Heart-breaking.
Ashling Murphy, a young woman from Co. Offaly was murdered in broad daylight yesterday.
Women in this country should be able to leave their house, go to a friends house, walk the streets, run in the park or whatever it may be without fear.
I have seen lots of people blaming immigrants, or #NotAllMen. No. Stop. Get out of here.
It’s time for us men to do better!
![[The Jukebox] #70 – Masayoshi Soken – ENDWALKER](https://padraig.blog/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/endwalkertheme.jpg)
In less than 36 hours from this post, Final Fantasy XIV’s 4th expansion, Endwalker will be available in early access with the game fully launching on the 7th December.
As I have mentioned on previous Jukeboxes, Soken is great!
Masayoshi Soken, the composer for a majority of the score in Final Fantasy XIV has been a well-deserved talking point in the last few months. During the COVID-19 lockdown, Soken had spent 6 months of the year in hospital dealing with laryngeal cancer. Most of the development team didn’t know that he was in hospital.
While he was in hospital, he wanted to continue working. Arrangements were thankfully made and he managed to produce one of the best songs in To The Edge. The music is just beautiful, the lyrics are fantastic and I am stunned how Soken could produce something this awesome while recovering from cancer!
On May 15th, Square-Enix released the Full Trailer for the ENDWALKER trailer which primarily contains the ENDWALKER theme, but also features motif’s of the previous expansions, A REALM REBORN, HEAVENSWARD and STORMBLOOD.
In a “Letter from the Producer LIVE” hosted by the director of Final Fantasy XIV, Naoki Yoshida, he announced that the expansion would be delayed by 2 weeks from the 23rd November to the 7th December to improve on the quality of the game.
In the meantime, Square-Enix released the official ENDWALKER track via 7-inch vinyl and also upload the song to YouTube.
The motif for the song will be reused throughout the ENDWALKER expansion for different themes such as the battle theme, locations and other songs.
ENDWALKER is performed by the in-house band THE PRIMALS with vocals from Architects’ Sam Carter.
Lyrics:
Heart of ember, autumntide
Cooling swiftly, bleeding light
Smold’ring softly, biding time
Marching forward, left behindFire as shadows clash
Forgotten footfalls engraved in ash
Fire will be repaid
‘Fore our echoes begin to fadeFade away… Fade away…
Heart of ember, autumntide
Burning brightly, hot and white
Kindred severed neverwhere
Sorrow’s silence, we needn’t bearTumbling down to the never!
Every step we take
Echoes in our wake
Winding ’round our fate
To forge aheadShould we lose our way
Tire of all this pain
We won’t be afraid
To forge aheadFearless hearts ablaze
(When the world comes crumbling down)
No more time to waste
(Know I’ll be there)
No, it’s not too late
(Though our fleeting moment has gone)
To forge ahead
(You’re not–you’re not alone YEAH)As we ride again
(As you turn your eyes to the stars)
To another end
(Oh, I’ll be there)
Where it all begins
(With my chorus guiding you)
Forge ahead
(Forge ahead)
Tonight, I recorded my thoughts on the recent WWE Releases.
On this episode, I discuss the recent WWE Releases from November 4th. The releases were shortly made after their Q3 financial call.
Superstars releases:
At time of publication, there are no other releases.
Stay with https://padraig.blog for updates.
![[The JukeBox] #69 – Macross 82-99 – Horsey (feat. Sarah Bonito)](https://padraig.blog/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/macross8299-idolssakura.jpg)
Previous: #75 – knotlamp – LAST TRAIN
Nearly 2 years ago, I highlighted another Macross 82-99 song, Fun Tonight in Edition #59 and her we are back to highlight another brilliant tune.
This is the last track on their 2017 album, Idols, Sakura which is probably one of my favourite Future Funk albums of all time. All songs are great on the album, but it ends with a brilliant track that makes you want to replay it again and again.
Horsey features the vocals of Sarah Bonito. If that name seems a bit familiar with you, Sarah would be one of the members of Kero Kero Bonito. In fact, I have actually highlighted her most famous song Flamingo in Edition #56
If you don’t know that song but recognise the name still, she would have sang the theme tune for the Playstation 5 launch title, Bugsnax!
Horsey is a great beat and Sarah’s vocals accompany the track very very well. It has a great summer vibe and well deserves its spot on the album.
As with most Future Funk songs, the main melody of the song is sampled from T-Square’s Circuit Wanderer which was released in 1991 and was part of the “F-1 Grand Prix World” album a year later. From what I can tell, the album has no affiliation with the FIA Formula 1 World Championship but it would be pretty cool if it was.
English Lyrics:
Waking up early, throwing on clothes
Catching the same bus
Staring at the scenery outside
Driving past these concrete things
This used to be a jungle, I think and It’s crazy!
Humanity is amazing
A certain thought with meaning in
My daydreamJust remembered it’s 2014
Do you know what that really means?
Looking forward to this with joy
It’s the year of the horse that’s running freely
It’s actually the year of the sheep but
it’s it better if that’s a secret.
Aren’t I strange?
But I can’t get these images out of my headI saw a bit of it on T.V.
Hair swaying in wind
Running freely these beautiful horses
All together in a field no ending
That summer breeze
Unforgettable
Let me run with you
Let me run with you
I’m already running at the same time
Oh hell yeah I have a really good feelingWe’re not going anywhere
and tomorrow isn’t waiting for us
This life is boringSo I’m running
Yeah I’m running
Finally running
Yeah I’m running
RunningYeah so come run with me
Let’s be free
Don’t look back cause we are not coming back
No ones gonna ever catch me and ride me
Ride meYeah so come run with me
Let’s be free
Don’t look back cause we are not coming back
No ones gonna ever catch me and ride me
Ride me I’m that horse that I saw on TV
Spotify:
Apple Music:
Earlier today, Facebook head lizard, Mark Zuckerburg announced that the parent company for Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger and Oculus is now becoming ‘Meta’ as they double down in the Metaverse… meta.
Their idea is that they can bring a real world scenario (Like your home) into the Virtual world to the point where doing work with the power of moving windows with your fingers like they do in the movies is becoming a reality and not a cliché.
It doesn’t change the fact that Facebook are a scummy company. No changes to privacy or safety on the platform and this new ‘horizon’ gimmick is nothing more than them announcing they are doubling down on the invasion of privacy and safety.
A scary future to say the least.
![[The Jukebox] #68 – knotlamp LAST TRAIN](https://padraig.blog/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/itschXB4mH.png)
I’m sure by now a lot of readers of this blog know that I enjoy anime. One of those anime’s being Yu-Gi-Oh! I have been a fan of the franchise for the longest time now and outside of the original series, I am a big fan of 5D’s which ran from April 2008 until March 2011.
Season 2 of the show started in October of 2008 and it featured 2 great tracks which were used for the Opening and Ending of the anime.
The ‘Ending’, CROSS GAME by Alice Nine is by far one of my favourite tracks of all time… and I am surprised while searching this evening, that I have never covered Alice Nine on The Jukebox… (Please see the footnote at the bottom for more about The JukeBox and its future)
LAST TRAIN along with CROSS GAME became the catalyst in my fascination with Visual Kei music from Japan. I remember that I downloaded LAST TRAIN along with CROSS GAME (and it’s album Vandalize) and I would listen to it constantly on repeat… on a near daily basis.
There isn’t a lot of English information about knotlamp but from translation of their Japanese Wikipedia entry: knotlamp was a rock band from Fukuoku Prefecture, Japan who were active between 2000 and 2013.
They were signed to Run Run Run Records until 2012 before moving to Imperial Records. Their discography is a bit bare as the band has had 4 EP’s and 1 ‘Mini album’ which was released in 2006.
As previously mentioned, knotlamp’s LAST TRAIN was used for Yu-Gi-Oh!, but they also had a song used for another anime Ginga e Kickoff!!
A ‘Best of’ album titled “MY PROLOGUE” was released in January 2014 which reached #183 in the Oricon Album Charts.
Anime Intro:
Official Video:
Spotify:
Apple Music:
Lyrics (English):
Today’s the day to carry out a plan.
I’ll finally escape from my saturated life today
I don’t know what is going on today
But somehow I feel that my answer isn’t hereThough I don’t know how my life will end,
I never wanna be a slave
‘Cause there is always the chance to change
I guess it’s up to youI’m trying to be a better person
I will get on the train
I don’t wanna become a slave
I will live for myselfI’m trying to be another me
‘Cause I won’t lose my life
My life will succeed I’ll reach my goal yeaI try to smile but I can’t remember how
I don’t know please tell me, how’d
I become so Jaded?
Sometimes I feel like I might be dead soon
But I know that it gave me something to believeThough I don’t know how my life will end
I never wanna be a slave
‘Cause there is always the chance to change
I guess it’s up to youI’m trying to be a better person
I will get on the train
I don’t wanna become a slave
I will live for myselfI’m trying to be another me
‘Cause I won’t lose my life
My life will succeed I’ll reach my goalI’m waiting for my dawn
I’m dreaming of freedom
Nobody Knows my worries
No need to understand meI wanna get this small freedom
I break away my worries
It’s time to say goodbye
I’m not afraid of youI need to walk away
‘Cause I don’t wanna be a liar
If I cannot live my life,
I am as good as deadI’m trying to be a better person
I will get on the train
I don’t wanna become a slave
I will live for myselfI’m trying to be another me
‘Cause I won’t lose my life
My life will succeed
I’ll reach my goal yeaMy new story My life is just about to start
I’m trying to be a better person
I will get on the train
I don’t wanna become a slaveI will live for myself
I’m trying to be another me
‘Cause I won’t lose my life
My life will succeed I’ll reach my goal
Lyrics (Romanji):
tooku kanata o miwatashite
tanjyun ni shikai no semai kotokitzuita
jibun suteru hou ga raku demo
saidaigen taetemitai to omotta
kyou ga donna dame na hi demo
wazukana hikari o
asu wa mada asu no jibun de
tomoseba ii
togirenai you ni
kienai you ni
jibun o tashikamete
kazoe kirenai hodokizutsuitemo
tashikana ashita ga kuru you ni tonegatte hashiru
nido to nai kyou o
nani ka no seinishinagara
soyatte susumenai jibun danmai ni shite
kokoshikanai shunkandatte
mouzutto muda ni shite kitakedo
warai sugoshitai tsukamo
nai teta kinou mo
kuru asa wa itsumo onaji de
tada hitotsu datta
tomaranai you ni
taenai you ni
jibun ni toikakete
asu o ushinatte mo jibun no seidarou
nido wa nai kyou o dou ikiru no mo jyuu dakara
sonna koukainai jinsei o
It’s time to say goodbye
I’m not afraid of you
I need to walk away
‘Cause I don’t wanna be a liar
If I cannot live my life
I am as good as dead
togirenai you ni
kienai you ni
jibun o tashikamete
kazoe kirenai hodokizutsuitemo
tashikana ashita ga kuru you ni tonegatte hashiru
nido to nai kyou o
(It’s just about to start)
tomaranai you ni
taenai you ni
jibun ni toikakete
asu o ushinatte mo jibun no seidarou
nido wa nai kyou o dou ikiru no mo jyuu dakara
sonna koukainai jinsei o
sonna koukainai jinsei o
togirenai you ni kienai you ni
The JukeBox has been a staple of this blog, sharing the music, the lyrics and in more recent times, the background to the songs that I highlight and it has been very fun. In my searching for ‘Alice Nine’ posts that I have done, it turns out that I haven’t actually written any posts about Alice Nine on The JukeBox.
This sent me on a rabbit hole. I know I changed the name of “MusicLyricFriday” (or MusicLyricMonday) to The JukeBox back in 2012. Unfortunately, what I deemed to be S1 or even S2 of these posts are lost to time… I believe they were on an old Tumblr blog which is now gone.
So I figured out how many JukeBox posts I have made since S3 up to this one today and it would be: #74
I’ll be switching the numbering scheme started with the next post #75 and I will be working to retroactively tagging the old posts under The JukeBox tag so they can all be found easier. I could guesstimate how many posts were missing but I’d say it must have been an handful.
Oh well.
EDIT: 20th February 2022 – I have figured it out.
Back on an old WordPress that I had when I was 17 which is still live at https://padraigfahy.wordpress.com – I had 2 album reviews, and something in the back of my head was that they were my first 2 album reviews and I had made them their own series to ‘bump the numbers’.
The number for this one should be 94 or something, but given S1 and S2 were just 2 posts, I am removing 28 (30 songs from both albums minus the number of posts) which makes this post number 67!