Matenrou Opera - Kaze no tori lyrics translations

Original title: 摩天楼オペラ - 風の鳥 [Matenrou Opera - Kaze no tori]
“Matenrou Opera” means “Skyscraper Opera” and “Kaze no tori” means ”Bird of the wind”

消えそうな優しさにこの体を映して
明日も夢を見てる 孤独の海で

The vanishing tenderness of this body casts a shadow on me (1)

Tomorrow I will also see this dream in the sea of loneliness (2)

あの日唄った 声はくもになり
震えたこの風だけを 胸にあずけて

The voice which sang that day became the clouds

Now I can only enclose the trembling wind inside my heart (3)

さぁ飛び立とう 碧い翼広げ
たとえ光が見えなくなっても

Now, let's expand our lapis wings and fly away, (4)

even though we can’t see the light anymore

砕け散る想いは 涙をあつめて
全て この海に溶かしてしまおう

My broken dreams are reflected in my tears (5)

I’m going to melt completely into this sea (6)

月の明かりに 傷を照らせば
また一つ君は強くなれるから

When the moonlight illuminates your weaknesses,

you can be strong once again

さぁ翔び立とう 母なる空え
消えたくもの影 どこまでも探して

Now you seem to become the Mother of the sky as you fly away, (7)

looking everywhere for the shadows of the evaporated skies (8)

悲しみの流れを 心で受けとめたら
海の色 深く鮮やかに見えた
いつか輝く 陽差しを待ちわびて
必ず季節は変わるから

When the stream of sorrow took over my heart,

the color of the sea looked brilliant (9)

Someday the sparkling rays of sun will have to wait,

because the seasons will change as they always do

大空高く 舞い上がれ 青く
遙かに続く この時代と共に…

(You) soar to the high heavens and become lapis (10)

Far away in the distance, we continue to share these days...

君と唄った風の中で
遠い過去の闇を抱しめて

I used to sing with you in the wind

Now I embrace the shady darkness of our past (11)

(1) It doesn’t say “on me” but I take it from the context that it’s what he means^^”

(2) It doesn’t say “this dream” but… from the context I believe he’s talking about a particular dream. Maybe the one he’s right now/right then? Anyway, this is my translation=^.^=

(3) I changed the meaning of “だけ”, which I take to mean “only” here, a little. I know it’s supposed to be like… “I enclose only the trembling wind inside my heart” or something to that extent. Context-wise, however, that doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to me. I feel like he encloses the wind in his heart because he can’t enclose the voice which sang. If that makes any sense…  (>__<●

But, seeing it like that, “だけ”  doesn’t translate very well and I felt it was best to change it a bit to match the rest of the paragraph.

I also added a “now” to enhance understanding^^”

(4) “Lapis” is an intense blue color of a certain precious stone by the same name (it’s gorgeous I think! ♥♥). I know it says “aoi”, just normal blue, but I think it’s more poetic to change it to lapis^^”

(5) I know “あつめて” means ”to collect” or ”to gather” but in English it makes a lot more sense to say ”to reflect”. It comes down to the same meaning, really, as the point is that his broken dreams are in his tears – hence he’s crying because his dreams are broken. At least that’s how I interpret it=^^”=

(6) This sentence was weird to me. It doesn’t say exactly what’s going to “溶かして” but I interpret it to be him who is going to melt and form a sea of tears since he’s crying. I take the sea he mentions to be the sea from earlier. The sea of loneliness. So, it makes sense that when he cries and reflects upon his memories, he melts into the sea of loneliness. At least I think so ^^”

The “しまおう” is volitional form, however. So, Yuksa san ♥ told me, it can be (and probably should be); ”let’s melt them completely into the sea” ^^”

(7) The text reads “母なる空” which literally means “the Mother of the sky“. It seems weird to me, and probably you too, but my sensei ♥ explained it like this; “母なる大地” and “母なる海” are famous (common) Japanese expressions. “母なる大地” means “the Mother Earth”, and “母なる海” means “the Mother Sea”. But “母なる空” is uncommon since we (humans) don’t see “the sky” as a mother of our origin. But, somehow, Sono wanted to see sky as a mother in his song and so he made up the term “母なる空”. (*-▽-)ノ 


Poetic and beautiful in a weird wayね^^”

(8) “消えたくも” literally means ”vanished clouds” but I thought ”evaporated skies” sounded a lot more poetic and paints a more beautiful picture of the skies. So, the literal translation of whole sentence is something like; “looking everywhere for the shadows of the vanished clouds” but I think my translation is more poetic(≧▽≦*d)

(9) The second line, “海の色 深く鮮やかに見えた”, is a little out of context to me. I know he’s talking about the sea he’s mentioned before, that part is fine, but the whole “will look brilliant”… I don’t really get it>< Why will it look "brilliant"?... - When you say “will look brilliant” it sounds like a positive thing. It’s positive that something will become clearer… But why is it positive that sorrow will take over his heart? – that’s the action that leads to the positive “will look brilliant”?

Anyway, here is my sensei’s ♥ explanation of that line: when we are not mentally strong enough, we cannot take some unexpected fact or sadness in the right way. Only when we are ready to face the sadness, we can comprehend it in our minds properly. Then it would be kind a positive thing, wouldn’t it? I think “受け止める” does not mean just “take” but  it also includes the feeling of having to “face to something”.

You can decide for yourself if it makes sense to you^^”

(10) I put parentheses around “you” because it’s not necessary to include a subject in this line. “上がれ” is kind of an imperative form, so the sentence could also just read; “Soar to high heavens and become lapis”.

(11) Added a “now” for understanding (*-▽-)ノ

Suggestions or correction? Please comment^^

Pssst---Interested in hearing the song? It's uploaded here but of course you have to follow all rules and delete it after 24 hours and buy the CDs from the artist and all that yada yada yada(>__<●

All lyrics translations uploaded here are of course owned by me (though the lyrics in themselves are owned by the respectful artists). If you want to use or re-post my translations, please ask permission beforehand. Credit is, of course, always given to me. (*゜▽゜)ノ゛☆ ♥ ♥

A special thank you to the amazing Yuka san for all her help  ♥ ♥