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01. 結婚しない二人

Posted by H!P46, 05 February 2009 · 1000 views

あやっぺ
作詞・作曲: KAN 編曲: 荒木啓六

Song Credits

One of the later revised versions of the album track list claimed track 10 would be a cover. In actual fact, it's track 1 which is the cover (well, track 10 is as well but it was already listed and everyone already knew that きずな was a cover). This is a song that was originally released as the third track on KAN's ninth album 東雲 in 1994. Good to know huh? Any Aya fan should know who KAN is because she did a great cover of his 愛は勝つ for 歌ドキ on um, 07.01...18 I think. KAN, real name 木村和, is a fellow member of Up-Front Agency and also on the zetima label. He debuted when Aya was exactly ten months old to the day: 87.04.25. So KAN wrote and composed this song. The arranger 荒木さん is also linked to Aya, having arranged one of her previous songs. Another cover in fact. The other cover actually: きずな. He's also arranged a few other Hello! Project related songs including a few of the きらりん☆レボリューション songs. There are other credits like brass arrangement for this song but I'm going to keep things to just lyricist, composer and arranger for the most part, because I'm too lazy to research more than anything else!

Title

結婚しない means "will not marry" and 二人 means "two people" although in this context (and most others) it also means 'couple' in the sense that the two people are romantically linked. The title literally means "Two People Who Will Not Marry" but that's a long winded way of translating it. By reason, two people who will not marry are two people who are not married so they are an "Unmarried Couple". As far as I can recall, this is Aya's second song about marriage (or the lack of it in this case). The first was dearest. from Naked Songs, over two years ago... how time flies!

Foreword

Despite knowing that this was a cover and knowing who did the original, I wasn't able to find KAN's version. Admittedly, I didn't look particularly hard though. I hit YouTube and that was about it! If anyone is more curious than me and finds a not-particularly-legal uploading, do please let me know. <3

結婚しない二人
Unmarried Couple

君がぼくを頼って ぼくが君を支える
You depend on me and I support you
君のことは誰より理解してるつもりさ
My intention is to know you better than anyone else...
香辛料苦手 ミスター・チルドレンのファン
Can't handle spicy food, a Mr. Children fan
学歴のわりに頭きれること
An excellent mind despite your grades at school

君がぼくを叱るように ぼくは君に甘える
I'm a little timid like you're going to scold me
欲しいものはほとんどもう君は持ってるはず
You probably have almost everything you could want
ツーシーターの外車 トスカーナのワイン
A foreign two-seater car, Tuscan wines
堅めの肩書きに ジェントルなボーイフレンズ
A formalish title and gentle boyfriends

あと何が欲しいのと詰めよるぼくに
After, when I pulled you close and asked you what you wanted
君は勝ち誇るように言った
You declared with triumph
「理屈ぬきの強引さだけよ」
"Just some plain old assertiveness"

二人は free 時間もスタイルも
The two of us are free in time and style
いつでも free 縛らず邪魔されず すべてが free
Free whenever, unrestricted, untroubled, free in every way
たまにセクシーなジョーク楽しみながら
While occasionally enjoying a sexy joke
ぼくらは上手く暮らしてる
We live together in perfect harmony

人間愛こそすべてと今も昔も誰かが歌う
Both now and in the past people have sung about human love
ぼくらにとってそれは
For us that
点数に追われた受験生達の
現実逃避的理想論としか思えないけど
Seems like result-conscious students' escapist idealism though

君と交わす言葉に ×をつけたら
If we put circles and crosses to our words
父兄呼び出されても
Even if we're summoned by our parents
仕方ない程度の成績だろうねきっと
I guess that'd definitely be the inevitable grade

二人は free 言葉にしなくても
The two of us are free even if we don't say so
いつでも free 静かな愛がある 今夜も free
Free whenever, with a peaceful love, free tonight
まわりに変だと言われながらも
Though the people around us may say that it's strange
ぼくなりに君を愛してる
I love you in my own way

二人は free ときどきはキスして
The two of us are free, we'll occasionally kiss
いつでも free もちろんその先もする それでも free
Free whenever, of course we'll do it again, but free
今の仕事にプライド持てる限り
As long as we can have pride in our present work
ぼくたちはこのままイーヴン
We will stay even

急にベイビーでもできない限り
Unless we suddenly have babies
二人はこのままイーヴン
The two of us will stay even

Thoughts?

I quite like that breath at the beginning just after the first drum beat. It feels like a preparation for a big explanation to get the narrator's perspective across. That narrator is a man. Most of Aya's previous songs have been from the perspective of girls or women. Off the top of my head, the only non-cover Aya songs that I can think of that are from a male perspective are 草原の人 and チョコレート魂. One hasn't even been released yet! It's not overly important but it's just something to keep in mind so that when you read "he..." below you don't start wondering if I think Aya's had gender reassignment surgery!

The first verse is quite romantic and self explanatory, listing mundane things that he knows about his girl that shows how much he's trying. Mr. Children, for those who don't know, is a hugely famous and successful Japanese band who debuted in 1988 and are still going extremely well today. In fact, in the same period that 想いあふれて shipped a measely 4873 copies, Mr. Children's latest album SUPERMARKET FANTASY sold 19622. Doesn't sound like a huge number but that's been on sale since 08.12.10! They built up their popularity over time and Japan really got a feel for them in the 90s which means they weren't that legendary when the song was written as they are now. In fact, it was only a few months after KAN's album that Mr. Children had their biggest hit to date with Tomorrow Never Knows. At the time it became Japan's sixth best selling single of all time but it's now seventh. The list concerns what the girl 'is' and the list in the second verse is similar but this time the items are things that the girl 'has', presumably everything she wants which slightly intimidates him.

With that in mind he pulls her towards him and asks her what her heart's desire is. There's a phrase that gets pushed around a lot at Christmas: "if you know the person you'll find the gift". My feeling is that for all his intention to know her better than anyone else, he's not quite there yet. Then again, what do you give a girl who has everything? Her answer is triumphant because the act of pulling her towards him means that he's already giving her what she wants. Quite fortunate, that.

The chorus is quite self-explanatory... two very liberated people enjoying their lives. 上手く暮らしてる translates more to "living without problems". I was going to translate is as "living without a hitch" but that would have added in a pun that isn't there in the Japanese line, as clever as I think it is. :good: In the end I translated it the way I did because I was thinking of Stevie Wonder while I was listening to the song (see Musical Style section).

In the third verse, "human love" means love for humanity rather than the love between people. That's not an untranslated line there. I translated the last two lines together because they're linked but that's the best I could do because it's just about that complicated in Japanese as well. The idea behind that is that nearly everyone in Japan can associate with that image of someone trying to run away from finding out their results. To be honest I'm not entirely sure what this verse suggests but the interpretation I've come down on is that the couple don't really care what society thinks because they have their own way of doing things and are sticking to it. That's why they don't get married. I think this perspective is best explained with a picture and the picture on the page opposite the lyrics of the song in the booklet will do very nicely indeed.
Posted Image
There's Aya looking like a sort of fun loving jet-set lady living the high life who doesn't give a damn what people think. That's my feeling but I could be wrong.

The bridge continues the education analogy. Firstly, the Japanese use a circle to denote correctness rather than a tick (or checkmark) and crosses indicate mistakes. Then the next line is a bit ambiguous because there's no grammatical particle. It can either mean that the parents are called (to go to the school to discuss the results) or that the narrator and/or the girl are summoned by their parents (to explain why the results are not as expected). I've gone for the second one of those because in the context of the song, explaining why you're not going to marry is a family matter. The inevitable grade alludes to not marrying as well. In summary, the bridge firmly lays out the idea that their way won't even be affected by what their parents think.

A couple of choruses to finish... the first of those repeats the message that they are doing things their way. In the second, the last time the word 'free' is used I think it alludes to "free will". They'll kiss again, not because they have to or because people want them to but because they want to. The word イーヴン is obviously a transliteration of the word 'even' but I'm not entirely sure which nuances of the word made the crossing as well. I think (through reason more than anything) that it means level/flat sort of even here where things are plain sailing rather than saying the two are share-the-household-chores equal. I don't think that second interpretation would make much sense considering the opening line of the song. As long as their jobs remain fulfilling they have no complaints.

There are a few ways to see the ending lines but the one I've settled on is simply that having a baby would change everything. Maybe they'd get married in a shotgun wedding wedding and so would lose the whole freedom thing that's been preached for the song. Shogun weddings are affectionately called できちゃった結婚 or できちゃった婚 in Japanese which means "we've gone and done it marriage", 'it' being getting pregnant. But even if they don't get married and remain as 結婚しない二人, a baby would still significantly curb that freedom and so their plain sailing 'even' would be no more.

Singing Style

Self-harm... onisation! Having the same person do lead vocals and chorus means that Aya can never perform this the song a cappella with all the vocals on her own. Not that she was ever going to but it's a really interesting aural experience. I like the effect but there's a tonal quality that different voices bring. Even if the second voice is not as good as the first, the difference adds a extra dimension to the sound. Perhaps that's what's weird about the self-harmonisation... there's something missing and perhaps that's good in the context of a song about two people who are in a relationship that isn't going to result in marriage. Society says that something is missing but ultimately when you observe it (listen to this song or see two loving people living their lives without marriage) you can come to accept that it's not as weird as you first thought it was. Oh, I said "even if the second voice is not as good" but I just remembered Aya's days on みんなのテレビ where she did several collaborations with HINOI TEAM. That's a second, third, fourth and fifth voice that of a lower standard and it makes me want to take back what I just said!

I don't think there's anyone in Hello! Project more adept at harmonisation than Aya but, as I mentioned not too long ago, she has almost always taken the higher melody line so having to do a bass line is something different, although it's something different that she's done before! :lol: Good harmonisation is not easy to get right. There's some musical theory that I don't understand involved like which keys sound good together but most people will probably find it hard enough to hold a tune against backing music. To do that in a different key is even more difficult because you have to fight the instinct to return to your normal key. Then to do that while somebody else is singing a different melody to you is something I'll never be able to do. Aya can do it though and it was largely her ability that allowed GAM to use it for songs like イチャ♡イチャ Summer which is a great example of the technique. Miki herself admitted that she found it quite difficult to do the GAM harmonisations. But difficult doesn't necessarily mean failure and she played her part in making them sound good.

So are two Ayas better than one? I'll leave that one unanswered. Nobody cares anyway! :P

Musical Style

Kicking off an album with jazz... the same way that Naked Songs started with Feel Your Groove. Jazz isn't a style that is new for Aya. 夢・音楽館 from 04.06.08 alone gave three jazz versions of Aya songs. The 草原の人 soundtrack (for the stage musical) also had jazz rearrangements for some of the songs although they were instrumental version but YOKOHAMA SING A SONG itself (from the show but also the 草原の人 coupling song) was jazz, as was オリジナル人生 and Feel Your Groove which I mentioned a second ago. I'm not an expert in jazz (or anything for that matter) but I'd say this song is swing. So jazz per se isn't new to Aya but this sort of swing isn't something she's done a lot of. On first listen I found it hard to decide what to make of the swing but it's grown on me considerably since, as a few songs have recently (not just Aya songs). It actually reminds me of an extremely famous song: Stevie Wonder's Isn't She Lovely. There's a very similar feel to the instruments, beat, sax solos, fade out at the end... lots of similarities. I used to talk a lot about Aya and jazz in the Aya thread of the forum. Retired forum favourite FumikoH (phew... say that one quickly!) used to join me in saying that Aya's singing was quite suited to jazz and that aspect of her hasn't changed: she still is.

Romaji (aka linguistic divorce)

kekkon shinai futari

kimi ga boku wo tayotte boku ga kimi wo sasaeru
kimi no koto wa dare yori rikai shiteru tsumori sa
koushin'ryou nigate misuta- chirudoren no fan
gakureki no wari ni atama kireru koto

kimi ga boku wo shikaru you ni boku wa kimi ni amaeru
hoshii mono wa hotondo mou kimi wa motteru hazu
tsu-shi-ta- no gaisha tosuka-na no wain
katame no katagaki ni jentoru na bo-ifurendo

ato nani ga hoshii no to tsumeyoru boku ni
kimi wa kachihokoru you ni itta
rikutsu nuki no gouinsa dake yo

futari wa furi- jikan mo sutairu mo
itsu de mo furi- shibaru jama sarezu subete ga furi-
tama ni sekushi- na jo-ku tanoshiminagara
bokura wa umaku kurashiteru

ningen'ai koso subete to ima mo mukashi mo dare ka ga utau
bokura ni totte sore wa
tensuu ni owareta jukenseitachi no
genjitsu touhiteki risouron to shika omoenai kedo

kimi to kawasu kotoba ni maru ka batsu wo tsuketara
fukei yobidasarete mo
shikata ga nai teido no seiseki darou ne kitto

futari wa furi- kotoba ni shinakute mo
itsu de mo furi- shizukana ai ga aru kon'ya mo furi-
mawari ni hen da to iwarenagara mo
boku nari ni kimi wo aishiteru

futari wa furi- tokidoki wa kisu shite
itsu de mo furi- mochiron sono saki mo suru sore de mo furi-
ima no shigoto ni puraido moteru kagiri
bokutachi wa kono mama i-vun

kyuu ni beibi- de mo dekinai kagiri
futari wa kono mama i-vun


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