- Lyrics & Music: Kazuya Yoshii
- Arrangement: The Yellow Monkey
Original Lyrics
雪の夜は離れないで あたしは一人じゃいられないから
どこにいってたの?何を見てきたの? おびえた目をして
あなたの胸にほほをよせ
天国なんてない事を知る
淋しがり屋の君に見せよう この目はあの時のまま
濡れてもなく 乾いてもなく
君だけを見つめる
こうして逢える日を
僕は信じていた
真っ白な雪の夜にまじかに君がいる喜びに
MERRY X’MAS MERRY X’MAS
天使が空を駆ける
部屋の真ん中に鏡を置いて君と二人で紅をひくのさ
最後の夜に最高の夜にこの世に背を向けよう
魂は死ぬことなく
君は悲しむ事なく
真っ白な雪の夜にまじかに君がいる喜びに
MERRY X’MAS MERRY X’MAS
MERRY X’MAS MERRY X’MAS
真っ白な雪の夜に確かに君がいる喜びに
MERRY X’MAS MERRY X’MAS
MERRY X’MAS MERRY…
I SHALL RETURN!
MERRY X’MAS!
MERRY X’MAS!
MERRY X’MAS!
雪は変わらない!
永遠に変わらない!
君は一人じゃない!
君は一人じゃない!
MERRY X’MAS!
MERRY X’MAS!
MERRY X’MAS!
Romanized Lyrics
yuki no yoru wa hanarenaide atashi wa hitori ja irarenai kara
doko ni itteta no? nani wo mite kita no? obieta me wo shite
anata no mune ni hoho wo yose
tengoku nante nai koto wo shiru
samishigariya no kimi ni miseyou kono me wa ano toki no mama
nurete mo naku kawaite mo naku
kimi dake wo mitsumeru
kou shite aeru hi wo
boku wa shinjite ita
masshiro na yuki no yoru ni majika ni kimi ga iru yorokobi ni
MERRY X’MAS MERRY X’MAS
tenshi ga sora wo kakeru
heya no mannaka ni kagami wo oite kimi to futari de beni wo hiku no sa
saigo no yoru ni saikou no yoru ni kono yo ni se wo mukeyou
tamashii wa shinu koto naku
kimi wa kanashimu koto naku
masshiro na yuki no yoru ni majika ni kimi ga iru yorokobi ni
MERRY X’MAS MERRY X’MAS
MERRY X’MAS MERRY X’MAS
masshiro na yuki no yoru ni tashika ni kimi ga iru yorokobi ni
MERRY X’MAS MERRY X’MAS
MERRY X’MAS MERRY…
I SHALL RETURN!
MERRY X’MAS
MERRY X’MAS
MERRY X’MAS
yuki wa kawaranai!
eien ni kawaranai!
kimi wa hitori ja nai!
kimi wa hitori ja nai!
MERRY X’MAS!
MERRY X’MAS!
MERRY X’MAS!
Translated Lyrics
Don’t leave me on this snowy night, because I can’t stand to be alone
Where did you go? What did you see? You have such a startled look in your eyes
With my cheek to your chest
I know there’s no such thing as heaven
You so easily get lonely, and I’ll show you that my eyes are the same as they were back then
Not wet, but not dry
They have a gaze only for you
I believed this whole time that the day would come
That we’d be able to meet again like this
I’m so happy that you’re with me on a night where pure white snow is coming down
Merry X’mas, Merry X’mas
Angels fly through the sky
Setting up a mirror in the middle of the room, we put on lipstick together
Let’s turn our backs on the world on this final and best night of our lives
Our souls won’t pass away
You won’t be sad
I’m so happy that you’re with me on a night where pure white snow is coming down
Merry X’mas, Merry X’mas
Merry X’mas, Merry X’mas
I’m so happy that you’re actually with me on a night where pure white snow is coming down
Merry X’mas, Merry X’mas
Merry X’mas, Merry…
I shall return!
Merry X’mas!
Merry X’mas!
Merry X’mas!
The snow won’t change!
It won’t ever change!
You’re not alone!
You’re not alone!
Merry X’mas!
Merry X’mas!
Merry X’mas!
Notes
For those not paying attention or who don’t know the lyrics, it’s very easy to wonder why the hell this album is ending with a Christmas song. This actually Jaguar and Mary’s epilogue, they’re finally together again (at least their souls are). The fact that it’s a Christmas song is just a bonus. Why a Christmas song though? Probably because in Japan Christmas is more of a holiday for couples, as opposed to family. It’s no coincidence that in the lyrics booklet we get to see a picture of Yoshii once again dressed as Mary (see my write-up of the previous album, Experience Movie, if you want to read about the origins of that) again, gazing out the window at snow.
Yoshii is actually playing two different parts as he sings this song: The verses that use the word “anata” as “you” are Mary, and the ones that use “kimi” as “you” are Jaguar. He doesn’t sing them particularly differently, but this all comes from context of the lyrics and the fact that one of those words for “you” do generally tend to be used by males, and the other by females. The lyrics are a good pay-off if you’ve been following Jaguar’s exploits until this point
Explanations aside, I like this song quite a bit. I tend to prefer non-traditional Christmas songs, and this one is dramatic in all of the ways a glam rock Christmas song should be. It’s very corny, but I love the build up to Yoshii shouting “I shall return!” so dramatically, and him just shouting out the lyrics for the rest of the songs. I actually wonder if this was the last song that they recorded for the album, because it feels like the whole experience of recording the album up until that point might be rolled up into his performance here. It can definitely be argued that this song is too long, with its 1 minute long outro. But I’ll give it a pass, it’s a Christmas song after all!
There are a couple of subtle homages to be found in the lyrics as well. The so dramatically shouted “I Shall Return!” comes from, of all people, American General Douglas MacArthur, who served during World War II. He said this he left his troops stranded in the Philippines after a valiant defense of it. This would become something of a mantra for him over the next couple of years, and he would repeat it during public appearances.
And though “kimi wa hitori ja nai” is obviously spoken in Japanese, it’s a tribute to David Bowie’s lyric “you’re not alone” from “Rock ‘n’ Roll Suicide”. This was the track that ended Bowie’s own concept album “The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars”, from which was this album was heavily inspired.
Back on piano for this song (he also played piano on Serruria no Oka) is Morgan Fisher: An English keyboardist and composer, formerly of glam rock band Mott The Hoople. It may not seem like a big deal just hearing about it, but bands like Mott The Hoople were incredibly influential to Yemon, so I’m sure this was huge for them.
It shouldn’t be too surprising that this hasn’t been played live that often at all, in fact only once: At Mekara Uroko 9 on December 28th 1998. Yoshii came out dressed as Mary for the first time in about 4 years (making a joke that she appears once every 4 years, like the Olympics), and gave a speech to the crowd as her before going into the song. She talked about how it was great to be back after such a long time, and how she was grateful to The Yellow Monkey for letting her come out and sing during this “Punch Drunko” tour (they were on the Punch Drunkard tour at this time), or whatever it was called.