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SUN_BLAST

                                             May 9, 2007

One of the oddities
of "Macross Seven":                                                  
a relentless focus    ("Aim for          And this produces an instant         
on the *positive*,    the light!")       revulsion in the typical hipster     
the up-beat, the                         sensibility --                       
energizing...                                                                 
                                            LIGHT_AND_DARKNESS                                  
  This seems like a very                                                      
  rigid doctrine about                                                       
  what music is supposed                   
  to be about.

    "the liar sings a sad song of surrender/
     no thanks! that's no help at all..."             Is there
                                                      never truth
                                                      in sadness?
There's a point where the lead
vocalist (Basarra) has gone off
by himself, singing some quiet,
melancholy song, and he gets
angry with himself about it:

  "Is that the kind of feeling
   I put into my song?!"

So: music is supposed
to engergize you,
inspire you to go on...     They fear that wallowing in
                            sadness will drag them down:
Hence the incessant         they're scared of their shadows.
major chords, the
bouncey, bouncey beats
that make the sound                      BRAIN_PULP
track so abrasive.
                           SCREWTAPE
   What's interesting
   here is that the
   apparent goal is not                 Note: in later episodes they do
   quite "entertainment".               introduce some slower songs:

     They want to push                                        "I want to meet
     you forward:                                             the one I can
                                                              share this
       "Holy Lonely Night!                                    sadness with."
        Hurry up! Believe in yourself!
        Find your answer"

                   Listening to that
                   song, I gather
                   that the Japanese         (The word "night"
                   words for "holy           appears to be
                   lonely" are only          in English.)
                   two syllables.

                   I suspect it's an awkward
                   translation of a more elegant
                   phrase-- it seems odd at
                   first, but it's not really
                   that strange.

                        It suggests                    To do the song in
                        mountain tops                  English, you could
                        or monasteries.                alternate between
                                                       the two phrases
                        Lonliness and holiness         "holy" and "lonely",
                        often go together.             or perhaps have
                                                       a chorus sing them
                                                       simultaneously.

                                                           Or look for
                                                           a different
                                                           phrase?


                                                           "Sacred night"





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