Violet
There are a lot of other songs with the same title by other artists including Avex's Queen 浜崎あゆみ, Giza's Garnet Crow and Sir Paul McCartney. There are tons, literally too many for me to count (because I can't be bothered so by definition more than I can) but I am familiar with absolutely zero of them! I do know The Beatles' 「Black Bird」 though. Oh, and 「The Birdie Song」!
The last thing about the title I'll go into in the Lyrics and Translation section... needs some of the lyrics to explain.
Opening Thoughts
I hadn't heard any of this song before I got the album so the style took me completely by surprise.
blue bird
見送りはしない
I won't see you off
だってしゃくじゃない？
But isn't it a pain
転勤するなんて
Having to relocate?
別れじゃあるまいし
It's not a separation
テイクオフは
At take-off
大井埠頭で手を振るよ
I'll wave from Ooifuto *
空に覆いかぶさってく
あなたが乗ってる飛行機
As the plane you're on passes overhead
心でつぶやいたGOOD LUCK FOR YOU
A "Good luck for you" murmured in my heart
母親みたいな気持ち（笑）
Mother-ish sentiment (LOL)
あなたはblue bird
You're a blue bird
帰る場所はわたしよ 忘れないで
You belong with me, don't forget
blue bird
blue bird
秋の空へと高く 消えていった
You went disappearing high into the autumn sky
距離に試されて
Being tested by the distance
弱気になって
Becoming unsure
ヨコシマ溢れても
My head filling with untruths
築いた絆は確かな印し
The collected bonds are a sure sign
信じるっきゃないでしょ
I just have to believe!
気が済むだけ空見上げ
Just to please myself I looked up at the sky
気が済むだけ瞳閉じた
Just to please myself I closed my eyes
いつの間にか茜のカラス
Before I knew it a crimson crow
もう着いた頃かもね
Had already arrived... (not sure about this part)
あなたはblue bird
You're a blue bird
何度でも同じ夢 見せてくれる
No matter how many time you show me the same dream
blue bird
blue bird
それぞれの時超えて また会えるね
Our separate paths will cross and I'll be able to see you again
あなたはblue bird
You're a blue bird
帰る場所はわたしよ 忘れないで
You belong with me, don't forget
blue bird
blue bird
秋の空へと高く 消えていった
You went disappearing high into the autumn sky
あなたはblue bird
You're a blue bird
何度でも同じ夢 見せてくれる
No matter how many time you show me the same dream
blue bird
blue bird
それぞれの時超えて また会えるね
Our separate paths will cross and I'll be able to see you again
* Take care here. 『大井埠頭』 is 『おおいふとう』 but is officially "Ooifuto" in English, just like 『北海道』 is 『ほっかいどう』 but becomes "Hokkaido" and 『東京』 is 『とうきょう』 but "Tokyo". Incidentally, I don't know why the double O at the start of "Ooifuto" remains. It may be because it's a 『おお』 rather than 『おう』 but I just see it as another screw up because of romaji.
Lyrics and Translation
Similar to his other song on the album 「HAPPY TO GO!」, not a whole lot of this song is technically grammatically correct but it's with acceptable casual speech limit.
So what do we have here? Someone's leaving? So soon? We've only just started!
Not a lot needs explaining but 大井埠頭, or 大井ふ頭 as it's more commonly written, is an area that sits along the west of Tokyo Bay about 2 miles south of the famous Rainbow Bridge. 大井 is a name (that literally means "big well"), 埠頭 is a pier or dock (place where ships are loaded, be they passenger or freight ships). Most of the place is Tokyo's international dock for cargo transfer to and from container ships but along the Western part of the "island" (I'll come back to this) and looking rather out-of-place is a sports park (official site). It's an altogether more remarkable place than the rest of 大井ふ頭 if we ignore the fact that it should be underwater! Yup, like so much of Japan's coastline around cities, 大井ふ頭 is in fact reclaimed land, as is the "island" south of one that's immediately south of it (the two markers are the huge sports park in 大井ふ頭). That "island", my friends, is the rather confusingly named Tokyo International Airport. It's confusing because flights from 羽田空港, as it's otherwise called, are mostly internal around Japan. But it's useful because now we know that our girl is standing somewhere in 大井ふ頭 waving to her guy who has departed from 羽田空港 so he most probably hasn't gone abroad. We could have guessed that from the third line telling us why he was going (relocation) but this gives that theory a bit more weight.The bridge and chorus speak for themselves but I translated the bridge using more complete sentences than the Japanese lyrics which are all just noun phrases and not actually sentences. 『心』 again and an emotional heart again. What I said in 「今はレットイットビー」 isn't much of a rule is it?
But comparing "mind" and "heart" in this context explains why I settled on the latter. The 『（笑）』 in the chorus is a singing direction, rather than a lyric. It's similar to musical direction in scores like "brillante" (brightly) or "giocoso" (cheerfully)! There's only one other Aya song that has directions and that's 「ね～え？」 (which uses a quite a few). The chorus is a reminder that the departing person is a boomerang and the plane has gone. Simple enough.In the second verse there's a bit of uncertainty in her mind but she knows it's something she shouldn't be concerning herself with. The word 『ヨコシマ』 in the last line there means things that are deviant from reality, or otherwise things that are sideways to dodge an issue. Here it's the former in that any negative scenario she creates in her head is far from the truth. Even so, she is having the doubts.
Still having a good think about the second bridge. It'll stay as it is until I can come up with something better but I hope that's sooner than later. I know... I'm rubbish!
But despite the negativity of this part, I don't think the optimism is gone. No matter how many times she's shown the dream (of a non-return it seems) she's certain that their futures are at the very least destined to cross again, if not become entwined. Then it's a repeat of the choruses. It could be interpreted that the last 「あなたは」 that sounds like Michael Jackson from the Jackson 5 days could be a sort of desperation cry but I don't feel it's like that because of the same reason as before. Someday the two halves will be reunited. Oh, I have to mention the 午後の紅茶 style 「ああぁ!」 as well. I love that part.
The last thing about the lyrics is the thing about the title 「blue bird」 that I left from earlier. The biggest airline in Japan is Japan Airlines (JAL) which flies white planes with a bit of a red rising sun (from the national flag) on the tail. It's the airline that Hello! Project use for fanclub tours to Hawaii. The second largest is All Nippon Airways (ANA) which is actually larger that JAL in terms of domestic flights. Its livery is white with a distinctive blue wedge starting just below the nose and running the length of the fuselage to the tail. Airplanes are sometimes, albeit not very often, called "birds" so ANA may actually be what 「blue bird」 refers. The crimson crow later could then be the arrival of a JAL flight but if it is, it's very oblique!
Musical Style
Starts R&B with a bit of turnstyle mixing, then a hit of an 80's 8-bit bassline and then overlays of... calypso?
It definitely has a Caribbean flavour to it and it follows the baseline a couple octaves higher. The music sounds like it's layered underneath the vocals more than usual so her voice is very prominent. The chorus (again we're talking コモリタミノル in his backing singer capacity) throughout is really nice and pretty effective, especially in the chorus.I also expected the last part of the bridge to drift into a bit of tremolo (where a note fluctuates), a bit like 『気持ち～』 rather than 『気持ち→』. That's how to hold a note!
(I will
Thoughts and Conclusion
I make no bones about not particularly liking incorrect English in a song. I think it always spoils it, even if the rest of the song is great. Even if the message that was meant to be conveyed is great, like here with "GOOD LUCK FOR YOU", the slight error sort of detracts from it. Yes, another gripe about コモリタミノル and his English! I've occasionally murdered the Japanese language but I'm not making money out of it!
The problem is the Japanese particle に which translates into a million different English conjunctions including "to" and "for" so that's where the mistake was made. However, that's nowhere near enough to make a sizeable dent on the song which is sweetness wrapped in an unfamiliar package.Two songs by コモリタミノル and I've come to the conclusion that his favourite thing to say is 『じゃない』! That's not important though. Two songs and that's his lot. I like both of them (despite them being hard to understanding) and I expected neither to be honest, definitely not this one. I take my hat off to him for making the decision to write such an unusual song.
Romaji (aka primary cause of Miki's death stare)
Miokuri wa shinai
Datte shaku ja nai
Tenkin suru nante
Wakare ja arumai shi
Teiku ofu wa
Ooifutou de te wo furu yo
Sora ni ooikabusatteku
Anata ga notteru hikouki
Kokoro de tsubuyaita guddo rakku foo yuu
Hahaoya mitai na kimochi (shou)
Anata wa buruu baado
Kaeru basho wa watashi yo Wasurenai yo
Buruu baado
Aki no sora e to takaku Kieteitta
Kyori ni tamesarete
Yowaki ni natte
Yokoshima afurete mo
Kizuita kizuna wa tashika na shirushi
Shinjirukkyanai desho
Ki ga sumu dake sora miage
Ki ga sumu dake hitomi tojita
Itsu no ma ni ka akane no karasu
Mou tsuita koro kamo ne
Anata wa buruu baado
Nando de mo onaji yume Misetekureru
Buruu baado
Sorezore no toki koete Mata aeru ne
Anata wa buruu baado
Kaeru basho wa watashi yo Wasurenai yo
Buruu baado
Aki no sora e to takaku Kieteitta
Anata wa buruu baado
Nando de mo onaji yume Misetekureru
Buruu baado
Sorezore no toki koete Mata aeru ne
And Finally...
Something that may have been missed. 『あなた』 means "you" but is actually from the kanji 『貴方』 which separately mean precious (貴)and person (方). Who is Aya's precious person? Why, the blue bird of course!
I find it strange how they put the title 'blue bird' in all lowercase o_O