Title: gin no tsuki kuroi hoshi
Nickname: 銀月 (gintsuki)
Single: 銀の月 黒い星 (track 001)
Album: 華想夢想紙 (track 002)
Single: F+IX=YOU Limited Type B (track 003) self-cover
Album: 15TH ANNIVERSARY BEST [花鳥ノ調] (track 005) self-cover
itunes/Apple Music: Available in some regions
Composer: 沙我 (Saga)
Lyrics: 将 (Show)
[花鳥ノ調] arrangement: 沙我 (Saga)
This song was the lead track on their second single, released March 30th 2005, and had an accompanying music video shot for it. Classic track that it is (it has its own nickname!), it was later rearranged and re-recorded for release as a bonus track on their 2018 single F+IX=YOU. This rearranged song was a premonition of what ALICE NINE. were planning to do next, because in the spring of 2019, this version of gintsuki was re-released along with other rearranged classics on their 15TH ANNIVERSARY BEST [kachou no shirabe] compilation album.
歌詞 》
銀の月 黒い星
歌詞は「こちら」です。
You can view a copy of the lyrics in their original Japanese online [ here ].
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Romaji 》
gin no tsuki kuroi hoshi
English Translation 》
Moon of Silver, Black Stars
How long was it that we went without being able to even really smile at one another?
The seasons I stayed with you, dyed in white, lie thick in my chest
Ah, powder snow falls from this sky—
Now, I reach my hand out, and I’ve caught you. ¹
The warm snow, more beautiful than anything else
Fell onto our cheeks, to disappear
And just like a white flower, you were blooming
The distance between myself and the moon has no meaning at all
It made even the distance I felt between you and I hurt less ²
Ah, powder snow falls from this sky—
Now, I reach my hand out, and I’ve caught you. ¹
Cold weather stars, more beautiful than anything else
Fell onto our cheeks, to disappear
And a withered iris was quietly swaying.
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NOTES / INTERPRETATION:
oo1. I’m not completely certain, but I get the impression that this line is meant to emphasize that the actual catching of the other person is a memory. Because the line in Japanese strangely (at least from an English-speaking perspective) includes both the word ‘now’, and the one and only verb in past tense. So, literally, ‘Now I reach out my hand and I caught you’. That doesn’t make grammatical sense in English, and using “I’ve” just barely lets it squeak by. It’s the sense of reaching out in the present (towards the falling snow), but imagining a time in the past when they caught the other person—rather than the snow. Hopefully that was already pretty clear in the translation, I just thought it was interesting to bring up the literal construction of the Japanese line.
oo2. The distance to the moon meaning nothing at all is probably meant to convey that the distance is impossibly great—which makes the relative distance between the speaker and the other person seem insignificantly small in comparison.
Otherwise, it could instead be taken to mean that, despite the distance between the speaker and the moon, the moon is still visible, still beautiful. In other words, the moon is untouchable (like the person that the speaker used to be able to reach out and touch), but can still be admired (from afar in memories, for instance).
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The above was translated by me; for the original post and more notes, check [ PuncProsody ].
If you’d like to share the translation, please link to this page. Do not repost it. Thank you.
Other Fan Translations:
English: akatsuki .
Français: Nautiljon .
If you would like me to link to your translation, or know of another translation that has been made (in any language), please let me know and I’ll put up a link to it. The more the merrier.
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Behind the Scenes
The following are a few excerpts from a magazine interview in which Saga and Show explain their thoughts behind the music and lyrics of the song, respectively:
Saga: When the tour ended and I had settled down, I spoke with everyone about a vision I had that was like, “from now on, I’d like to show this side of us”. Taking that in, I returned home and in that time when I was pondering by myself, [gin no tsuki kuroi hoshi] is the song that was born. I didn’t put any particular thought or colour into the song itself; if anything, it’s like it emerged naturally. Therefore, as though it were a drawing of a background with no main point, I brought it to everyone, kinda tossed it at them, and was like, “do something with this and give it shape for me”. I filled it with feelings of, “from here on, I’d like to try making these sorts of things.”
FOOL’S MATE 2005.04 vol 282
Show: Timing-wise, it is being released in the season of spring on the 30th of March, but this is a winter song. […]
In this song [gin no tsuki kuroi hoshi] I had an image of snow falling in a Nordic country, and auroras spreading across the sky.
Many, many years later, Show commented on a tweet by the same interviewer that conducted the interview above, praising him and thanking him for the encouragement he’d offered to them about gin no tsuki kuroi hoshi at the time.
Translation: Yanamoto-san, who left an incredibly deep impression through ALICE NINE. interviews. I can’t tell you how much it heartened us back then, the fact that you listened to SG’s “gin no tsuki kuroi hoshi” and with plenty of humour said “this’ll sell, you know” and interviewed us. You were a person showing actual sincerity during a time that was tricky for us, I’m afraid. Thank you for greeting me 😊
In another magazine from early 2005, Show, Saga, and Nao all offered more insight into the song:
Show: For gin no tsuki kuroi hoshi, Saga-kun brought the demo in for us, but when I listened to the song, I sensed a wondrous world with a majestic feel, and wrote the lyrics with that impression. It turned into a rock number that brought out a straight-up ALICE NINE. sort of part and a marvelous worldview.
Saga: This time in my head I had a sort of “white” mental image. In regard to that “white” impression before making the song, when I was thinking of an example of how to go about expressing it in an ALICE NINE. way, I was able to complete the song. I made it while imagining a white world of wondrous imagery.Nao: It’s Saga-world, isn’t it! With “white” as its base concept, I think he was able to make something beyond our expectations.
hévn 2005.02 vol 16
In late 2017, Saga began rearranging the song for release on their upcoming single F+IX=YOU, and most especially to be played during their winter tour. What follows are the tweets he made detailing some of his thoughts about the process:
Translation: In terms of the gintsuki rearrangement, I guess the difference is, when I made it in the past, I was making it without understanding the lyrics and without being aware that it was a winter song; this time, on top of knowing it was a winter song, I’m also doing the rearrangement while understanding the lyrics, and while aware of what the live scenery is like.
Translation: I rearranged, fixed, and did the REC for the bass of the rerecording for gintsuki 😎 Contrary to the expectation that you calm down as you become an adult, it’s interesting that it has way more motion and reckless force than the 2005 ver 👍
Translation: It’s interesting when you try and listen to gintsuki and its former version lined up together 😎 I made the cord progression match the singing more, and from the drum & bass’s 8-beat, I’m changing it into a groovier, more detailed 16-beat. I’m modifying the guitars from their former Japanese guitar-rock style arrangement to an arrangement with a UK or Scandinavian aura.
Translation: I’d like to make the re-recording of gintsuki also get nonchalantly defined as an A9 winter anthem, so I’ll do my best.
In the years since, the new version of gintsuki has, indeed, also become an ALICE NINE. winter classic, so Saga’s mission was undoubtedly accomplished, and it’s all thanks to the band and the fans’ love for the song!