Unhappy Refrain/アンハッピーリフレイン
Shotgun and a telecaster,
Some lyrics to strum, dub ‘em unhappy
Solo as the ammo slams the ‘burbs,
Does the fire tire? I’m just asking
Power out, a shouting sound created
Hours count the seconds left I wasted
Right as an actual action’s tracked into my life:
“Don’t expect me to set you free, least, until we die.”
“One Man Live” Surprise: She really shined!
Quick hittin’ it off, like in shoujo manga
Shooting, soon, the bullets run light
Let’s be like them and go so there’s no problem
‘Nother up, let’s nab a second shot, then...
Number what? I guess that I’ve forgotten
This idiotic livin’, I bid you “bye-bye”
If you thought “Not your line”, then that’s gotta be my ride*
“What went wrong?” Ponder on while I’m caught spinning spinning
Can I ask to look back when the past hasn’t smiled at me?
All I like in my sights- ain’t that fine? I’m fine!
That right? (That right?)
That’s right (That’s right)
That’s right!
You wanna be honest, honest it’s “lucky”?
39 “Thank you”s in a loop hey, ain’t it true to say that?
We got what we wanted, so am I “happy”?
Stop with the wishful thinking, not when it’s an act!
No matter the pattern, unanswered I call
If we can’t reach the grand finale or when it began, yeah,
I got it! That “promise” meant nothing at all!**
Yet you reject to regret it, can’t you understand?
They fall through their dreams,
Just pass the glass screen,
A topsy turvy girl,
And “Gotta Grow-Up” world
Shotgun and a telecaster,
Some phrases misplaced? Wow, how unlucky!
Three beats leave and “game over”,***
See the mess I’ve become? Let me sing a summary:
Doll or hall, I could sense the world’s end****
(Doll or hall, I could sense the world’s end)
“One more time”, I lied I’d roll again
(“One more time”, I lied I’d roll again)
Shy to let me through- not my sky lined with mistakes,
(Shy to let me through...)
Yes my “Out of Step” had you laughing two-faced!***** (Ahahaha!)
“One Man Live”, our prize performed with heart
The festival rocked, talkin’ sentimental
Act Two starts the part where we part,
Can we turn it from turnin’ so detrimental?
Power out, a shouting sound created
Hours count the seconds left I wasted
Finally you resided, assigned as my play:
“Hey, sorry I’m late, are you good to go today?”
Nightmares creep, out of ease, doubt of sleep, winning winning
“Hapless fall?” No, your fault. That’s what being a champion means!
Someone kind, help me fly, can’t you make me right?
Yeah right! (Yeah right!)
That right? (That right?)
That right?
Oh please lay your leads straight, your leads I’m “happy”******
Seeing four in the morning dead-eyed, taunted on to wander to
Some place, or one space, you think that’s “happy”?
Sanity born and worn, it’s more than I deserve!
So please lay your leads straight, your leads I’m “happy”
‘Cause the road isn’t trimmed to weather- it’s a case of whether*******
You make it or fake it, crumbling and cracking
See, you’re the only one guilty! Won’t you ever learn?
You wanna be honest, honest it’s “happy”?
39 “Thank you”s in a loop hey, ain’t it true to say that
We got what we wanted because I’m “lucky”?
Guess such a shitty mystery gives you nothing back!
No matter the pattern, unanswered I call
If we can’t reach the echo’s ending, or sketch back it’s steps- Yep,
I’m on it! My “progress” meant nothing at all!
Better I treasure the bucket, kick it when I can!********
They fall to their knees,
Just pass the glass screen,
A topsy turvy girl,
And “God, You’ve Grown Up” world
Hey is that... (happy)?
Notes:
As a general note- I was pretty liberal with my uses of ‘you’ versus ‘I’ here intentionally. Based on what I’ve seen, this song is pretty ambiguous as to the who and what. Some of it almost seems like something you would expect wowaka’s “Miku” to say (which can be interpreted as the “other self”) while the other half seems as if the singer is talking to themselves. Thus, I decided not to worry too much about what pronouns would be appropriate in a given phrase, since it always read as someone talking aloud and to the reflection in the mirror.
I’ve seen this phrase translated in a number of ways- notably “I think my ride’s almost here” and “Shall I welcome all that is to come?”. Getting a ‘ride’ somewhere, as well as the alternate translation lends me to the interpretation that might mean ‘the success to come’ or ‘the ride to the top’. Since wowaka’s songs prior to Unhappy Refrain tended to be downers, the idea behind what I wrote is that the ‘ride to success’ will be brought on by others who can emphasize with ‘living idiotically’ (thus the whole “Not your line (Living idiotically is what I do, that’s MY line!)”.
“Promise”- it can be a metaphorical agreement between producer and voicebank or the potential/talent somebody has.
Video games usually have three lives represented as hearts- that’s what I was going for here given the use of “game over” from the original.
And here’s the part where I put in tiny references to wowaka’s most popular songs during his initial career in 2009 - 2011. Since this song is commonly theorized (and likely, accurately) to be an angry goodbye song to the NicoNico community, I considered it fine to have a bit of ‘recollection’ here.
Just wanted to clarify that “Out of Step” (aside from being a reference) is supposed to be a situation, one full of mistakes, as well as the song itself. (Since according to the translation, rolling = a mistake, and rolling itself seems to be a euphemism for composed Vocaloid songs).
I really wanted to have the English lyrics at the start of each chorus sound similar to the original Japanese lyrics (hence “iu nara” = “you wanna”), so I came up with a way to keep that in (”doushite” = “oh, please lay”, since it repeats ‘oh’ can make an easy swap to ‘oh’). “Lead” of course, meaning a piece of information (or reason why, in context).
From the original translation, “road with no end in sight”- could be a literal road or the kind that people refer to when they think of careers. So I played around with both ideas- the “road” isn’t 'trimmed’ according to success in climate (”weather” or social environment you live in), but how far you yourself allow it to go (”make it” be happy and push on or “fake it”- break down when it’s too much).
”Tobioriyou” can mean escape from something as well as literally flying or jumping away, so that’s why I choose to use the idiom “kick the bucket”- kind of like “Screw this, I’m done”.
