- Lyrics & Music: Kazuya Yoshii
- Arrangement: The Yellow Monkey
Original Lyrics
Oh no 発情期のついたバカウマTerry
Are you ready?
美徳のひづめは汚さないで
メシアのプロポーズ
罵り言葉でプロポーズ
宝石の上を走れ Ride a horse
べらぼうなお金をつかみたいなら
今ツキまくってる僕に賭けなよ
飛躍へのアプローチ
ひざまずくまでアプローチ
宝石をくわえ走れ Ride a horse
堕落の荒野にゆがんだ Golden boys
堕落の荒野にゆがんだ Golden boys
淫らな宴に欠かせないのは
ペラペラのハートと大好きなワグナー
メシアのプロポーズ
売り言葉でプロポーズ
宝石をまいて走れ Ride a horse
愛と憂鬱とロマンス紙一重のはにかみ屋
支離滅裂な Golden boys
夕日を浴びて銃を抜き
いじけたギャングのこめかみに
「過去の僕とは雲泥の差
これでサヨナラ Jewel loves me!」
堕落の荒野にゆがんだ Golden boys
堕落の荒野にゆがんだ Golden boys
(Be quiet!)
Romanized Lyrics
Oh no sakari no tsuita baka uma Terry
Are you ready?
bitoku no hizume wa yogasanaide
messiah no propose
nonoshiri kotoba de propose
houseki no ue wo hashire Ride a horse
berabou na okane wo tsukamitai nara
ima tsukimakutteru boku ni kake na yo
hiyaku e no approach
hizamazuku made approach
houseki wo kuwae hashire Ride a horse
daraku no kouya ni yuganda Golden boys
daraku no kouya ni yuganda Golden boys
midara na utage ni kakasenai no wa
pera pera no heart to daisuki na Wagner
messiah no propose
urikotoba de propose
houseki wo maite hashire Ride a horse
ai to yuuutsu to romance kami hitoe no hanikamiya
shirimetsuretsu na Golden boys
yuuhi wo abite juu wo nuki
ijiketa gang no komekami ni
“kako no boku to wa undei no sa
kore de sayonara Jewel loves me!”
daraku no kouya ni yuganda Golden boys
daraku no kouya ni yuganda Golden boys
(Be quiet!)
Translated Lyrics
Oh no, mating season has arrived for our dumb horse Terry
Are you ready?
He’s not going to get his virtuous hooves dirty
A proposal from the Messiah
A proposal made all in expletives
Straddle those jewels, ride a horse
If you want to make a ridiculous amount of money
Then bet it all you’ve got on me, who’s completely worn out
An approach to progress
Approach until you’re kneeling
Get those jewels in your mouth, ride a horse
Golden boys, distorted by the depraved plains
Golden boys, distorted by the depraved plains
All you need for a lewd party is
A weak heart and some much-loved Wagner
A proposal from the Messiah
A proposal made all in fighting words
Wear those jewels, ride a horse
They’re shy, with thin lines between love, depression and romance
Incoherent golden boys
Basking in the setting sun, they take our their guns
And point them at the foreheads of a rival gang that have lost their nerve
“I’m completely different than I used to be
So this is goodbye, Jewel loves me!”
Golden boys, distorted by the depraved plains
Golden boys, distorted by the depraved plains
(Be quiet!)
Notes
Yoshii has stated that he wrote this song just before the recording of Night Snails and Plastic Boogie began. He then decided that The Yellow Monkey wouldn’t perform this song until the day came when they were big enough to perform at Nippon Budokan, the Japanese arena that has been a hallmark of “making it” in the music business ever since The Beatles were the first rock band to perform there in 1966. So it was never performed live until April 1995, when they played at Budokan for the first time as a part of the Smile tour.
The drum part was overdubbed with the tom-toms to achieve the clomping hooves type rhythm that was probably meant to fit in with the cowboy theme sprinkled throughout the lyrics. When performed live, the recording of the overdubbed tom-toms was simply played canned in addition to the live drum part.
I have conflicting feelings about this song for the same reasons as Subjective Late Show: I think it’s a good song musically that doesn’t have very good lyrics. In this case though, the gulf between the two is even wider. Though I tend not to listen to it as much, this is an even more interesting song musically than Subjective Late Show. The overdubbing of the tom-toms creates a good effect, the drum part in general is an early example of Annie’s great drum fills, the guitar part after the first couple of lines of the second verse is interesting, a rare keyboard solo is featured just before the guitar solo near the end of the song, and this is one of the best use of backing vocals that we’ve heard so far.
But the lyrics are less interesting, and probably among the worst of the album. It just seems to have been an excuse to write about sex-crazed cowboys, revolving around word play with “jewels” as meaning not only actual jewels (as in the kind you’d wear around your neck), but also “the family jewels”, so to speak. The verb “kuwaeru” in “houseki wo kuwae” is used in the context of oral sex, and that meaning is reinforced by the kneeling line that comes before it. The English word “jewel” is also used later on in the song, which is a bit puzzling. Is Jewel the name of a person, or just is this just odd English phrasing? (No, the American singer-songwriter Jewel wasn’t popular yet) None of the turns of phrase are even particularly interesting on their own either. I don’t have any problems at all with Yoshii writing songs about sex, and this won’t be the last time he does! But usually his imagery is a bit better. We even saw better examples of it back on Bunched Birth.
This rarely appears in Yoshii’s writing, but “mating season” (or “hatsujouki”) written in the opening line is specifically sung as “sakari”, or “being in heat”. Does this make Terry not a male “horse”, but a female one? Perhaps a hermaphrodite? It’s also possible that “sakari” here was meant to have its more general meaning of “height” (e.g. of summer) or “prime” (e.g. of one’s life), but the rest of the lyrics would suggest otherwise.
Apart from the previously mentioned Budokan performance during the Smile tour in 1995, this was also performed during Mekara Uroko 9 on December 28th 1998, which was also held at the Budokan. This performance not only opened with Song For Night Snails, but also featured Subjective Late Show, Neurotic Celebration, This Is For You, Foxy Blue Love, and Pearl Light of Revolution. So it was probably their most Night Snails and Plastic Boogie song-filled concert that wasn’t actually for that album.