← archive index · live page · raw markdown

SHIAWASE NO IMI

Metadata

title
SHIAWASE NO IMI
meaning
KŌAN A: Luke's first Japanese song: ignore the ringing phone, then a familiar voice says change now; come to another world, 幸せの意味, I'll show ya.
year
2022
release
KŌAN
releaseType
album
artist
Scoobert Doobert
artistId
#scoobert
credits
Written, performed, and mixed by Luke Francis Walton. Mastered by Riley Knapp. Artwork by Grizzard Graphics.
spotify
https://open.spotify.com/album/2wGa9TxP1UvCn1hnfyyV6v
youtube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JP4KYqgHevQ
officialVideo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JP4KYqgHevQ
apple
https://music.apple.com/us/album/kōan/1618191665
themes
  • happiness
  • Japan
  • KŌAN
  • 2022
isrc
QZDA42257783
isrcSource
soundexchange
draft
false

Lyrics

いつもの朝
鳴り止まない電話
出ないまま無視して
イライラして、もういいや

スマホを手にとって
少し考えた僕は
なぜかわからないまま
君と話していたんだ

君の声は
聞き覚えのある声
どこか懐かしい声
どこか優しい声

君はこう言ったね
今何かを変える時
君の未来が君を待ってる
今何かを変える時

Come to another world with me
A place where you can finally be happy
幸せの意味
見せるよ
I'll show ya

Come to another world with me
A place where you can finally be happy
幸せの意味
見せるよ
I'll show ya

平凡な日々
白黒な日々
変えるのは怖くて
だからできなくて

君はこう言ったね
今何かを変える時
君の未来が君を待ってる
今何かを変える時

Come to another world with me
A place where you can finally be happy
幸せの意味
見せるよ
I'll show ya

Come to another world with me
A place where you can finally be happy
幸せの意味
見せるよ
I'll show ya
I'll show ya

Content

Track four on KŌAN, KŌAN A (March 2022). Luke solo. Bandcamp notes call this Scoobert's first song written in Japanese, and the title means roughly the meaning of happiness (幸せ shiawase, happiness; 意味 imi, meaning). Same Japan/Zen season as 無門関 and What Makes You You; more in The Bent Stick.

The verses move from a morning of ignoring the phone to picking it up and, without knowing why, finding a familiar voice on the other end. It tells you the same thing twice (今何かを変える時, now is the time to change something) in wellness-poster Japanese, the Don't Worry register of commands that don't land, except here it's sung sincerely. Verse two names the stuck place between ordinary, black-and-white days and the fear that keeps you in them.

The bilingual hook is the whole offer: come to another world with me, a place where you can finally be happy. 幸せの意味, 見せるよ, I'll show ya. The promise ends on I'll show ya twice, an offer, never a definition: happiness defined by whoever shows it to you. Between Think About It and Keep Calm Atomic Bomb on KŌAN A (KŌAN essay), and after Boardwalk's idle beach, another world is movement inward rather than along the sand.