Nyu'nen lyrics

Nyu'nen [Deliberate]
words - makigami, music - sakaide

nen niwa nen wo ire     making doubly sure.
kangae wo               not to think over,
fukamenai (fukamenai)  (not thinking over).

nen niwa nen wo ire     making doubly sure.
kangae wo               not to think over,
fukamenai (fukamenai)  (not thinking over).

nen niwa nen wo ire     making doubly sure.
kangae wo               not to think over,
fukamenai (fukamenai)  (not thinking over).
tameni                  in order to do that.

sarani jikkuri          hardening,
katamatte iru           more slowly.

nyu'nen                 deliberate.
nyu'nen na kaigara      a deliberate shell.

pan niwa an wo ire      stuffing bun with bean jam.
pan niwa an wo ire      stuffing bun with bean jam.
pan niwa an wo ire      stuffing bun with bean jam.
unmei ga                for
yugamanai (yugamanai)   not distorting (not distorting)
youni                   destiny.

shita ni yukkuri        tangling underneath,
karamatte yuku          very slowly.

nyu'nen                 deliberate.
nyu'nen na yakikata     a deliberate way of baking.

          (instrumental interlude)

ten kara futte kita     something fell from the sky.
ten kara futte kita     something fell from the sky.
ten kara futte kita     something fell from the sky.
atama dewa              something 
uketore nai             not to catch 
(uketore nai)          (not to catch)
mono ga                 with your head.

yake ni nettori         exceptionally greasy,
ase bande iru           sweating quite a bit.

nyu'nen                 deliberate.
nyu'nen na              a deliberate kind of 
takenoko                bamboo shoot.

Having an addictive riff and great hook, Nyu'nen is just a great tune. It's also a kind of signature song for the current line-up of Hikashu, and has been a "core repertoire" in their gigs for years.

But seeing the lyrics, you probably don't "get it." Because the translation is just terrible, and admittedly it is. But actually, it's very hard to tell what this song is about, even for Japanese. We have to use some imagination to see what it actually is, and that's a kind of question which never be answered, unless you think any poem should have something like "one true meaning." We have our own interpretation, but we refrain from expressing it here, because that's nothing but merely a speculation and it could not be verified in any way. Nevertheless, it's obviously an well-crafted, deliberate piece of poetry as a whole. Vague and obscure, but utterly imaginative and thoughtful as well. A fine example of Makigami's wordsmanship.

One thing is clear; it contains reference of cooking and foodstuff. "Baking" from the "a deliberate way of baking" line refers a way of cooking foodstuff. I choose the word "baking," but it could be interpreted as roasting, grilling or toasting. In Japanese, all those variations could be described by one word "yaku" as it is used in the lyrics. As translator, we had to decide which is appropriate, and choose "baking" because the lyrics referred buns.

What the "stuffing bun with bean jam" line implies of is Anpan. Anpan is a very popular kind of stuffed bun in Japan (wikipedia). How popular? Almost every cvs carries some. Anpan is a bun having bean-jam inside called "An." Bun (or bread) is called "Pan" in Japanese, hence the name. Kimuraya Yasubei and his son invented Anpan in 1874. His baker company "Kimuraya Sohonten., Ltd, " founded in 1869, is now located in Ginza, Tokyo and has many branches throughout the country.

An-pan has a historical importance as well because it's often cited as one of the earliest symbolical figure of "Japanese spirit and western learning." An-pan was invented in meiji era - that's the period when Japan finally relinquished the national seclusion policy, opened its territory to the outside world for the first time in 200 years. After abandoned the policy, in no time, Japan was flooded with western things - ideas, policies, thoughts, and numerous items. One of them was bread, and at first it was very alienated. But people in Meiji era made it japanized and popularized by stuffing it with domestic sweet bean jam called "an."

The man with drum in the Ukiyoe is publicizing the company's products.
Takenoko means bamboo shoot (wikipedia). Literally the word says "child of bamboo." It is a another popular, traditional foodstuff as well.

But why cooking and foodstuff? It's not clear. Maybe Makigami, a known gastronome, just tried to write a song dealing with food. It goes without saying that Nyu'nen is probably a only rock (or whatever) tune referring bun with bean-jam inside or bamboo shoot, as far as we know.

Nyu'nen is a song with a long history. It was released for the first time as a 3-track EP in 2006, then the different version was available as a part of the album "Ikirukoto" released in 2007. But originally it was written sometime in early 90s and has been performed regularly since then. The band tried various arrangement and even recorded some versions in 1990s with different arrangement but those studio recordings still remain in the can.