Hunter Berwick wrote:Alright, this is one of my favorite songs.
Sawao Yamanaka, The #1 Buster wrote:The Pillows- Crazy Sunshine
All the world's cowardly monkeys
Are caught up in a game they'll never finish
Banana roulette won't let them go til they die
We'll pry open our sewn-up eyelids
And the feelings this generation has lost
Will be reflected in the tears that fall
Now here's a bunch of bizarre metaphors, but they work. I like the image.
Monkeys--so close to humans on the evolutionary scale, but not human. So clever, but yet not fully sentient. Obviously, the monkeys represent us humans. We are like dumb animals, caught up in a big gamble of some kind (they're calling it "banana roulette," which is
great.) To me, this means that it's a meaningless gamble. A meaningless game. But we're addicted to it, and we won't stop until we die.
It used to be (and maybe still is for all I know) that the eyes of dead people were sewn shut so they wouldn't pop open and freak everyone out at the wake. After we're dead, our 'sewn-up eyelids" will be pried open, and we will realize what we didn't realize while we were still alive. We'll realize all of the real stuff (symbolized by "feelings this generation has lost") that we missed out on because we were wrapped up in the meaningless "banana roulette."
When we've comprehended that, our spirits will weep for the wasted time and the wasted opportunity.
It's like we're drowning
In numb boredom
Boredom sucks up our time, our lives. It's killing us. We drown in it. Is it our own fault we're bored? Could we escape boredom if we were not wrapped so tightly in our banana roulette game? I wonder...
Crazy sunshine
Shine on the future of our sullen group!
Tightrope dancing
I can jump even with one leg
We'll set this blue desire on fire
I've got no worries
This one's harder. But I'll give it a shot. Our group is sullen--which can mean resentful, sad, or unsociable. Usually when people are sullen, we say they are in a dark mood. He invites the "crazy sunshine" to shine on us sullen people. The sunshine is often a metaphor for joy or happiness. Also, it brings light to the darkness. It may be metaphorical for lightening a dark mood.
Tightrope dancing--that's a dangerous pastime. You have only that thin strand of rope between you and crashing to the floor many feet below--perhaps certain death. (Perhaps there's a net. He doesn't say.) You have to be willing to take risks to dance on the tightrope. And I think it's interesting that he choses the action of dancing on the rope rather than just walking or balancing. Dancing usually has a sense of joy or abandon or freedom associated with it.
He says he can even jump on one leg--well, jumping would be even more risky, and doing it on one leg would certainly affect your balance in a precarious way! He says he doesn't have any worries. Maybe he feels confident in his ability to do what he's doing--or maybe he doesn't care if he falls or not.
Setting the blue desire on fire--well, blue usually means down or depressed, and be set on fire usually refers to enthusiasm, firing up for something, or motivation. I don't really know what he means by that statement, but my guess would be that he's gonna start doing, not just desiring. He's putting action behind his dreams.
Donkeys skilled at running away
Dancing proudly over a default win
The goal always belongs to somebody
I realized, the night of our rendezvous
To see myself in high spirits
Was just an afterimage completely warped by this generation
More wild metaphors. Donkeys AKA "asses" (did he mean this intentionally?) which are usually a symbol of fools. He says they are skilled at running away. Running away usually means cowardice or the unwillingness to face reality. Since they are skilled at it, they do it all the time. They never stand and fight or face up to reality.
To "dance proudly over a default win" means they are acting cocky and like they did something marvelous when they won by
default. A default win means the game was never played. One side could not play for some reason and forfeited. The "winning" team really has nothing to be proud of. They didn't defeat the other team by their skills which is the only thing to be proud of in a game--the skill.
"the goal always belongs to somebody." Somebody always wins? Whether they deserve to or not? (I'm stretching for that one.)
When he says he realized the night of their rendezvous that seeing himself in high spirits was just an "afterimage warped by this generation."
Well, the rendevous is a meeting. He met up with her, and was probably in high spirits i.e. happy. But then he realized, "What am I happy about?" Did he deserve to feel the high spirits? Did he do anything that made him worthy of them? Then he realizes his high spirits aren't the real thing. They are a false image that has been manufactured by the twisted values(?) of this generation. This generation would be his peers, presumably the "cowardly monkeys" or the "donkeys skilled at running away," both metaphors for cowardly people.
A nameless monster
Is going to consume me
He doesn't know the name of the ugly thing (I'm thinking an emotion, or perhaps the falseness of society's perceptions) personified by the "monster", but he feels he's going to be sucked up and destroyed by it.
Crazy sunshine
Shine on the future of our sullen group!
Tightrope dancing
I can jump even with one leg
We'll set this blue desire on fire
I've got no worries
Again he wants the crazy sunshine to give him light, bring him out of the darkness. He's taking his high-wire risks, jumping on his one leg--almost daring Fate to do its worst. He's not concerned. He just wants to really live, really experience what he's experiencing.
Well, what d'ya think?