- Lyrics & Music: Kazuya Yoshii
- Arrangement: The Yellow Monkey
Original Lyrics
まず僕は壊す
退屈な人間はごめんだ
まるで思春期の少年のように
いじる喜び覚えたて 胸が騒ぐのさ
新しい予感 新しい時代….. Come on
馬鹿のままでいい 馬鹿のままがいい
よけいな Input いらない ありのままがいい
男らしいとか 女らしいとか
そんな事どうでもいい
人間らしい君と
In changing time’n four seasons I’m crying
美しい希望の季節を
In changing time’n four seasons I’m crying
ねえ探しに行かないか?
まず僕は壊す
退屈な人生さよなら
君に誰よりもやさしい口づけを
アンコールはない 死ねばそれで終わり
ストレートに行こうぜ
回り道は嫌い
人様に迷惑とコーヒーはかけちゃいけない
そんなの自分で決められるさ ただの馬鹿じゃない
これから始まる世界は不安がいっぱい
大人は危険な動物だし 場合によっては人も殺すぜ
ヤケドしそうな熱い僕のコーヒーは
ミルクもシュガーも入れない
In changing four seasons I’m crying
美しい希望の季節が
In changing time’n four seasons I’m crying
すぐそこまで近づいてる
だけど勇気が足りない 力が足りない 時間が足りない
お金が足りない 空気が足りない 命が足りない
だからまず僕は壊す 全部足りないから
まず僕は壊す
全部欲しいから
Romanized Lyrics
mazu boku wa kowasu
taikutsu na ningen wa gomen da
marude shushunki no shounen no you ni
ijiru yorokobi oboetate mune ga sawagu no sa
atarashii yokan atarashii jidai…..Come on
baka no mama de ii baka no mama ga ii
yokei na input iranai ari no mama ga ii
otokorashii to ka onna rashii to ka
sonna koto dou demo ii
ningen rashii kimi to
In changing time’n four seasons I’m crying
utsukushii kibou no kisetsu wo
In changing time’n four seasons I’m crying
nee sagashi ni ikanai ka?
mazu boku wa kowasu
taikutsu na jinsei sayonara
kimi ni dare yori mo yasashii kuchizuke wo
encore wa nai shineba sore de owari
straight ni ikou ze
mawari michi wa kirai
hito sama ni meiwaku to coffee wa kakecha ikenai
sonna no jibun de kimerareru sa tada no baka janai
kore kara hajimaru sekai wa fuan ga ippai
otona wa kiken na doubutsu da shi baai ni yotte wa hito mo korosu ze
yakedo shisou na atsui boku no coffee wa
milk mo sugar mo irenai
In changing four seasons I’m crying
utsukushii kibou no kisetsu ga
In changing four seasons I’m crying
sugu soko made chikazuiteru
dakedo yuuki ga tarinai chikara ga tarinai jikan ga tarinai
okane ga tarinai kuuki ga tarinai inochi ga tarinai
dakara mazu wa kowasu zenbu tarinai kara
mazu boku wa kowasu
zenbu hoshii kara
Translated Lyrics
I’m going to break it all apart
I’ll pass on being a boring person
My heart races like a boy in puberty
Who’s just learned about touching himself
A new premonition, a new era…come on
Being stupid is fine, being stupid is good
I don’t need unnecessary input, I’m fine the way I am
Manly, womanly
That stuff doesn’t matter
Let’s just be people together
In changing time’n four seasons I’m crying
A season of beautiful hopes
In changing time’n four seasons I’m crying
Do you want to go and find one together?
I’m going to break it all apart
I say goodbye to a boring life
And give you a kiss more gentle than anyone ever has
There’s no encore, when you die it’s all over
Let’s just go straight there
Because I hate shortcuts
Trouble and coffee are two things you mustn’t make for someone
But you can decide that sort of thing for yourself, it’s just dumb
I’m full of insecurity about the world that’s opening up from here
Adults are dangerous creatures, and depending on the situation they can even kill
I’m not going to put any milk or sugar
In this coffee that’s so hot it feels like it’s going to scald me
In changing time’n four seasons I’m crying
A season of beautiful hopes
In changing time’n four seasons I’m crying
Is drawing near, just over there
But I’m not brave enough, not strong enough, don’t have enough time
I don’t have enough money, enough air, enough life
So I’m going to break it all apart, because there’s not enough of anything
I’m going to break it all apart
Because I want it all
Notes
The band has a history of starting their albums with some of the stranger tracks, and “Four Seasons” absolutely bucks that trend. But even so, they picked one of the more lyrically impactful songs to start off with. And in so many ways this song is the perfect thesis statement for the entire album, and the direct that Yemon was going as a band.
Though the band originally billed the last album “Smile” as their venture into being more straightforward in terms of song writing, it didn’t exactly turn out the way they planned. So it’s quite understandable to be skeptical when the band comes into interviews for the Four Seasons album saying much of these same things again. This time however, their proof of success is right here from the start. And what’s more, they more accurately convey the change in personality that Yoshii was experiencing toward being a more positive person:
There are also a lot of things I like about the lyrics I wrote up through Jaguar, I couldn’t put that aside. But when it came to not being able to get by with those alone, I realized I didn’t like what I was doing because I tried to make them simple without putting that aside. So then I wondered what would happen if I just tried doing it in an overly straightforward way. For example, not trying to strike this weird balance between that and singing in a way that old men and kids can understand, and just singing in a straightforward way about happy things when I’m happy. I really learned the joy of doing that this time around, and I kind of like myself when I go to extremes in those ways. I think Four Seasons is the ultimate expression of that.
Kazuya Yoshii, interview from So Young (1999)
The first lyric in the title track of the album is “I’m going to break it all apart” (“mazu boku wa kowasu”). This is me saying that no matter if you’re a dark person or a lonely one, your life doesn’t have to be sad. You should try to bring out the sun that’s inside of you with a big bang. I was really thinking about breaking out of the shell that I’d shut myself into, and that was the theme of the album.
Kazuya Yoshii, In Search of Lost Love (Ushinawareta Ai wo Motomete) (2007)
Yoshii may not be showing as much darkness here as he has in the past, but that doesn’t mean his lyrics are all sanitized and uninteresting. It’s still his writing so there’s plenty of interesting turns of phrase to be found: “My heart races like a boy in puberty who’s just learned about touching himself” is an extremely Yoshii lyric, and “Trouble and coffee are two things you mustn’t make for someone” is so well constructed to sound like a proverb that I legitimately thought it might be one (as far as I can tell, it’s not actually).
But even more so than the individual lyrics themselves, Yoshii’s performance in this song vocally is amazing. At times he’s light and floaty and at times he’s absolutely shouting out the lyrics (such as the ending”But I’m not brave enough, not strong enough…” climax). And the song ending so abruptly after that is a great example of how his song writing abilities have evolved over time. His performances of this song live (particularly from the Four Seasons tours themselves) tend to be even more full of emotion than the recording.
Putting aside any “weird factor”, I think “Four Seasons” is the best album opener we’ve seen so far based purely the merits of being a well written song. And probably as a result, it’s been no stranger to setlists of their concerts over the years. It particularly seems to be showing up a bit more frequently during their more modern concerts since their reunion.