- Lyrics & Music: Kazuya Yoshii
- Arrangement: The Yellow Monkey
Original Lyrics
時はこの部屋で ドナ しおれてくばかりさ
窓が僕に大声で笑う WITHOUT YOU WITHOUT YOU
何を捜してるの ドナ 愛しい人はここに
この声はもう闇の中……WITHOUT YOU WITHOUT YOU
雨はもうこんなになってる 降ってる 僕は不自由さ
僕はもうこんなになってる 降ってる 君は無情さ
何を殺したの ドナ 控えめに叫ぶから
濡れた髪はもう 乾かないさ WITHOUT YOU WITHOUT YOU
疲れたよと泣いて 好きよと振り向いて
僕を失くさないで 出任せとつぶやいて
いつものほうがましさ ずっとずっと楽さ
君を百個並べて ナナナナ……
雨はもうこんなになってる 降ってる 僕は不自由さ
僕はもうこんなになってる 降ってる 君は無情さ
雨はもうこんなになってる 降ってる 僕は不自由さ
僕はもうこんなになってる 降ってる……
CLOSE YOUR EYES……
Romanized Lyrics
toki wa kono heya de Donna shioreteku bakari sa
mado ga boku ni oogoe de warau WITHOUT YOU WITHOUT YOU
nani wo sagashiteru no Donna itoshii hito wa koko ni
kono koe wa mou yami no naka……WITHOUT YOU WITHOUT YOU
ame wa mou konna ni natteru futteru boku wa fujiyuu sa
boku wa mou konna ni natteru futteru kimi wa mujou sa
nani wo koroshita no Donna hikaeme ni sakebu kara
nureta kami wa mou kakanai sa WITHOUT YOU WITHOUT YOU
tsukareta yo to naite suki yo to furimuite
boku wo nakusanaide demakase to tsubuyaite
itsumo no hou ga mashi sa zutto zutto raku sa
kimi wo hyakko narabete nananana……
ame wa mou konna ni natteru futteru boku wa fujiyuu sa
boku wa mou konna ni natteru futteru kimi wa mujou sa
ame wa mou konna ni natteru futteru boku wa fujiyuu sa
boku wa mou konna ni natteru futteru……
CLOSE YOUR EYES……
Translated Lyrics
Time’s just wasting away here in this room, Donna
The window laughs at me in a loud voice, without you, without you
What are you looking for Donna? The one you love is right here
My voice is already alone in the dark…without you, without you
The rain is already falling this hard, and I’m helpless
I’m already falling this hard, and you’re so heartless
What is it that you killed off Donna? Because I’m screaming in moderation
My wet hair will never dry again, without you, without you
Cry out that you’re tired, turn around and say that you love me
Don’t leave me behind, just whisper anything at all
I wish things were still the same as they were, it would be so much easier
With a hundred of you lined up in a row, na-na-na-na……
The rain is already falling this hard, and I’m helpless
I’m already falling this hard, and you’re so heartless
The rain is already falling this hard, and I’m helpless
I’m already falling this hard……
Close your eyes……
Notes
On an album that so far as been rock numbers of various stripes, Donna gives us a peek at the turn that Experience Movie is about to take. It’s not only the first ballad of the album, but one unlike any of the ballads that we’ve seen from The Yellow Monkey so far. Its acoustic intro with electric accents, and Yoshii’s hauntingly echoing background vocals set this up as a much more downbeat and depressing ballad than something like Pearl Light of Revolution.
It’s also has a very simplistic arrangement, but that makes it stronger. The transition into the chorus is almost hard to notice at first, but the slight change in melody that signals it is a pretty great piece of song writing. The same goes for the the lyrics that make it up. They’re pretty simplistic, but work in so many ways: Stacking “natteru” and “futteru” together works both in terms of melody and meaning. While it makes sense grammatically when talking about the rain (also take a shot whenever there’s a Yellow Monkey song that heavily features rain in it), it doesn’t necessarily in the followup line talking about the speaker. But again, that’s exactly why it works so well as a song. Emma also gives us a preview of his classical guitar chops in the solo, that he’ll get to show off better in later songs like “Bara Shoufu Reina”.
The meaning of the lyrics isn’t very hard to figure out, but it’s something so straightforward that Yemon actually hasn’t really done it yet: A song about a man who has had someone who he loves dearly move on from him. He doesn’t know where to go or what to do, and just wants things to go back to the way they were. And even though there are phrases in the song like “you’re so heartless”, that’s just his natural response to what he’s feeling. The song doesn’t paint Donna as being evil or wrong for leaving him. So in that way, it’s an incredibly honest expression of a failed relationship.
Donna was never a song that I listened to all that much. Back when I first discovered Yemon and I was going through every album front to back, Donna was one I’d often skip. I dismissed it as a boring ballad because it didn’t slap you in the face with its melodies and emotion like the ballads found on Night Snails did. But in re-listening to it so many years later, I really find myself surprised by how much I like it, even though it isn’t cut from the same cloth as some of my favorite Yemon ballads are at all. Donna isn’t a song you’ll be listening to in your car (unless you like listening to depressing and downbeat songs while driving), but it’s a good expression of emotion.
It’s been mentioned in interviews that this song was recorded in a studio at a resort in Lake Yamanaka (an area at the foot Mt. Fuji). Donna also hasn’t made it onto a Yemon set list in quite some time. It was performed during the Experience Movie (1993) and Jaguar Hard Pain tours (1994), and again during an Experience Movie-heavy set list at Mekara Uroko 9 (1998). The song takes on a bit of a different quality live as well: With Emma on the electric guitar and Yoshii on the typically pretty turned-down acoustic guitar, the acoustic feel that the song has on the album doesn’t come through quite as strong (though it’s certainly the closest during the Mekara Uroko 9 performance). It’s much more carried by Emma’s accents and leads, along Heesey’s now very prominent bass line. Emma’s acoustic solo also isn’t present for the live version, presumably since it would involve switching guitars mid-song.
