Unpleasant 6th Avenue

  • Lyrics & Music: Kazuya Yoshii
  • Arrangement: The Yellow Monkey

Original Lyrics

Lady Madonna なんて君はサベージ
僕にはとても傷ついた君の目を
濡らすのは無理な事だけど
Lady Madonna 忘れないで欲しい
キス一つできずに 束縛の靴をはき
怯えてた君が好きさ

Lu lu lu…踊りましょう
Lu lu lu…いつまでも

Lady Madonna そう君と僕は
錆ついた知恵の輪
宿命の夜空は 高らかに笑うだけさ

Lu lu lu…踊りましょう
Lu lu lu…いつまでも

Lady Madonna, Lady Madonna
Take me to unpleasant 6th avenue

見おさめさ冷笑の月とあふれるバイオレット・ティアーズ
Ah, あなたとかわす台詞無用のバイオレンス
The unpleasant desire, baby

誰にも取られないように誘惑をクギで打ちましょう
つかまえたらもう…ガラス・ケースの蝶さ!
The unpleasant desire, baby

Lady Madonna yeah…

カナリアをかじる 唇を切りとって yeah
歌えない僕は Lady Madonna yeah
そびえ立つビルも 摩天楼のつもりさ yeah
もちろんあんたも見せかけじゃないんだろう? yeah


Romanized Lyrics

Lady Madonna nante kimi wa savage
boku ni wa totemo kizutsuita kimi no me wo
nurasu no wa muri na koto dakedo
Lady Madonna wasurenaide hoshii
kiss hitotsu dekizu ni sokubaku no kutsu wo haki
obieteta kimi ga suki sa

Lu lu lu…odorimashou
Lu lu lu…itsu made mo

Lady Madonna sou kimi to boku wa
sabitsuita chie no wa
shukumei no yozora wa takaraka ni warau dake sa

Lu lu lu…odorimashou
Lu lu lu…itsu made mo

Lady Madonna, Lady Madonna
Take me to unpleasant 6th avenue

miosame sa reishou no tsuki to afureru violet tears
Ah, anata to kawasu serifu muyou no violence
The unpleasant desire, baby

dare ni mo torarenai you ni yuuwaku wo kugi de uchimashou
tsukamaetara mou…glass case no chou sa!
The unpleasant desire, baby

Lady Madonna yeah…

kanariya wo kajiru kuchibiru wo kiritotte yeah
utaenai boku wa Lady Madonna yeah
sobie tatsu biru mo matenrou no tsumori sa yeah
mochiron anta mo misekake janai n darou? yeah


Translated Lyrics

Lady Madonna, you’re such a savage
Those eyes of yours that hold so much pain caused by me
It’s probably too much to hope for to wet them
Lady Madonna, I don’t want you to forget
That I liked it when you were scared
Wearing those bondage shoes, and unable to give a single kiss

Lu lu lu…Let’s dance
Lu lu lu…Forever

Lady Madonna, you and I
Are nothing but a rusted wire puzzle
And the fated night sky just laughs at us loudly

Lu lu lu…Let’s dance
Lu lu lu…Forever

Lady Madonna, Lady Madonna
Take me to unpleasant 6th avenue

Your farewell look is one of the derisive moon and spilling violet tears
Ah, the words that we exchange and the needless violence
The unpleasant desire, baby

Nail down your temptation, so that no one can take it from you
If anyone does…then you’ll be a butterfly in a glass case!
The unpleasant desire, baby

Lady Madonna, yeah…

Splitting my lip from chewing on a canary, yeah
I, who can’t sing, am Lady Madonna, yeah
A towering building fancies itself a skyscraper, yeah
But of course you’re no pretender, are you? Yeah


Notes

Unlike a lot of other songs on Night Snails, this doesn’t seem to have been around prior to this album and was written specifically to be on it. According to a listener poll that would be conducted on the radio show that Yoshii started hosting only a few months after the release of this album on FM NACK 5 (“Kazuya Yoshii’s Midnight Rock City”, which ran from October 1992 to March 1995), it was rated as the worst Yemon song. This had to be incredibly disappointing, given that it was the song that was put forward as the B-side of Romantist Taste, their first major record label single that was released before The Night Snails And Plastic Boogie. That’s probably why there seem to be no recordings of concerts where this was performed. Yoshii probably took that listener poll to heart and just buried this song forever.

This reaction seems pretty harsh though, and I can’t really agree with it. It’s not even the worst song on this album! Musically, I think it’s pretty good. It’s placed on a very well thought out spot on the album that introduces some needed variety, and I like the smokey bar room feel that we won’t ever really hear from Yemon again. Yoshii even sings lower than anywhere else on the album to support that feeling, and has some very good delivery on some of the lyrics.

The lyrics aren’t bad, but I do think this is an example of what would become a bit of a lazy trend for Yoshii early on that started with Lovers on Backstreet: Songs about prostitutes. Unlike Lovers On Backstreet though, it’s written from the perspective of what seems to be a creepy, victimizing guy that I don’t think we’re supposed to like. And while there’s nothing that directly says that the “Lady Madonna” (almost certainly pulled from the Beatles song by the same name) in the lyrics is a prostitute, she’s at the very least a victimized woman. Things also get a little bit confusing near the end: I’m not completely certain why all of the sudden the speaker is suddenly Lady Madonna at that point. It doesn’t seem like a sudden shifting of viewpoints. The line about chewing on a canary that comes before seems equally weird at first too. It might be referring to a canary as a caged bird that is helpless, and our speaker likes to devour them.

You’ll sometimes see the song referred to by the full title of Unpleasant 6th Avenue (不愉快な6番街へ) (fuyukai na roku ban gai e, or To Unpleasant 6th Avenue), though it wasn’t in the lyrics booklet or on the back of the album.

As far as I can tell, this song has only been played live once, and it’s not nearly as early on as you’d think: That was during the “Super FC Party 2017 -Drastic Holiday-” fan club member exclusive tour, in 2017. It was actually used as the concert opener!