Death is a normal thing (2003)

 

Art of Life - X JAPAN:

Desert Rose
why do you live alone
if you are sad
I'll make you leave this life
are you white blue or bloody red
all I can see is drowning in cold grey sand

The winds of time
you knock me to the ground
I'm dying of thirst
I wanna run away
I dont know how to set me free to live
my mind cries out feeling pain

I've been roaming to find myself
how long have I been feeling endless hurt
falling down rain flows into my heart
in the pain I'm waiting for you
can't go back
no place to go back to
life is lost. Flowers fall
if its all dreams
now wake me up
If its all real
just kill me

I'm making the wall inside my heart
I don't wanna let my emotions get out
it scares me to look at the world
don't want to find myself lost in your eyes
I've tried to drown my past in grey
I never wanna feel more pain
run away from you without saying any words
what I dont wanna lose is love

Through my eyes time goes by like tears
my emotions losing the color of life
kill my heart
release all my pain
I'm shouting out loud
insanity takes hold over of me

Turning away from the wall
nothing I can see
the scream deep inside
reflecting another person in my heart
he calls me from within
"All existance you see before you must be wiped out:
Dream, Reality, Memories
and yourself"

I begin to lose control of myself
my lust is so blind, destroys my mind
nobody can stop my turning to madness
no matter how you try to hold me in your heart
why do you wanna raise these walls
I dont know the meaning of hatred
my brain gets blown away hearing the words of lies
I only want to hold your love

Stab the dolls filled with hate
wash your self in their blood
drive to the raging current of time
swing your murderous weapon into the belly
"the earth"
shout and start creating confusion
shed your blood for pleasure
and what? For love?
what am I supossed to do?

I believe in the madness called "Now"
past and future prison my heart
time is Blind
but I wanna trace my love
on the walls of time over pain in my heart

Art of life
insane blade stabbing dreams
try to break the truth now
but I can't heal this broken heart in pain
cannot start to live, cannot end my life
keep on crying

Close my eyes
time breathes I can hear
all love and sadness melt in my heart
dry my tears
wipe my bloody face
I wanna feel me living my life outside my walls

You can't DRAW A PICTURE of yesterday, so
you're painting your heart with your blood
you can't say "No"
only turning the wheel of time
with a rope around your neck
you build a wall of mortality and take a breath
from between the bricks
you make up imaginary enemies and are chased by them
you're trying to commit suicide
you're satisfied with your prologue
now your painting your first chapter black
you are putting the scraps of life together
and trying to make an asylum for yourself
you're hitting a bell at the edge of the stage and
you are trying to kill me

I believe in the madness called "Now"
time goes flowing, breaking my heart
wanna live
can't let my heart kill myself
still I haven't found what I'm looking for

Art of life
I try to stop myself
but my heart goes to destroying the truth
tell me why
I want the meaning of my life
do I try to live, do I try to love
in my dream

I'm breaking the wall inside my heart
I just wanna let my emotions get out
nobody can stop
I'm running to freedom
no matter how you try to hold me in your world
like a doll carried by the flow of time
I sacrificed the present moment for the future
I was inchains of memory half-blinded
losing my heart, walking in the sea of dreams

Close my eyes
rose breathes I can hear
all love and sadness melt in my heart
dry my tears
wipe my bloody face
I wanna feel me living my life
outside my mind

Dreams can make me mad
I can't leave my dream
I can't stop myself
don't know what I am
what lies are truth?
what truths are lies?

I believe in the madness called "Now"
time goes flowing breaking my heart
wanna live
can't let my heart kill myself
still I havent found what I'm looking for

Art of life
I try to stop myself
but my heart goes to destroying the truth
tell me why
I want the meaning of my life
do I try to live, do I try to love

Art of life
an Eternal Bleeding Heart
you never wanna breath you last
wanna live
can't let my heart kill myself
still I'm feeling for
a rose is breathing love
in my life
***

Although "pain" is something of the past, it will never really fade. In the past issue, we talked about the release of the Art of Life DVD. This time, we bring you a telephone-interview with Yoshiki-san, ex-drummer and leader of X Japan about the Art of Life DVD, film gigs, the LAST LIVE, and hide-san. Although everything is of the past, the feeling remains the same.

>>>This time, you didn't watched the DVD that was released, right? Don't you want to watch it?

I didn't bring it with me (I think he's in LA right now-D.T.), the DVD system in Japan is different from here, so I can't watch it.

>>>About the history of the song, Art of Life, when you decided to write it, it was pretty sudden right?

I have always wanted to write a complicated song that lasted 30 minutes. But I've always thought that there was no way I could play it live. However, in the end, we decided to play it live at Tokyo Dome but we stil hadn't thought of how to do it. I had to talk to hide about the concert and concluded that we would definitely play it live. When I told the other band members about this they all made a woeful face and it was obvious that they did not like the plan one bit. 

I understood that because the song is hard to play and it is very very long. Actually, I thought that we would play the song in the middle of a concert but in the end, just playing Art of Life alone tired us out very much.

>>>The rehearsal must've been very hard.

We were all very busy, and practiced very hard.

>>>The real rehearal must've been even worse.

No one barely moved. Usually in an X live we would be very lively, but this time everyone was completely still *laughs* It was the first time that at the beginning of a song, everyone was quiet and serious. But after it was over, everyone's expression changed to "relief." They were all very happy to have finished. In the real rehearsal, the guitar lines were perfect, TOSHI's singing was so great as if there was nothing he couldn't do. I remember when we played Art of Life, I was very happy. Even if everyone didn't want to play one long song, they played it anyways. I don't know why was that. *laughs*

>>>The live must've been very strenuous.

If you don't listen to the song often, you probably won't understand why it was that way. But if you listen to it many times, you would think that it was a weird song with many odd mistakes. You'd ask yourself, "huh? isn't this part kind of weird?" I tried to fix those problems 3 times, and completely rewrote the song another 3 times, but the reactions were still the same. Because what was weird was just this one note. I think that everyone was very tense on the day of the live.

>>>The singing for this song is also high.

Yes, it is. In the other X songs, TOSHI would usually be the one to arrange the singing himself. Therefore, he would be able to change the key to make it lower or higher for himself. But because there was an orchestra in this song, it wasn't as easy to change the keys. It was especially hard for TOSHI to sing it live, because it actually took 8 months to record the song on to CD. I remember that TOSHI had long hair back then. When I watched him in the DVD, I thought "Hey...That's TOSHI." Everyone else's hair was also long.

>>>Back then you were very slender and wore red lipstick.

The red lipstick has meaning, you know.

>>>Eh? Really?

Yes! It means death.

>>>Then this song must be very important to you.

For me...I think it's over.

>>>The CD cover for this song, half of it is your face.

It'd be easier if you looked at the back of it. The mood I had when I was writing the song was the desire to die. Therefore, the lyrics was that of a person who wanted to die, it only talks about death, it talks about committing suicide unsuccessfully.

>>>But in the end, (in the song), you couldn't kill youself because you "wanna live."

That was the feeling deep in my heart that I wanted to express.

>>>Why did you choose to write that type of song?

Because when everyone listens to it, they'll know right away that Art of Life is an X song. In reality, all of X songs has something to do with death.

>>>You never felt depressed writing it?

The lyrics in my new project, VIOLET UK, are even worse.

>>>Are they in English?

I feel that when I write in English, it can be more straightforward. Therefore, all my songs are in English.

>>>So, in conclusion, it took you about 3 years to finish Art of life right?

That time, we moved companies - from SONY to Atlandtic so it was a very hectic time.

>>>But no matter what, all your memories remained in your head right? (uh..this is a weird question -D.T.)

My feelings now? Even if I'm working on X, even if I release a DVD, all that's in my head is really about VIOLET UK.

>>>Hm...and how about the guitar lines? For the guitar solos, you decided who would play which part right?

It was like that for Art of Life. Because that was how hide worked.

>>>You can really tell that it's a guitar solo of X.

hide put all his effort into it.

>>>The melody and the base line is all X.

Yes.

>>>Can you say that this was the peak of X's greatness?

This song, for X Japan, has the same feeling of when we released our first CD.

>>>How did you feel when you went into the recording booth?

I thought that I would put in all my effort, and would produce to the best of my abilities. Because since the album, VANISHING VISION (indies album released in 1988), I gave it all my effort. But I was never as tired as when we recorded Art of Life. I had to take care of everything so when I was the producer there was nothing special that I wanted to do. I actually wanted someone else to do it, but I never found anyone to my liking. So in the end, I took care of everything until it was done.

>>>Because one who understands rock, classic, and orchestra is very rare to find, right?

X is a band that does classical music, but because it's kind of a weird band it's very hard to find a balance.

>>>Therefore you like to do lives better?

I like lives because it's X.

>>>You've become so good at English, are you still taking lessons?

Oh yes, I still take many lessons because I don't want to have any regrets *laughs* I want to learn as much as possible.

>>>Finally, what kind of work are you doing at the moment?

Right now the DVD classic concert is finished, and it's being remixed right now. I intend to do an orchestra version too. I want to make Eternal Melody II because I want to surprise everyone. When the time comes, you'll understand when you listen to it.

THE END.

 Zdroj:https://atrandum.livejournal.com/tag/interview%20translation:%20yoshiki