Christmas no Yoru / KURISUMASU no Yoru / クリスマスの夜: “Christmas Night”
- kurisumasu / クリスマス
- “Christmas”
- no / の
- A particle indicating modification
- yoru / 夜
- A particle indicating modification
It’s a little late, but Merry Christmas! It’s been a few months since my last post, so I hope this post will do as a Christmas present… or a New Year’s present, if you prefer.
I somehow missed the announcement that Oku Hanako was going to release a digital single. Christmas no Yoru / クリスマスの夜 was released about a month ago on November 26.
Christmas no Yoru cover art
To my knowledge, this is the third original Christmas songs that she has done, with the previous two being Santa ni Negai wo / サンタに願いを and Boku no Christmas / 僕のクリスマス. In addition, she sang Silent Night during one of her concerts.
Luckily for us, Pony Canyon released a full lyric video for the song. Here it is:
奥華子／クリスマスの夜（FULL Ver.）【リリックムービー】 by ponycanyon [YouTube]
At first listen, I thought this was going to be a happy, heartwarming song, especially because of the line “boku wa kimi ga suki da yo” / 僕は君が好きだよ (“I love you”), but I realized I was mistaken as I was translating it. Nope, this is Oku Hanako we’re talking about: of course it’s not going to be a happy love song. I have a translation for you to read, along with my translation notes.
From a musical perspective, this song doesn’t seem to feature much piano. Yes, there is some, but it isn’t featured prominently.
The interlude seems to take inspiration from Pachelbel’s Canon. It’s everywhere, but it’s fitting for this song.
The song sounds a bit generic, but it’s also very solid, and the more I listen to it, the more it sounds distinctly Oku Hanako, even if the piano is not a big focus.
Thoughts on Oku Hanako 