Sayonara Shelter

Here it is, the song you just knew was coming - Mr. Sakurai's "I AM VERY ANGRY ABOUT THE WAR IN UKRAINE" song. Honestly, we suspect that there will be more after this one - B-T are currently on tour to support their 35 anniversary best-of album, but in between tour dates, they're also in the studio, recording a new album, which is due to be released in spring of 2023. This song was released on Buck-Tick's 5-disc 35th Anniversary Best album, appearing on the first disc, "Ribelo," which features Toll on the cover. This English translation is singable with the original melody, but as always, we strove to be as faithful to the original Japanese as possible. 

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Goodbye Shelter
Lyrics: Sakurai Atsushi
Music: Hoshino Hidehiko

Ephemeral candle
In the bunker, dancing and flickering (1)
A lamp with a genie (2)
Flaming in your eyes
Reach out your hand now
You've almost got that love love
At your fingertips
Playing with shadows
Oh my darling princess

Endless rain now
Pretend it's a dream now
And all I want to do is hold you tight
But someone's coming to kill us all... tonight (3)
It's senseless oh, it's senseless, I know

Tonight, I promise that I'll come to meet you
While you're sleeping safe and sound for me
Just wait for me in that shelter

Tonight, the Earth is a like shooting star, so lovely

I want you to bathe in the beauty

Just wait for me in that shelter

A colorless landscape

In a world with no sound, my love song

In trembling soprano

A little girl singing

The rain is so cold now

I wish this were all lies

And all I want to do is hold you tight

But I've got to go off and kill somebody... tonight (3)

It's senseless oh, it's senseless, I know

Tonight, I promise that I'll come to meet you

While you're sleeping safe and sound for me

Just wait for me in that shelter

Tonight, the Earth is a like shooting star, so lovely

I want you to bathe in the beauty

Just wait for me in that shelter

Note: Sakurai stated in Ongaku to Hito and PHY magazines, as well as on his radio program The Music of Note with DJ Chiwaki Mayumi, that he was inspired to write this song after watching the viral video of a little girl Ukrainian girl singing the Ukrainian version of "Let it Go" (from the Disney film Frozen) inside a bomb shelter (it doesn't hurt that she's an excellent singer despite being so young). Sakurai has been an adamantly anti-war activist for his entire career, but he stated that at first, he felt hesitant to write this song, due to the pressure on Japanese musicians to not express political views in an artistic context. However, he stated that he ultimately decided that he's old enough at this point to say exactly what he wants to say, and not worry too much about whether it might make some people uncomfortable. Tanaka, Buck-Tick's long-time album director, encouraged Sakurai to pursue this creative direction, and suggested that, due to its highly topical nature, this song be released with the 35th anniversary best-of box set, rather than waiting to release it on the 2023 new album. You can watch Amelia's video here. In perfect synchronicity, this video was uploaded on March 7th, Mr. Sakurai's birthday.

Sakurai also made reference to the word "shelter" in his song "Barbaric Man," from his side project album I Am Mortal. In both these songs, there is an implicit reference to the Rolling Stones hit "Gimme Shelter," which was partly written in protest of the Vietnam War.

(1) This is a reference to the bunker in which the little girl, Amelia, gave her performance of "Let it Go."

(2) This is a reference to the story "Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp," a Middle Eastern folktale which is commonly associated with the 1,001 Nights/Arabian Nights tales, but was in fact added at a later date to the 1,001 Nights manuscript. Sakurai has been incorporating Aladdin imagery since the release of the single New World in 2016. Buck-Tick made heavy use of Arabian Nights imagery in the visuals and performance for their Abracadabra tours, as well as in the tag line for the 35th anniversary concerts at Yokohama Arena on September 23rd and 24th, which read, "New World For You." In this sense, "Sayonara Shelter" is a bit like a continuation of "New World," dealing with the same theme of the pain and senselessness of living as a human being in a world that is often violent and uncaring.

(3) Sakurai stated in PHY magazine and his radio program The Music of Note with DJ Chiwaki Mayumi that he included the line "but I've got to go off and kill somebody" in reference to the fact that in many Ukrainian refugee families, the men saw their families to safety, then returned to Ukraine to enlist in the military and defend their homeland. Sakurai has never shied away from assuming a certain responsibility for the violence on planet Earth in which all of us are often complicit. (See Guernica no Yoru for more on this.)

Sayonara Shelter

Lyrics: Sakurai Atsushi

Music: Hoshino Hidehiko

Hakanai kyandoru     chikashitsu de dansu dansu     yureteiru

Mahou no rampu     hitomi ni wa honoo

Sono te nobashite     yubisaki de Love Love     ato sukoshi

Kagee asobi     saa ohimesama

Yamanai ame     yume nara ii ne

Anata wo dakishimeteitai kedo

Dareka ga bokura wo koroshi ni     kuru yo

Kurutteiru    kurutteiru yo

Konya     shizuka ni nemuru     anata ni ai ni yuku     kanarazu

Ano sherutaa de matteite

Konya     chikyuu wa marude     utsukushii nagareboshi     kirei da

Ano sherutaa de matteite

Iro wo nakushita     oto mo nai sekai     ai no uta

Furueru koe de     ano ko wa utau

Tsumetai ame     uso nara ii ne

Anata wo dakishimeteitai kedo

Watashi wa dareka wo koroshi ni     iku no

Kurutteiru    kurutteiru yo

Konya     shizuka ni nemuru     anata ni ai ni yuku     kanarazu

Ano sherutaa de matteite

Konya     chikyuu wa marude     utsukushii nagareboshi     kirei da

Ano sherutaa de matteite

Sayonara Shelter
作詞：櫻井敦司
作曲：星野英彦

儚いキャンドル　地下室でダンスダンス　揺れている
魔法のランプ　瞳には炎
その手伸ばして　指先でLoveLove　あと少し
影絵遊び　さあお姫様

止まない雨　夢ならいいね
あなたを抱き締めていたいけど
誰かが僕らを殺しに　来るよ
狂っている　狂っているよ

今夜　静かに眠る　あなたに会いに行く　必ず
あのシェルターで待っていて

今夜　地球はまるで　美しい流れ星　奇麗だ
あのシェルターで待っていて

色を無くした　音もない世界　愛の歌
震える声で　あの子は歌う

冷たい雨　嘘ならいいね
あなたを抱き締めていたいけど
わたしは誰かを殺しに　行くの
狂っている　狂っているよ

今夜　静かに眠る　あなたに会いに行く　必ず
あのシェルターで待っていて

今夜　地球はまるで　美しい流れ星　奇麗だ
あのシェルターで待っていて