L'arc-en-ciel - Loreley

[kelvin]

hi can anyone help me with a translation of this song? The english translations i read from another website doesn't make any sense to me....but it still has beautiful lyrics tho.

And so I play my guitar
I always play my guitar

karamiau saigetsu o tadoru tabiji de
mabuta ni kanjiru yuuitsu no honoo

natsu no nagori o utsusu minamo he
hanatsu senritsu yo
tooku tooku kanawanakuto mo

hatenai nagare ni wa setsuna no oto
yurarete mori e yama e to tadayou
aisenai arasoi sae nami ni nomare
yudaneta uta wa anata e to shizumu

forever rairara rairarara hito shizuku no hamon
forever rairara rairarara omoi ni oboreru

yureru edaha no ne
I always play my guitar

chiisa na kage ni obieru watashi ga
okashii kai? soyogu ooinaru kawa yo

matataku inochi shinka ni fukarete
haruka na kioku ni
tooku tooku nani o mitsumeru

hatenai nagare ni wa setsuna no oto
yurarete mori e yama e to tadayou
aisenai arasoi sae nami ni nomare
yudaneta uta wa anata e to shizumu

forever rairara rairarara rekishi no nagame ni
forever rairara rairarara sotto dakareru
yurarete yurarete

 

[kairi~vs~rinoa]

here you go, i found this website a while back that has really good translations to LOTS of jrock songs. its good *smiles* and it has the song your looking for along with many more L'Arc. They analyse the lyrics too so it gives you a whole new look on the song.
~
Artist: L'arc en Ciel
Title: Loreley
Words: Hyde
Music: Hyde

And so I play my guitar
I always play my guitar

I feel a sole flame on my eyelids
on a journey that follows through the years
which twist upon themselves. *1

the melody I released to the water surface
which relfects the remnants of summer,
even if so far away it never comes to be...

in that endless flow is this momentary sound
drifting to the mountain and the forest, shaking
even the conflicts we can't love, are swallowed by the waves
the song left to the flow sinks into you.

forever lailala lailalala the ripple of one drop
forever lailala lailalala drowning in the feeling

the sound of the leaves rustling
I always play my guitar

Oh great rolling river,
Do you think me strange to be terrified of a little shadow ?

this twinkling of life, blown by progress
deep deep in our memory, what do we see there?

in that endless flow is this painful sound
drifting to the mountain and the forest, shaking
even the conflicts we can't love, are swallowed by the waves
the song left to the flow sinks into you.

forever lailala lailalala gently held
forever lailala lailalala by the gaze of history.
shaking, rocking

Translated By: Brian Stewart & Takako Sakuma

Translator's Notes: This song invokes such an odd mood in me. It feels like floating on a great river or lake... LORELEY by the way, is most likely the name of a lake in Germany. Let's do the *'s.

*1 - I don't really know how to translate this line. But I suddenly was struck by its meaning one day. I think Hyde is talking about how the earth orbits and rotates through space, and in doing so, time. How it loops back on itself, and we revisit the same places. The sole flame he refers to must be the sun. Because it's the only flame in our world.

 

[kelvin]

what beautiful lyrics, but i thought loreley was a girl ^_^

its currently my fav song

 

[kelvin]

anyone have simple explanations of the lyrics? its so poetic i don't understand, i would never in a million years know that sole flame refers to the sun x_x

 

[kairi~vs~rinoa]

hmmmm. i think hyde is basing this song on water being human emotions.

"the melody I released to the water surface
which relfects the remnants of summer,
even if so far away it never comes to be..."

the song he played travels into the water (or the emotions). the water (again, or the emotions) is reflecting remnants of summer, which basically means it is showing memories of what happened in summer. and however far away those memories were, they will never return.

"in that endless flow is this momentary sound
drifting to the mountain and the forest, shaking
even the conflicts we can't love, are swallowed by the waves
the song left to the flow sinks into you."

in the endless flow of emotions that we feel, there is always one that will stay with us. this emotion travels with us ("to the mountain and the forest") and it affects how we deal with arguements/troubles. it then goes back to the endless flow of emotions and says they get put aside by the waves (not sure what 'waves' could mean, maybe arguements again?) and this song sinks into you, creating a new emotion.

"forever lailala lailalala the ripple of one drop
forever lailala lailalala drowning in the feeling"

one drop is something that happens in your life. it could be anything, major or something you hardly notice. but it will still leave a mark forever (ripples). and you will forever drown (or experience) this feeling.

"Oh great rolling river,
Do you think me strange to be terrified of a little shadow ?"

he's again referring to the river being part of human emotions. but here he portrays it as 'great' and 'rolling' which shows that this particular type of human emotion is a strong and powerful one. this emotion could well be fear because in the next line he is asking fear if it is right for him to be afraid of something so small.

"this twinkling of life, blown by progress
deep deep in our memory, what do we see there?"

here he is saying that life exists due to progress. we could not gain anything in life if we do not move forward or progress. and then he's saying that after all this progressing, what do we have for memories?

"in that endless flow is this painful sound
drifting to the mountain and the forest, shaking
even the conflicts we can't love, are swallowed by the waves
the song left to the flow sinks into you. "

this is again like the similar paragraph further up. but this time he is focusing on a painful emotion instead of a single/powerful one.

"forever lailala lailalala gently held
forever lailala lailalala by the gaze of history.
shaking, rocking"

the final lines portray that these emotions will be 'gently held' by us forever. they will become history as each day passes by, but they will stay with us throughout the 'shaky' or 'rocky' parts we encounter.

and for the 'i play my guitar' parts, i think he is saying that this is simply just something he does. a deeper explanation of this could be that this is something he does frequently to relax himself, and that it makes him feel certain emotions (hence the other lines).

hope that helped! phew, i should send that in for my gsce english lol

 

[Anchyyy]

Good explination!!!

 

[kairi~vs~rinoa]

its what coffee does to you... ITS EVIL! i can't stop blinking and i feel the need to analyse everything. i think i've had to much

 

[kelvin]

i like the explanation too but i think its a little over analysing, but your explanation let me understand the song alot better now =D

This song is so special to me

 

[Anchyyy]

This song is so special to me

May i ask why? ☝

 

[kairi~vs~rinoa]

i like the explanation too but i think its a little over analysing, but your explanation let me understand the song alot better now =D

i know sorry if it was hard to understand... i've been doing my english coursework today so i had gotten used to analysing things all day. glad it helped though.
*wonders what it means to kelvin along with anchyyy*

 

[kelvin]

hmm nothing special, but the first time i heard this song and read the lyrics, such beautiful vivid scenes start to strike my mind, a man with his guitar strumming under the seas overlooking a vast endless ocean. The man is solemn and depressed. And so many other images kept running in my mind, this song is amazing i just love it alot. hmmm...hyde sounds amazing in all parts of the song too, the saxophone (am i right lol) fits the mood too.

How can a song be so real, its as though i went through the experience of all the environments while i'm hearing the song.

 

[kelvin]

Well another reason why i want to analyse this beautiful song, is because I'm currently doing an assignment to create a coffeetable book. And i want my book to create the same experience to readers just like how i feel when i listen to Loreley, i want them to feel the same emotions. However this book will be very depressing and lonely....but still very beautiful :? I'll be illustrating the journey of a simple lonely man (might look like hyde )

Might be mixing the mood with the story in Hitomi Ni Utsurumono also by laruku.

Oh by the way what do u think of the lyrics of HNU?

In these eyes of mine
Colored by red
there are birds and sky and you
Red dried leaves and you are ...

Painful, that time's
excitement is now
Fading away, changing into lenient peace

In your favorite open place,
Sigh turning white, nestling close

Even though the dried leaves will soon change into snow,
from someday on I'll come here, and it will remain the way it is
in my eyes




At first i thought somebody died, i kept thinking Hyde is trying to preserve this particular sad memory, but my friend told me hes just reminiscing the summer feeling #$%%@#, that totally spoiled the whole song for me lol.....

 

[Anchyyy]

Thats nice

 

[kairi~vs~rinoa]

this coffeetable book sounds interesting. but i'm slightly confused, its going to be a book just full of lyrics that mean something to you? or are you going to write down how they made you feel...

 

[kelvin]

nono it barely has any words, but lots of illustrations about this man's journey haha, maybe a few lines to describe. How i wish i had a month long to do it, too bad the deadline is in two weeks *grumble grumble*

but the pictures are depressing and lonely, like how i felt when i listen to loreley.