Original Lyrics
聞こえますか? 聞こえますか?
この四次元空間がSOSを出しています。
あなただけは信じてください。
怒りや憎しみや悲しみは、幸せの後遺症です。
笑顔で救うのです。
笑顔を大切に。笑顔を大切に。
美しい笑顔を大切に。
ながくおびえた世界は歌う
血迷いの中で
Only to smile
太陽が流した涙に濡れて
黙って月は輝く
Only to smile
僕は秘かに夢を全部話して
静かに熱くなる
Only to smile
そして未来のチャンネル回す
絶望の彼方で
Always smile
Always smile
Always smile
Always smile
Always smile
Always smile
The Earth come to the end.
Crying to the end.
Get it!
You get the eternal smile!
Always smile!
Romanized Lyrics
(Russian intro)
nagaku obieta sekai wa utau
chi mayoi no naka de
Only to smile
taiyou ga nagashita namida ni nurete
damatte tsuki wa kagayaku
Only to smile
boku wa hisoka ni yume wo zenbu hanashite
shizuka ni atsuku naru
Only to smile
soshite mirai no channel mawasu
zetsubou no kanata de
Always smile
Always smile
Always smile
Always smile
Always smile
Always smile
The Earth come to the end.
Crying to the end.
Get it!
You get the eternal smile!
Always smile!
Translated Lyrics
Can you hear me? Can you hear me?
This four-dimensional space is sending out an SOS
Please believe me
Anger, hatred, and sadness are the after-effects of happiness
A smile will save you from them
Treasure your smile, treasure your smile
Treasure your beautiful smile
This world that has long been afraid, will sing
Amidst all of the madness
Only to smile
Wet from the tears shed by the sun
The moon will silently shine
Only to smile
Secretly talking about all of my dreams
I’ll quietly grow impassioned
Only to smile
And I’ll change the channel to that of the future
Beyond despair
Always smile
Always smile
Always smile
Always smile
Always smile
Always smile
The Earth come to the end.
Crying to the end.
Get it!
You get the eternal smile!
Always smile!
Notes
I couldn’t find any traces online of the original Russian dialogue that makes up the intro, so it’s unfortunately absent from the romanization. The lyrics booklet did contain the Japanese translation of it though, so it appears in both of the other sections. The intro was narrated by someone named Beronika Suzuki, who I could also not find any other information on whatsoever.
Smile was obviously a short track created just to serve as an intro to the album, which is nothing new for this band. We had Song For Night Snails from The Night Snails And Plastic Boogie, but actually this is much more like the title track from their indie album Bunched Birth. Smile is much more impactful to that end though: It gives you a bit more to chew on both in terms of lyrics and length than Bunched Birth did, and opens an otherwise very pop-driven album with something weird, as though to stay that The Yellow Monkey you’ve grown used to is still here in some form. It also flows perfectly into the next track, Mary ni Kuchizuke. Naturally Smile was used as the concert opener when they toured for the album, going right into Mary ni Kuchizuke as the curtain raised on the band. Much more surprisingly, it also opened their set for Mekara Uroko 28 in 2017, before the band went into Wedding Dress, and then Mary ni Kuchizuke.
Though the heavy pipe organ makes this sound very much like a hymn, Yoshii mentioned that wasn’t intentional.
I didn’t actually want to make it sound like a hymn, I was going for more of a Brian Eno vibe. But it ended up sounding more like a hymn, because I’m a god! (Everyone bursts into laughter at the same time) It’s probably because we used a very pipe organ-like sound on the synthesizer.
Yoshii writing the lyrics and music to a song by himself is nothing unusual for The Yellow Monkey, but typically the entire band helps with the arrangement. This is the first song that Yoshii both wrote and arranged by himself, even down to the synthesizer effects.