Cinderella / shinderera / シンデレラ : “Cinderella”
Cinderella: Oku Hanako’s 12th single, released on January 11, 2011. The fun and upbeat feel of this song is almost deceiving: this is a sad love song (almost made me cry reading the translation, actually; yes, there’s a translation available at the end of this post). Even Oku Hanako says so: 「歌詞は切ないけど、曲は明るく。」 (“The lyrics are sad, but the song is bright”). The speaker likens herself to Cinderella in that she had a man who truly loved her, but she still chose to break up the relationship anyway for whatever small reason (perhaps accidentally, in this case?).
シンデレラ／奥 華子 by ponycanyon [YouTube]
Quite the video, I must say. She plays the piano in the cold (her fingers got really cold) and the scenes even match up with the lyrics.
There’s a slightly different feel to it when you know what the song says (perhaps not so different if you’re already familiar with Hana-san’s style). Her tone of voice and the strings add that touch of sadness that the song conveys. On top of that, the almost-bright feel to the song can be representative of the fun times the speaker had with her lover, and may also suggest that things will work out in the future. Overall, well done!
The team involved in the Cinderella music video.
Lyrics
Roumaji
Aoi kumo wo mita kaerimichi omoi uchiaketa ano hi kara
Atashi no shiawase no basho wa anata no tonari ni natta
Otagai no namae wo yobikata mo te no tsunagikata mo gikochinakute
Sonna koro ga natsukashii hodo zutto issho ni ita yo ne
Sukisugite kurushikunatte shinjitai no ni utagatte
“Wakareyou” tte itta no wa
“Wakaretakunai” tte kotoba ga kikitakatta dake na no ni
Ima made arigatou hontou ni daisuki datta yo nante
Joudan ieru anata janaitte shitteru kara
Atashi wa totsuzen mahou ga toketa SHINDERERA mitai
Ima wa mada omoide ni dekinai
Osoroi no MAGU KAPPU mo zenbu futari de eranda mono dakedo
Suki to iu kimochi to issho ni anata ga oite itta mono
Nemurenakute nakitsukarete mou ichido dake aitakute
Henji wo matsu atashi no te ni
“Shinchaku MEERU wa arimasen” no moji dake hikatteru
Anata ni deaete hontou ni shiawase datta yo nante
Egao de ieru atashi ni ima wa narenai kedo
Taisetsu na mono wo wasurete shimatta SHINDERERA mitai
GARASU no kutsu ja atashi wa arukenai
Anata to sugoshita subete ga taisetsu datta yo zutto
Kenka shita hi mo atashi no soba ni ite kureta ne
Ima made arigatou hontou ni daisuki datta yo zutto
Egao de ieru atashi ni natte miseru kara
Atashi wa totsuzen mahou ga toketa SHINDERERA mitai
Futari no hibi ga omoide ni natte iku
From JpopAsia
Japanese
青い雲を見た帰り道 想い打ち明けたあの日から
あたしの幸せの場所は あなたの隣りになった
お互いの名前の呼び方も 手の繋ぎ方も ぎこちなくて
そんな頃が懐かしいほど ずっと一緒にいたよね
好きすぎて苦しくなって 信じたいのに疑って
「別れよう」って言ったのは
「別れたくない」って言葉が聞きたかっただけなのに
今まで有難う 本当に大好きだったよなんて
冗談言える あなたじゃないって知ってるから
あたしは突然 魔法が解けたシンデレラみたい
今はまだ 思い出にできない
お揃いのマグカップも全部 二人で選んだ物だけど
好きという気持ちと一緒に あなたが置いていった物
眠れなくて泣き疲れて もう一度だけ会いたくて
返事を待つ あたしの手に
「新着メールはありません」の文字だけ 光ってる
あなたに出会えて 本当に幸せだったよなんて
笑顔で言える あたしに今はなれないけど
大切なものを 忘れてしまったシンデレラみたい
ガラスの靴じゃ あたしは歩けない
あなたと過ごした全てが大切だったよずっと
喧嘩した日も あたしのそばにいてくれたね
今までありがとう 本当に大好きだったよずっと
笑顔で言える あたしになってみせるから
あたしは突然 魔法が解けたシンデレラみたい
二人の日々が 思い出になってく
From okuhanako.net
Translation
On my way home when I saw pale clouds
Ever since that day when I confessed my feelings
My place of happiness
Became by your side
The way we called each other’s names
And the way we held hands were awkward
Those times were so precious to me
That we were always together
I loved you too much that it became painful
Even though I wanted to believe you, I had doubts
I said “Let’s break up” because
I only wanted to hear the words “I don’t want to break up with you”
“Thank you for everything until now, I truly loved you”
Because I know you weren’t joking when you said that
I am like Cinderella when the spell suddenly ended
Even now, I still can’t turn it into a memory
Everything, even matching mugs
Were things we chose together
But along with the feeling called “love”
They were things you left behind
I can’t sleep, I’m tired of crying
I want to see you just once more
As I wait for an answer, in my hands
Only the words saying that I have no new emails are glowing
I was truly happy to have met you
But right now I can’t become the me who can say it with a smile
I am like Cinderella who forgot something precious
Without glass slippers, I can’t walk forward
All of the time I spent with you was always precious to me
Stay by my side even on days when we fight, okay?
“Thank you for everything until now, I always truly loved you”
Because I will show you when I become able to say it with a smile
I am like Cinderella when the spell suddenly ended
The times we spent together become memories
Translation by kazabana (modified slightly)
11 thoughts on “Cinderella / シンデレラ”
What are your thoughts on Oku Hanako?
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Thoughts on Oku Hanako 
I hope that it is not “GOODBYE” but will Hanako Oku change musical direction?
I really hope not, at least, not too much and not for the worse. She’s gone back to wearing red glasses, at least.
I’m sure we can keep counting on her to write and compose her own songs, and as long as she does that, she won’t stray too far.
I can see why you’d think that, though. Utakata / うたかた (2010) was notably different than her previous albums, especially with the deep pitches of Utakata / 泡沫 and Puzzle / パズル (especially Puzzle; it’s almost scary that she can do that). good-bye used more synth instrumentation than her other albums and overall had a more upbeat feel, almost like it wasn’t her. I have about a quarter to a third of that album left which I’m still struggling to appreciate (although Futari Kinenbi / 二人記念日 is starting to grow on me…). Sure, some of the elements used in good-bye may have been used in previous songs (you can hear voice layering as far back as ta.la.la [2004]).
BUT, all her albums have a distinct sound: with a few exceptions, I can tell if a song is from Utakata, Koi Tegami, or Yasashii Hana no Saku Basho just by the sound, to give some examples. With that in mind, although it may have some remnants of good-bye, her next album will have a different feel to it.
When she started her career back in 2004, according to her history pages, she actually didn’t want to do arranged songs. Having said that, we might expect less piano hikigatari on her albums, and by that, I mean purely just her and her keyboard without any background arrangement. According to an old blog post, she tried her hand at arranging back in 2008 for Anata ni Suki to Iwaretai and she found it fun. In the end, she wasn’t the one who arranged the song, but she has arranged some of her later works. Would you believe that Garasu no Hana was arranged by Oku-san herself?
So, I don’t think she’ll change her musical direction significantly, but if she does, it’ll be authentic.
Again a non-musical observation: I think that she has a great, MATURE look in this video. Perhaps this reflects her musical evolution. In most Oku performance vids, she wears “teenage” type clothes (often an Amercan-pop-culture T-shirt). I know that she is bundled up for winter, but I love that skirt, and overcoat. She looks more sophisticated, intelligent and mature. I’m trying to figure out her coat pins. She wears these same ones for the DVD video to support the “Goodbye” album tour. There is some type of gauge (barometer or thermometer?), what looks like candy-in-a-wrapper, and a round pin I cannot make out what it says. Overall, this is a great video, in all possible ways.
I’d attribute the mature look partly to her square black glasses, too. We’re used to seeing her with trademark round red glasses, and her black glasses add that subtle change. Black/grey and square corners are often subconsciously associated with older things (compare Windows 95 to Windows 7 and Mac OS X, for example), so it gives her a more mature look.
About her concerts, I never understood why she wore those pants that she does. Nothing wrong with them, of course.
Huh, I’ve never noticed those pins. I wonder what significance they bear. There’s a really good view after 2:45, and I stepped through it frame by frame. It looks like it has a panda wearing a green/white striped shirt or scarf and maybe three white characters on a red background, but apart from that, I can’t make anything out either.
Non-Musical comment: Even though it may go against my “Middle-aged-married-men-are-not-interested-in-good-looking-pop -stars” theory*, I will have to say that Hanako Oku-san looks very, very pretty in this video. At time 2:38 Oku-san has her scarf adjusted, at time 2:40 she looks up and smiles … at time 2:42 … I swoon, faint, fall over … you probably heard the thud.
* Is only a theory (like gravity).
Same here, Denny, same here.
SUPER! Yes, one of my favorite songs and videos. I had bought the CD album and the (6-track) CD single last year. Thank you for finding a lyrical translation of one of my favorite Oku songs. I tried to find English lyrics last year, but gave up. (Keep an eye on that source.) I loved the music and singing, even if I could not understand lyrics in Japanese. I agree the video matches the song very well. I hope that Hanako Oku and her record company continue to make videos like these. I will never be able to completely understand the song lyrics/meaning, but that is OK.
You’re very welcome! That’s what this is here for.
This video stands out to me because almost all—if not all, because I can’t find the video for Tegami—of her other videos switch between her playing the keyboard and her walking around. An exception would be the video for Hatsukoi, and of course, I’ll never understand why she’s sleeping in the piano for Garnet.