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, Sokenisgreat!
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 behind
Fire as shadows clash Forgotten footfalls engraved in ash Fire will be repaid ‘Fore our echoes begin to fade
Fade away… Fade away…
Heart of ember, autumntide Burning brightly, hot and white Kindred severed neverwhere Sorrow’s silence, we needn’t bear
Tumbling down to the never!
Every step we take Echoes in our wake Winding ’round our fate To forge ahead
Should we lose our way Tire of all this pain We won’t be afraid To forge ahead
Fearless 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)
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.
Around 1:14 is where Horsey takes it’s sample from
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 daydream
Just 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 head
I 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 feeling
We’re not going anywhere and tomorrow isn’t waiting for us This life is boring
Yeah 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
Yeah 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
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.
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.
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 here
Though 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 you
I’m trying to be a better person I will get on the train I don’t wanna become a slave I 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 yea
I 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 believe
Though 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 you
I’m trying to be a better person I will get on the train I don’t wanna become a slave I 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
I’m waiting for my dawn I’m dreaming of freedom Nobody Knows my worries No need to understand me
I wanna get this small freedom I break away my worries 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
I’m trying to be a better person I will get on the train I don’t wanna become a slave I 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 yea
My 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 slave
I 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!
While listening to some Citypop, a track that seems to be on every playlist that I have on Spotify is ANRI’s I CAN’T STOP THE LONELINESS from her 7th album Timely!!
ANRI (Real name ‘Eiko Kawashima’) is a singer-songwriter from Yamato, Japan who has been releasing music since her 1978 album “Apricot Jam” and continues to this day with her latest being her 2018 self-titled album release.
I CAN’T STOP THE LONELINESS was Kawashima’s 2nd hit single. Her first being “Cat’s Eye” which was used as the opening song for the anime of the same name.
Cat’s Eye Intro
The songs were released the same year but I CAN’T STOP THE LONELINESS only managed to get to #4 in the Oricon charts. Cat’s Eye would be reach #1 for 5 straight weeks.
Generally with Citypop (Or Japanese) content, trying to get legal ways of listening to the music can be tricky… but not for Anri! All of her music is available on Spotify (in Ireland at the very least)
I just wished that other labels would do the same with Japanese music. Yeah, we might not be able to understand or translate the names, but at least we can listen to it.
Anyway, enough ranting about that… I do enough of that on Twitter 😉
Live Performance:
Studio Recording:
Lyrics:
JAPANESE (Romanji):
I CAN’T STOP THE LONELINESS Koraekirezu kanashimi ga tomaranai
I CAN’T STOP THE LONELINESS Doushite na no kanashimi ga tomaranai
Anata ni kanojo Awaseta koto wo watashi ima mo Koyande iru Futari wa SHINPASHII kanjiteta Hiru sagari no KYAFETERASU
Ano hi denwa ga Fui ni natta no Ano hito to wakarete to kanojo kara
I CAN’T STOP THE LONELINESS Doushite na no kanashimi ga tomaranai
Gokai da yotte anata wa warau dakedo KISSU wa Uso no nioi Dakishimerarete kizuita no Ai ga koko ni nai koto wo
Koi wa chiisana Arashi mitai ni Tomodachi mo koibito mo ubatte
I CAN’T STOP THE LONELINESS Kare wo kaeshite kanashimi ga tomaranai
I CAN’T STOP THE LONELINESS Dare ka tasukete kanashimi ga tomaranai
I CAN’T STOP THE LONELINESS Koraekirezu kanashimi ga tomaranai
I CAN’T STOP THE LONELINESS Doushite na no kanashimi ga tomaranai
ENGLISH: I can’t stop the loneliness On and on without end This sadness won’t stop I can’t stop the loneliness Why won’t the sadness stop
I still regret when you met her You two made a connection That afternoon on the cafe terrace
Later that day the phone rang suddenly It was her telling me to break up with you
I can’t stop the loneliness Why won’t the sadness stop
You said it was a misunderstanding and smiled But your kiss felt like a lie And while you were hugging me I felt no love
Love is like a small storm Both friends and lovers get swept up by it
I can’t stop the loneliness Please give him back The sadness won’t stop I can’t stop the loneliness Someone help me The sadness won’t stop
I can’t stop the loneliness On and on without end This sadness won’t stop I can’t stop the loneliness Why won’t the sadness stop
![[The Jukebox] #70 – Masayoshi Soken – ENDWALKER](https://padraig.blog/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/endwalkertheme.jpg)
![[The JukeBox] #69 – Macross 82-99 – Horsey (feat. Sarah Bonito)](https://padraig.blog/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/macross8299-idolssakura.jpg)
![[The Jukebox] #68 – knotlamp LAST TRAIN](https://padraig.blog/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/itschXB4mH.png)
![[The Jukebox] #67 – ANRI – 悲しいがとまらない I CAN’T STOP THE LONELINESS](https://padraig.blog/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/anri-timely.png)