Since I had time this weekend, I finished working on the 6th song from Angelo’s album “FAUST“. The name of the song is “RITUAL“. This song was composed by Karyu. All lyrics by Kirito.
Kanji:
ロウソクの灯が揺れ動く 量子のゆらぎに反応して
記憶と思しき刷り込みのストーリー 概念はバージョンアップを完了して
晴れやかに遂げよう 価値が入れ替わる儀式
歴史という名のフォーマット 劇的に姿変えて
思惑を隠しながら 朝を迎える
Destiny is tossed by his speculation. All of them are human tests.
暗号の壁を突き破る 巧妙なウイルスに侵されて
隠蔽図ろうと拡散は止まらず 叛逆の術はオープンソースで
春を呼び起そう 情報波にのせて
支配に抵抗を覚えた 群衆は理性捨てて
自由を凶器に携え 破壊へ向かう
Destiny is tossed by his speculation. All of them are human tests.
Change must always be sacrificed. And with love for the scapegoat.
鎖から解き放たれ 殺し合いを生き延びて
変革の幕を落とす これが理想郷
Destiny is tossed by his speculation. All of them are human tests.
Romaji:
Rousoku no hi ga yureugoku ryoushi no yuragi ni hannou shite
Kioku to oboshiki surikomi no SUTOORII gainen wa BAAJONAPPU wo kanryou shite
Hareyaka ni togeyou kachi ga irekawaru gishiki
Rekishi toiu na no FOOMATTO gekiteki ni sugata kaete
Omowaku wo kakushinagara asa wo mukaeru
Destiny is tossed by his speculation. All of them are human tests.
Angou no kabe wo tsukiyaburu koumyou na UIRUSU ni okasarete
Inpei hakarou to kakusan wa tomarazu hangyaku no sube wa OOPUNSOOSU de
Haru wo yobiokosou jouhou nami ni nosete
Shihai ni teikou wo oboeta gunnshuu wa risei sutete
Jiyuu wo kyouki ni tazusae hakai e mukau
Destiny is tossed by his speculation. All of them are human tests.
Change must always be sacrificed. And with love for the scapegoat.
Kusari kara tokihanatare koroshiai wo ikinobite
Henkaku no maku wo otosu kore ga risoukyou
Destiny is tossed by his speculation. All of them are human tests.
Translation:
The flame of a candle flickers in response to the quantum fluctuations
Memories appear to be an imprinting story, and the concept is (like) a software update is being completed (*1)
Let’s carry out cheerfully the ritual where the values are replaced
A format (*2) called history that changes its shape dramatically
While hiding my expectations, I welcome the morning
Destiny is tossed by his speculation. All of them are human tests.
(We are) invaded by an ingenious virus that pierces through the walls of cipher
When suppression is attempted, the diffusion does not stop, (because) the method of rebellion is in open source (*3)
Let’s evoke our passions (*4) and take a ride on the wave of information
I remembered that I stood up against domination, and that multitudes (of people) throw away reason
A freedom that carries a deadly weapon in its hands and heads towards destruction
Destiny is tossed by his speculation. All of them are human tests.
Change must always be sacrificed. And with love for the scapegoat.
Releasing from the chains and surviving the killing among each other
The curtain of revolution drops down, this is the utopia
Destiny is tossed by his speculation. All of them are human tests.
Translation notes: This song is very clever, and it was somewhat a learning experience for me about topics that I don’t read that much about.
The first line uses a quantum physics terminology “quantum fluctuations” to describe the way that the flame of a candle moves. The movement of a candle’s flame is supposed to be one of the best forms of quantum fluctuations since the movement of the flame cannot be predicted and it can fill different areas of the space and the length of how much time it spends in each area can vary as well.
The second line mentions a psychology terminology called “imprinting”, this refers to the process of learning behaviors and patterns from the first subject that you come in contact with at critical ages of life and then become “imprinted” in your subconscious, this can happen for humans and animals, and this is what makes it difficult at older age to learn a new behavior or patterns that differs from what you learned at that critical age.
This songs also uses a lot of computer terminology to create analogies related to what’s happening on this songs, and I marked those with parenthesis so I could explain in more detail in this section (only the last clarification is unrelated to computer terminology):
*1: Kirito compares the term of “imprinting” to performing the update of a computer software, because an update like this usually replaces some older code, implanting something specific.
*2: Kirito compares the history of humans to computer formats, that change constantly as time goes by
*3: In the line before this, there is a mention about a virus that invades people’s mind (when they want to break free from something) and that if you attempt to suppress that, it doesn’t work because rebellions happen on top of a “open source software”. So when we think about open source software, it’s a type of software that is not created in a controlled environment (when compared with closed source software) and the code is open and available for everyone to see, so they can provide recommendations, etc. So the control against a virus is not really there. It’s true that usually closed source software might be more vulnerable to viruses because those that create viruses might have more reasons to want to exploit companies that profit for such software; but this doesn’t mean that a open source software is less vulnerable to virus, the only reason is there’s not much to gain out of it; but it might be easier to introduce a trojan or malware in an open source software because of the lack of control and the availability of the code for everyone to see. So this comparison is very interesting and makes us (computer geeks like me) think a lot!
*4: This is the one that is unrelated to computer terminology. In this line, Kirito uses the word 春 which means “spring” (one of the 4 weather seasons) , however this word also have other figurative meanings, and clearly Kirito is not talking about weather seasons in this song. The other meaning this word have is for example passions of youth, prime time of life, the good times that come after a crisis, etc. So Kirito is referring to evoking these sort of feelings, so I decided to use the term “passions” that maybe encompass this idea.
Having said that, and clarifying some of the terms used in this song, we can interpret that after Faust returned from the purgatory to face the reality in the previous song, he is reflecting on how the fake God implants the ideas of values into the masses of humans, like a software update or imprinting so they all follow the same pattern; as it is mentioned in the English lines, all the humans are just human tests for him, meaning they are disposable and he just plays with them, and how this is what has shaped history across the times.
However, Faust also remembers that when the spark of rebellion is lit in at least one of those humans (himself I guess), this is spread like a virus among the masses too, and the more the authority tries to suppress it, it doesn’t stop because rebellions are on top of this “open-source” platform where the code is open for all to see, and therefore the humans ride in that wave of “information” they have available.
Faust also admits the consequences of this, when multitudes share the same idea, it can also become a dangerous weapon where people might end up killing each other and head toward destruction, but this is also maybe the only way to release from the chains that bind you and this is how you create the utopia. I think we’ve seen this pattern in any human revolution that has happened in human history, good examples of this are for example the French revolution, the independence of the Latin America Countries from the Spanish colonization or the abolition of slavery in North America that happened after many revolutions and wars.
Also, about one of the English lines, specifically this one “Change must always be sacrificed. And with love for the scapegoat“, what I think Kirito meant to say was “change always requires sacrifice” which makes sense to these stories of revolution, someone has to sacrifice for others to be free, and we must be thankful for this person, and that someone is who he refers to as the “scapegoat”, maybe not the best terminology for this, but it makes sense; and maybe “martyr” would have been a better choice of words to depict that idea.
So in summary, Faust is ready to start this revolution against Mephisto! The story is getting very exciting.
JAPAN MUSIC SEKAI ~ Jrock & Jpop talk ~ 