Title: birth in the death
Album: GEMINI (track 013)
Live Album: 17th THEATRE (track 013)
itunes/Apple Music: Available in some regions
Composer: 沙我 (Saga)
Lyrics: 将 (SHOU)
This song, the last track on their acclaimed album GEMINI (second-last on the regular edition of the album), has something of a cult status among the fanbase and is rather special to the band members themselves as well. Apparently, Saga composed it inspired by a piece by filmmaker Isao Nishigori. Then upon hearing the demo of the song for the first time, it was so new, Nao explained, that it didn’t sound like it had come from any of the composers in ALICE NINE.; it was a song that broke brand new ground for them as a band. Though it was not initially declared as such, it could easily be thought of as the fourth part of or the epilogue to the GEMINI suite of songs that appear just before it on the album. Another interesting thing about it is that it has ties to the first song on the album (I.) and that you can hear slight echoes of the mid-point instrumental track Entr’acte in it, effectively tying the sound of the album all together. While the original studio recording has a lot of programmed elements in it (most notably the bass and drums), in the live version they all play their instruments alongside some of those programmed elements and the performance has evolved a lot over the years with the sound becoming fuller and more emotional over time — in 2021, the lyrics even got a new line added to the end during their anniversary live featuring GEMINI!
Not only does this song feature on ALICE NINE. setlists, it also gets performed quite a bit as part of THE ALTERNATIVE’s setlists, which is Saga and Nao’s side project. When performed by THE ALTERNATIVE, it is Saga that sings the vocals.
歌詞 》
birth in the death
歌詞は「こちら」です。
You can view a copy of the lyrics in their original Japanese online [ here ].
One of the lines in verse 2 of the song has an unusual reading indicated in the lyrics booklet and which I have indicated below in blue:
Verse 2
Booklet] 認識さえ幽界に溶けてゆく
Reading] 認識さえかくりょに溶けてゆく
In addition, during their 17th THEATRE live in August of 2021, SHOU actually sang an additional line at the end of the song during the emotional instrumental outro:
Fly away [ bird | now | ahh ]
.
Romaji 》
birth in the death
English Translation 》
birth in the death
It’s cracking, the shadow of my field of vision,
My memories in pieces;
“Were they distorted?”
Even cognition melts away into the land of the dead
In a boxed garden bed,
Flowers blossomed in full glory like those of Eden
Heal me, android kiss
Of my sins
They flow forth, down they flow—the flicker of human lives
And to the night sky I, to the night sky I just
Hold my finger aloft…
A darkness of pure white above a mechanism, a great clock
Is the story of Genesis
Which the helix of humankind has repeated
They flow forth, down they flow—the flicker of human lives
And to the night sky I, to the night sky I just
Am holding my finger aloft, hoping
It flows forth, down it flows—A spindle-spun eternity of an instant ¹
And in the night sky I, in the night sky I just
Hope and pray
That you may have happiness
★
Fly away [ bird | now | ahh ]
.
NOTES:
oo1. The verb used here is one that is specific to the act of spinning yarn (and of course can be used idiomatically too). Since there is no equivalent in English, I made a compound verb. Spinning fleece (wool) into yarn using a hand-held spindle is an incredibly old technique, and if you’re not quite sure how it works, take a peek at this video (on Youtube). I’ve linked to 2 minutes into the video, where you can see them spinning the pure white cloud of fleece into yarn… I think it adds an extra layer of imagery to some of the lines in this song. You can certainly also imagine the spinning happening with the aid of a spinning wheel (which you might say is also a “mechanism”, a metaphorical “great clock”). This is just the type of imagery that floated into my head as I read the words and symbolism in the song, so take it with a grain of salt and feel free to let your own imagination wander.
★. This extra line in English was repeated over and over again at the end of this song’s performance during their 17th THEATRE live. I’ve copied the phrase down by ear but am not entirely certain whether the third part was a word or just vocalizations. I think it may well have just been vocalizations, but my brain heard “fly away” and immediately thought of a “bird” so consider whichever option you like 🙂
.
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: pokkori_a9 .
Français: Nautiljon .
If you would like me to link to your translation, or know of another translation that has been made (in any language) I can link to, please let me know. If you have made a translation (in any language) that you would like me to host on this page, please leave a comment, send me an DM (@9kumiParade), or email (confuseduniverse9@gmail.com); we’d be happy to have you!
.
Behind the Scenes
The paradox of the song is that despite all the interesting details that have been given about it, it still holds quite a few mysteries. This section stemmed from a blog entry written about it on PuncProsody, from which I’ve drawn a good deal of the translations below. Not only is this a well-loved ALICE NINE. song, it is also a song often performed by THE ALTERNATIVE, with Saga on vocals.
Leading up to and upon release, the members of ALICE NINE. sat down for many interviews with magazines to speak about the song both musically and lyrically, as well as to explain how the song fit into the larger concept of the album as one of its cornerstone pieces.
SHOU: Personally… I find that the characteristics of the first track I. and the last one, birth in the death, are largely different, and that’s a point I was very conscious of.
Gekkayo 2011.03, p. 14-15
Saga: If I were to expand on that in a simple way, the former and latter halves of the album are frankly different bands. I would think that a band that were to play the songs in the former half wouldn’t play those in the latter half. In that fact, you can really feel the dual nature of the album. It’s not simply a difference in nature between pop and rock. We’re doing two things together that wouldn’t be done together.
Page 38 →
Neo Genesis vol. 52, p. 38-39
Interviewer: Personally, I really love the last song, “birth in the death”. It’s sort of like the flicker of human lives within a cosmic viewpoint is expressed, and a person’s life is revealed.
Saga: I am so incredibly happy that you would praise that song. The very last song has for me what is the closest to being a personal section I would say, and is a very profound one. I think it’s perhaps the same in terms of the lyrics.
SHOU: It is. Actually, among the members, this is the song that garnered the most voices saying “I want to do this”.
Page 39 →
SHOU: It’s a poem that has the foundation of my own values in it. That is, precisely because there is an ending, this present moment shines beautifully. I suppose it could be taken as being dark, but what I’m saying is something extremely positive.
Interviewer: The chorus “To the night sky I, to the night sky I just am holding my finger aloft, hoping” can make you cry.
Saga: I was surprised that that sort of phrase fit into it.
SHOU: I’m glad I’m able to sing a song that can make your soul cry out.
Saga: This is both the song that I am most looking forward to playing live and is a song whose method of presentation seems like it’ll be most troubling.
Interviewer: Love remains after you’ve finished listening. You’re also moved emotionally in the same way as with the last song performed at Budoukan.
SHOU & Saga: Ohh!
Interviewer: It’s like, a portrait of the band that is ALICE NINE. has been conveyed to you. The sort of, macro and the micro, majestically warm.
Saga: You saying so to us is the thing I’m most happy about. The foundation of what we want to convey is that it was “love” that was there. There are various ways of presenting it, but ultimately, there is only that.
SHOU: As you’d expect, we’re human, so we want it to be understood, this core aspect of ourselves. In order to have that understood, we intend to have put in our maximum effort. I think, if you looked forward to getting in touch with that nucleus of us as a band as a listener without forcing it, that would be enough. Because if we do things the right way, we’ll say everything we need to with this one album.
B-PASS 2011.03, p. 63
Page 143 →
Fool’s Mate 2011.03 vol. 353, p.143-144
Nao: From the time I heard the “birth in the death” demo, I too really wanted to play this song. Saga-kun thought of the band’s future and brought this song to us so it’s truly promising. It also has such a wide degree of variation [from our style] that I didn’t know who had brought it in.
Page 144 →
Saga: In birth in the death, SHOU-kun takes up guitar for the first time.
HIROTO: Saga-kun is also on guitar in this one, so there are 4 of us on stage in front, all of us holding guitars.
Both Saga and HIROTO said that four of them played guitar in this song (the studio version, at least), and to this day, I have no idea if they were serious or if they were just joking around about that detail. It certainly adds to the legendary, mysterious air that this song has cultivated over the years, and rightfully so.
SHOU: The first song I., fourth song 4U, and thirteenth song birth in the death feel like they are primordially connected in some way. This time the songs that we’ve come to include were really deep and so I think there are a lot of words in the lyrics that came up as a result of a profound part of me feeling an impetus from the music. birth in the death, a song that allows you to see love and hope while facing sadness, is actually also one that has I. on loop during a part of it.
What’s In 2011.02
Saga: For a couple minutes from the start of the song, Nao-san, well, we don’t need him (laughs). I’m wondering what he’s gonna do during lives (laughs).
SHOXX vol. 217, p. 27
Hiroto: In the middle of the song, he could even suddenly appear on stage, and start drumming naturally. I think that would be totally cool.
Nao: A great idea. I think it’d be extremely cool. Let’s go with that!
Tora: This song is unexpectedly hard. In terms of the guitar, it’s not that you’re doing anything all that complicated, it’s hard because the monotone phrase you’re playing is in a loop. It’s not a song where you’re all high energy and putting in a lot of effort. You play the same arpeggio over and over, and in the middle of that, it’s like, you ask yourself where you are in the phrase you’re playing and end up not knowing.
Hiroto: Exactly. But personally, out of all the many album songs we’ve had, from the demo stage, this is the song for which I most felt, “I absolutely want to do it!”. It suits the frequency of my body. A song that requires physique, you might say.
Saga: Also, for this song, there’s a shocking fact! Surprisingly, I wasn’t playing bass in it. This song’s bass was programmed. It’s not that I planned to do that; I recorded the bass live at the outset, but as a result I figured I didn’t need the live take, and I ended up trying to see if I could program it in. So… I wonder what I’ll do in our concerts.
Show: When we’re doing this song in concert, what do you think of Saga-kun and Nao-san appearing in a live film for us?
Hiroto: Great idea. During the performance of the song, would we be able to get the two of them to play the roles of “life and death” for us? (laughs)
Show: The lyrics are on the darker side. They’re of a subject I can’t speak on forthrightly. GEMINI-0 to GEMINI-II are the same, but if I were to speak deeply on all these songs, even a personal interview wouldn’t end up being long enough. It’s like, the self objectively watching human lives twinkling and disappearing like shooting stars. They’re the lyrics that concentrate most on what I’ve always been singing about. Listening to this album’s songs live as well as through the studio recordings lends different impressions so I’m very eager to play these in concert.
Saga: Right now, for us personally as well, these moments of coming to get to know our new selves are really enjoyable, so of course with this album, I think I’d like you all to put your hopes in what’s next for Alice Nine.
SHOU: This is a song in which shooting stars light up and disappear in the night sky that you’re gazing up at, and that is the scenery you watch while shedding tears over the ephemeral nature of human lives… that’s the gist of it. It also carries the message that, precisely because human life is so ephemeral, it’s precious. What’s more, the piano sounds in the song are wonderful and… bring you to tears. That’s something that Saga-kun put in during the demo stage, but when I heard those notes, I thought, this man we call Saga is a genius. I absolutely want you to listen to this on repeat, and afterwards, feel the love in it.
CD & DL Data 2011.02, p. 157
This is pure speculation on my part so please don’t take it as gospel, but I found the way that SHOU spoke about the piano notes here intriguing. Even though Saga is very much a bassist and guitar-player, according to ROCK AND READ he started out as a kid trying to make up melodies while feeling his way around a keyboard that they had at home (ROCK AND READ vol 23, p. 19). Years later, around 2009, Saga even began playing keys live during certain songs. Meanwhile, around the same time if I’m not mistaken, SHOU also began experimenting a little with a keyboard app on his phone [blog entry source needed]. When I read the above CD & DL Data quote, I couldn’t help but wonder if, in the demo, Saga might have incorporated some attempted bit of piano melody by SHOU. Of course SHOU’s praise and emotional reaction could also be for the simple reason that birth in the death is a beautiful song and the progressive strength of the keys really gives the music that ultimate sense of attaining catharsis, a sort of sense of enlightenment and peace at the end.
Saga is a genius. 🙂
Many years later, in a personal interview in ROCK AND READ, Saga was asked again about birth in the death by the interviewer and reiterated that it remained a favourite, fundamental song for him as a composer.
Saga: birth in the death. That was the first song I was satisfied with. In the band, I had a feeling of satisfaction that was like, “I made this”. I was way too picky about the details because partway through, I was told by the producer Okano Hajime-san, “Fine, man, do whatever you want!” (laughs). That song is my personal favourite, even now.
ROCK AND READ 2016.04 vol 65, p. 92
Ahead of their 17th THEATRE 17th Anniversary live in August of 2021, they put up a video on the ALICE NINE. Official note to discuss all the songs from the GEMINI album. If you subscribe to their note, you can skip to the 14:50 mark in the video where they discuss birth in the death.
The live that followed was the one in which SHOU sang an extra line at the end (Fly away ~).
In several of HIROTO’s past Voicy episodes, he has mentioned how deeply moving it has been to perform birth in the death during lives in recent years.
In the solo version of the song that Saga uploaded to his old VIP Salon, he changed one of the lines in the third verse; I am not certain if he sings that variation of the lyrics during THE ALTERNATIVE performances, but the alteration is thus:
癒してくれ俺の咎をアンドロイドのキスで
Heal me, with an android kiss, of my sins
Along with interviews, some of the members have also referenced and discussed birth in the death on Twitter, several examples of which are as follows.
Saga: Tomorrow we’ll be shooting the PV of the album’s lead track from the middle of the night (^-^)v Meh, it’s fairly catchy and a long rock opera. I guess what I’m into in the album is fuurin and birth in the death. The lead track is too much trouble and I can’t come to like it. (haha)
Saga: Seems like my mother is into birth in the death. Björk was recommended to me by said mother. (haha)
In response to a fan back in 2011 tweeting to ask whether he felt nervous before performing GEMINI live, SHOU said, “Extremely. I do it while feeling the pain of shouldering a sense of responsibility to express the song. So when birth in the death is over, I see everyone’s faces and I feel like I could cry.”
Saga: The song birth in the death was originally a song I made inspired by a piece by filmmaker Isao Nishigori-san. A song dedicated to Nishigori-san, as it were. That doesn’t mean that because this sorta song wasn’t turned into a film by Nishogori-san himself it isn’t magnificent. And I’m glad we could perform this at NHK Hall.
Saga: Yuuuuuup I love birth in the death. If I do say so myself. Though there’s no bass. I like it but can’t mass produce it.
SHOU: But I also like songs that thoroughly express darkness and paradoxically express light. Like birth in the death. However if I now intuitively loop back, I feel like that’s the sensation from when we were making zekkeishoku. How much can we elevate that with our current skills?
Saga: I almost never listen to our old stuff and think it’s good.
A similar sensation to looking at pictures of my past self and not thinking that I looked hot at that time.
However, birth in the death alone, I truly do like.
Saga: So, I made a certain song that has the same vector as that birth in the death. I took about 3 hours to make it today at HIROTO’s house. Again, I ended up making a song where I don’t play bass.
Saga: Occasionally when I listen to it, I think it but
Sure enough, birth in the death is great
The song called GEMINI
Is a song that was created to destroy the image that had been attached to Alice Nine
And the intent was to destroy but it seems like it became a great song so
[birth in the death is a] song that was made to go even further
I did that and to me, songs with stories are powerful
HIROTO: From the final birth in the death in Saga’s birthday live,
The two of us hurriedly played subete e, and broke the dam in my heart and my tear duuuuuuucts
Thanks Saga-san, you’re the universe’s best bassist and composer.
And I just noticed it’s 6/24
A complete happy birthday to you!!!!
Even though I’m still behind you
HIROTO: Thanks for Bug Summit!
It was mere moments but it was fun to be able to share a stage together with Issei again.
birth in the death.
This was unexpectedly ALICE NINE.’s true nature.
Saga: The conclusion of Bug Summit was the much-loved birth in the death, but playing for 17 years, you come to want to end like this too. We sincerely got you all pumped up through to song 5, so it was like, let us do what we like after that, okay? 😌
Please, by all means, play this ALICE NINE. classic whenever you like. 🙂