Ayumi ~ The Anything Goes Thread 7 ~

[Surreal17]

Don't know if you guys noticed but Tell me why and criminal's lyrics are very similar. The both discuss the same theme of helplessness. Maybe those two songs are somehow connected.

Tell me why - "If you do this, I become powerless wow oh
Can’t I even give you a little bit of support?
Hey, I want to share the burden too
Share your pain, your doubt, your past"

criminal - "Why am I so powerless and stupid?
I can't even protect the hand I surely held"

[Delirium-Zer0]

Originally Posted by Surreal17

Don't know if you guys noticed but Tell me why and criminal's lyrics are very similar. The both discuss the same theme of helplessness. Maybe those two songs are somehow connected.

Tell me why - "If you do this, I become powerless wow oh
Can’t I even give you a little bit of support?
Hey, I want to share the burden too
Share your pain, your doubt, your past"

criminal - "Why am I so powerless and stupid?
I can't even protect the hand I surely held"

She goes back to older themes in her lyrics quite frequently, which is what will happen when you write autobiographically AND are as prolific as Ayu is (Stevie Nicks, for example, reuses phrases in her lyrics constantly, always has).

How many times has she mentioned "ano ko" for example, usually in combination with someone else ("kimi/you", "aitsu/that guy", "boku/me")? Off the top of my head, I can think of immature, Heartplace, fairyland, Marionette.

In "Secret" she sings about flying with only one wing - no doubt a reference to "Endless sorrow" and her then-new status as a single woman - and girls who are dazzling, probably a reference to "Boys & Girls." (I really should listen to the song "Secret" more often... I never liked the arrangement, it's a bit R&B for my taste, but the lyrics, MY GOODNESS! I love the lyrics to this song, and her vocals are suitably sad and shaken-sounding.)

She says in the 2000 NTV interview that she became a singer in her search for an "ibasho," a place in the world for her, a place where she belonged. That phrase comes up in her lyrics frequently - "A Song for XX," "Naturally," "BLUE BIRD" (which may or may not be referring to "ibasho" in the spiritual sense like it usually does, but it's FASCINATING if it does!), "Secret." In "NEXT LEVEL" doesn't use the phrase directly but she clearly seems to be talking about having found her "ibasho" there (which is made more explicit by the time-traveling photo album montage during "Bridge to the Sky" at AT2009, leading into "NEXT LEVEL." I may or may not have cried actually) and now wondering where to go next with the freedom that achievement has brought.

Anyway, I like looking at ayu's lyrics. haha