- Lyrics & Music: Kazuya Yoshii
- Arrangement: The Yellow Monkey
Original Lyrics
悪魔のアクメシーソーガール
モダンな首輪アンティック・マインド
舌を噛んで死ぬ事が最も大事な人生計画
シーツをつかんで悲しみだけをアンコール Baby
喜んで One more try
悲観主義に乾杯 (サキガミジカイ)
あからさまなセックスアピールもはや気取り等要らない
夜な夜な夜這いよろめき欲望の意味触れない
女は酔狂それにまつわる男は万華鏡
寝転んで歌います
美人の前で歌います
シーソー・ガールと遊ぼう Oh yeah
吐き出す夜にお誂え (コエガチイサイ)
それはそれはたくましい抱擁と目にあまるカイラクマシーン
彼女は照れない後ろ向きな姿勢が財産
肌も心も枯れているドライフラワー
Hey baby! 錯乱のヒロイン How do yo feel?
シーソー・ガールと遊ぼう Oh yeah
吐き出す夜にお誂え
悩みながら (シタガミジカイ)
社会の行方よりセクシャルな事が好きさ
社会の悲鳴よりセクシャルな声が好きさ
シーソー・ガールと遊ぼう Oh yeah
吐き出す夜にお誂え
シーソー・ガールにお誂え
シーソー・ガールにお誂え
君の目には瞳がない
砂の様さ
Bad, bad communication
Bad, bad communication
Bad, bad communication
Bad, bad communication
Bad, bad communication
Bad, bad communication
Romanized Lyrics
akuma no akume see-saw girl
modern na kubiwa antique mind
shita wo kande shinu koto ga mottomo daiji na jinsei keikaku
sheets wo tsukande kanashimi dake wo encore Baby
yorokonde One more try
hikan shugi ni kanpai (saki ga mijikai)
akarasama na sex appeal mohaya kidori nado iranai
yoru na yoru na yobai yoromeki yokubou no imi furenai
onnna wa suikyou sore ni matsuwaru otoko wa bankakyou
nekoronde utaimasu
bijin no mae de utaimasu
See-saw girl to asobou Oh yeah
hakidasu yoru ni oatsurae (koe ga chiisai)
sore wa sore wa takumashii houyou to me ni amaru kairaku machine
kanojo wa terenai ushiro muki na shisei ga zaisan
hada mo kokoro mo karete iru dry flower
Hey baby! sakuran no heroine How do yo feel?
See-saw girl to asobou Oh yeah
hakidasu yoru ni oatsurae
nayaminagara (shita ga mijikai)
shakai no yukue yori sexual na koto ga suki sa
shakai no himei yori sexual na koe ga suki sa
See-saw girl to asobou Oh yeah
hakidasu yoru ni oatsurae
See-saw girl ni oatsurae
See-saw girl ni oatsurae
kimi no me ni wa hitomi ga nai
suna no you sa
Bad, bad communication
Bad, bad communication
Bad, bad communication
Bad, bad communication
Bad, bad communication
Bad, bad communication
Translated Lyrics
A see-saw girl with a devil’s orgasm
A modern choker and an antique mind
Her best plan for life is to die from biting her tongue
Grab a hold of the sheets and give me an encore of sadness, baby
I’ll gladly give it one more try
Here’s to pessimism (There’s not much time left)
When you have such obvious sex appeal, you don’t need to put on airs anymore
Sneaking in every night for a hook-up, she doesn’t feel the meaning of the desire to cheat
Women are whims, and the men with them kaleidoscopes
Lying down and singing
Singing for a beautiful woman
Let’s play with the see-saw girl, oh yeah
Ideal for nights where you you need to get it all out (You’re too quiet)
A wanton pleasure machine with quite a strong embrace
She’s not shy at all, and her negative attitude is her best asset
Her skin and heart are both withered up dry flowers
Hey baby! How do you feel, being a crazed heroine?
Let’s play with the see-saw girl, oh yeah
Ideal for nights where you you need to get it all out
As I agonize (Your tongue’s not long enough)
She cares about sexual things more than the direction society is going
She likes sexual voices more than the screams of society
Let’s play with the see-saw girl, oh yeah
Ideal for nights where you want to cut loose
Just right for a see-saw girl
Just right for a see-saw girl
Your eyes don’t have any pupils
They’re just like sand
Bad, bad communication
Bad, bad communication
Bad, bad communication
Bad, bad communication
Bad, bad communication
Bad, bad communication
Notes
This was the B-side included on the Love Communication single, which was released about six months before Smile on 01/21/1995. They couldn’t have picked a better song from the album to include with it either! Love Communication is a good solid song, but it’s not a particularly surprising one for the band. It’s maybe a bit pop-y than normal, but it’s no huge leap. See-Saw Girl feels distinctly different than anything they’ve done up until this point.
If you’re listening to the album from front to back, I feel it’s the first track that really jumps out. With the song beginning by Yoshii just screaming, it more clobbers you over the head! Things then turn into what can be best described as Yemon’s version of an early Red Hot Chili Peppers song (the drum beat and Yoshii’s vocal delivery during the verses in particular feel this way), and for me it REALLY works! Musically speaking, this is as good as Smile gets. It’s not a pop song, but it sure is a sound we’ve never heard from them before! Listen to any live performance of the song for best effect, since you’ll get to hear the funky keyboard much better in the mix.
Lyrically speaking, things get a little more complex. If you thought Yoshii had written some weird sex lyrics up until now…they’re pretty much nothing compared to See-Saw Girl! There’s no getting around the fact that this is a song about a woman who has a lot of sex, and the lyrics very much objectify her based around that. Unlike Yoshii’s past lyrics about similar women, this one is not explicitly a prostitute (though that certainly could still be the case). And despite the objectification, there doesn’t really seem to be any kind of shaming going on here either (which is also something Yoshii tends not to do). While it’s all a bit over the top, I think that’s supposed to be the point. All those things together make this not feel particularly gross to me. Not to mention, Yoshii pretty much warned us in an interview that the lyrics on this whole album are largely about sex:
That’s right. This time around, I decided to sing about sex. I include my own personal point of view in how I sing about it, but I think that’s because it makes me look better that way (Laughs)…I’ve come clean this time around. There are no themes or concepts, so in writing the songs I thought I might sing about sex in different situations.
And no matter how you feel about that, there’s no denying that there are some real choice phrases here, even for Yoshii: “She cares about sexual things more than the direction society is going. She likes sexual voices more than the screams of society” is one of his lyrics that’s stuck with me the longest, since I started listening to Yemon and could understand what all of those words meant. Saying “She’s not shy at all, and her negative attitude is her best asset” right after describing her as a pleasure machine also works really well, because it sort of takes you off guard that something so normal is thrown in.
There’s also one notable linguistic thing here: “yoru na yoru na”. I’d never encountered this before, but it’s the same as “maiyo” or “yoru goto”, just meaning “every night”. You can also do the same thing with “asa”/”morning” as “asa na asa na”. Also the line before the second chorus is written in the lyrics as “How do yo feel?”, it’s not a typo on my part. I’m not sure if that was intentional or not, but I definitely changed the “yo” to “you” for the translation!
It’s probably obvious, but See-Saw Girl is one of my favorite tracks on the album. As far as live history goes it was played regularly during the Smile and Four Seasons tours. It also made appearances on set-lists for Mekara Uroko 10 (1999, check this one out for a rare rendition of the song with a brass section and backup singers), Super FC Party 2017 -Drastic Holiday-, and Mekara Uroko 28 (2017).