mercredi 31 octobre 2018

EZ Do Dance (Eng)

Launched on the 21st of June 1993 by the Major Avex, the 2nd single of trf which has got indeed what it takes to become a summer hit, will end as a million seller and will ignite the career of the band led in backstage by the great Tetsuya Komuro.

EZ Do Dance

Dance for dummies ?




1st publication : 31/10/2018
Last updated: 31/10/2018



Story


In the beginning of the 90s, Avex has got indeed among its employees a talented musician and songwriter, Tetsuya Komuro (小室 哲哉), who wants to try the new occidental sensation which is called dance house. It is for him that Avex creates trf, after a few months of tests by recycling in particular some members from units who where animating a TV show about urban dance: ZOO and MEGA-MIX. Like the first one, trf will thus be formed by a songstress and dancers, plus a DJ.
"TK", as he is nicknamed, doesn't take part in this new band but produce them and supply them with his compositions, including this 2nd single, EZ Do Dance.

The clip stays sober due to a limited budget for this musical experience and it dispays nearly only the singer YU-KI. Yet, experimented in dance through her participation in ZOO, she explodes the screen with her charisma and vitality, swinging her hips energetically dressed in a simple bandeau bra and mini-short most of the time, sometimes in a top crop and trousers (all in white in front of a... white background) ! The other dancers appear briefly, most of the time as a shadow play (the 3 official ones plus backdancers sometimes), un bit like the famous song by ZOOChoo Choo Train. Interviewed for the 10th anniversary of the release, Komuro says he doesn't even remember if and when DJ KOO appears among them... The whole features texts (title, lyrics in romaji) which seem made from a WordArt soft of that era 😅! Costumes were sponsorized by the famous department store 109 at Shibuya.

The lyrics are framed by a rap intro and bridge in English by DJ KOO, which are not written in the booklet or karaoke in general. The song appears thus nearly as Eurodance, and owns the same beat, which led the dancer SAM at first listening that nobody can dance on that ! However they accept the challenge and the video even wins an Award at the 35th Japan Records Association event (guess the costume had some influence too... 😜). Komuro explained that the lyrics where globally a call to the potential dancers who where staying away from the spotlights but without particular meaning, some punchlines without relationship between each ohters, and that its music was a mix of his J-Pop with the music aired at the night-club Juliana's Tokyo (active between 1991 and 1994).

Probably due to a small promo budget, the single does not get high at first, reaching a best  the 15th rank of the weekly Oricon charts, but its fame grows throughout the summer nights, and as a BGM for a commercial, and it finally reaches nearly 800 000 units by the end of 1993, passing the million some time later, in particular through a 12cm reedition in November 2006.


Music Video

I insert below the very 1st version of the song (1993, trf). Other links by other bands can be found in the Main Performers part... You may easily find too a more recent live performance by TRF.





Lyrics and romaji

Source: M-On TV. In brackets, DJ part. 

(Three, Two, One, Break dance !
Do dance! Get the rave. 
X-T-C of trf. 
I can hear my voice. 
Get down ! Just the rave. 
Over night trf. 
EZ DO DANCE)

I can hear my voice 今始まる
I can hear my voice ima hajimaru
Midnight time から この場所で
Midnight time kara kono basho de
行くあてが 同じ仲間と 全ての嘘 脱ぎさる。
Yuku ate ga onaji nakama to subete no uso nugisaru.
何もなくて 道もなくて 踊る君はどこから
Nani mo nakute, michi mo nakute Odoru kimi wa doko kara
逃げて行くの?去ってゆくの?不思議な程まぶしい
Nigete yuku no ? Satte yuku no ? Fushigina hodo mabushii
誘う夢語り合って 傷なめ合ってる* 堕天使
Sasou yume katari atte, kizu nameatteru* datenshi
Easy Go Easy Go 笑顔だけ
Easy go Easy go egao dake 
ひとときの輪をつなぐ**よ
hitotoki no wa wo tsunagu** yo

I've got a feeling 突きぬけてく***
I've got a feeling Tsukinuketeku***
街が目、醒ますころ
Machi ga me samasu koro
朝焼けにくちづけてる 波も抱きしめてる
Asayake ni kuchizuketeru, nami mo dakishimeteru
EZ Do Dance EZ Do Dance 踊る君を見てる
EZ do dance EZ do dance ! Odoru kimi wo miteru
EZ Do Dance EZ Do Dance 君だけを見ている
EZ do dance EZ do dance ! Kimi dake wo miteiru

(Three, Two, One, Break dance !)

欲しいものは いつだって 不意に襲う偶然
Hoshii mono wa itsudatte fui ni osou guzen
見えない明日 突然に、めぐりあえる ときめき
Mienai asu totsuzen ni, meguriaeru tokimeki
午前5時 永遠のルール 変わる瞬間
Gozen go ji eien no... RULE kawaru shunkan
きっときっと愛なんて 呼べるものじゃないけど
Kitto kitto ai nante yoberu mono janai kedo

I've got a feeling 突きぬけてく
I've got a feeling Tsukinuketeku
街が目、醒ますころ
Machi ga me samasu koro
朝焼けにくちづけてる 波も抱きしめてる
Asayake ni kuchizuketeru, nami mo dakishimeteru
EZ Do Dance EZ Do Dance 踊る君を見てる
EZ do dance EZ do dance ! Odoru kimi wo miteru
EZ Do Dance EZ Do Dance 君だけを見ている
EZ do dance EZ do dance ! Kimi dake wo miteiru

Three, Two, One, Break dance !
Like that! I guess, keep on pump it up like it. 
Jet flight all the night, have to be strong. 
Move your body, my joinus, shakin' body, to keep up hurry. 
身体の芯まで感じる瞬間、時間の彼方ではじけるプリズム
Karada no shin made kanjiru shunkan, jikan no kanata de hajikeru purizumu

I've got a feeling 突きぬけてく
I've got a feeling Tsukinuketeku
街が目、醒ますころ
Machi ga me samasu koro
朝焼けにくちづけてる 波も抱きしめてる
Asayake ni kuchizuketeru, nami mo dakishimeteru
EZ Do Dance EZ Do Dance 踊る君を見てる
EZ do dance EZ do dance ! Odoru kimi wo miteru
EZ Do Dance EZ Do Dance 君だけを見ている
EZ do dance EZ do dance ! Kimi dake wo miteiru

I've got a feeling 突きぬけてく
I've got a feeling Tsukinuketeku
街が目、醒ますころ...
Machi ga me samasu koro...

Personal Translation


(Three, Two, One, Break dance !
Do dance! Get the rave. X-T-C of trf. 
I can hear my voice. Get down! 
Just the rave. Over night trf. 
EZ DO DANCE)

I can hear my voice, it starts now
from midnight on, in this place
where I go with friends without any lies left.
There is nothing, not even a path; you who are dancing, where
are you fleeing ? Where did you departed from ? Strangely dazzling...
The fallen angels comfort each others*, telling appealing dreams
Easy Go Easy Go ! Only smiles
tie** this circle at this moment.

I've got a feeling ! Gonna break through***
when the city wakes up
I kiss in the glaring rising sun, and embrace the wave too
EZ Do Dance EZ Do Dance ! I watch you dancing
EZ Do Dance EZ Do Dance ! You're the only one I see


(Three, Two, One, Break dance !)

What we want always comes by chance through a coincidence
Suddenly in these unpredictable tomorrows, we can meet tremendous sensations
5AM, law of eternity, changing moment
Surely, surely, this isn't what is called Love, yet.

I've got a feeling ! Gonna break through
when the city wakes up
I kiss in the glaring rising sun, and embrace the wave too
EZ Do Dance EZ Do Dance ! I watch you dancing
EZ Do Dance EZ Do Dance ! You're the only one I see

Three, Two, One, Break dance !
Like that! I guess, keep on pump it up like it. 
Jet flight all the night, have to be strong. 
Move your body, my join us, shakin' body, to keep up hurry. 
That moment when we feel deep to the core of our body, blasting prism far in time

I've got a feeling ! Gonna break through
when the city wakes up
I kiss in the glaring rising sun, and embrace the wave too
EZ Do Dance EZ Do Dance ! I watch you dancing
EZ Do Dance EZ Do Dance ! You're the only one I see

I've got a feeling ! Gonna break through
when the city wakes up...

Notes of interpretation

Not easy when the author himself confesses having mix up catch phrases without real meaning ^^' !

*A bit shortened version of the idiom 傷の舐め合い (Kizu no nameai), litteraly meaning "licking each other's wound) 😝, that is by animal analogy, the fact of getting comfort with people enduring the same kind of misfortune. The expression bears a negative, rather contemptuous, meaning (close to pathetic), considering that Japan is a country of virile men, truely true stoic samourais, as everybady knows, who keep there wounds for themselves ! Well, until EZ DO DANCE 😋 (and the explosion fo the financial bubble of the 80s) which claims on the contrary this empathy between misfortunate comrades (called fallen angels here to keep up with the so called negative image of "Kizu nameatte").

** not sure if the subject is "smiles" from the previous line, or simply people there. I chose smiles for the poetic and symbolic side.

*** Tsukinukeru is generally applied to objects, with the idea of pierce through

Anecdotes, Legacy


EZ Do Dance is the 1st success of Tetsuya Komuro in the Dance house / Techno style which will give him then motivation to go back on stage in this genre with the creation of the Eurodance oriented band globe, where he will meet his wife, the singer Keiko !
It is the 1st success for trf, whose musical and clothes style, and dance performances, will bring a great amount of optimism and cool feelings in a Japan who just entered the "Lost Decade" of stressing and depressive a recession-deflation era.
The song has been covered many times, including abroad in Asia.

You may like too:

In the same genre, by other artists, there is obviously globe (Feel like dance...) or the 1st tunes of Amuro Namie (Body feels exit...), written too by TK. In a more modern style, club house, some tracks of EXILE TRIBE's bands whose founder Hiro is a former colleague of YU-KI in ZOO (RYUSEISummer madness chez les Sandaime JSB...). I think interesting to compare with the very electro J-Pop of the very Tetsuya Komuro himself in the 80s through the band TM Network (including the famous theme song of City HunterGet Wild), as well as with the main hit of ZOO, I already mentioned, more pop-nusoulChoo Choo Train.

Main Performers

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TRF sings it at first in 1993; you may find it along with other hits in the 20th anniversary Best of, released in 12/2012:


Keiko sang it during her audition for globe (during which she felt from the stage, before stepping up immediately and brilliantly succeeding !). She then covered it in English, and this version appears in the album Lif-e-Motions of TRF in 2006 as a featuring.

Blood Stain Child : this metal band (!) covers it in 2007.
Mozaiq / BLOOD STAIN CHILD
BLOOD STAIN CHILD

Dream5: it is one of the songs from the 6th (double) single in 2012 of the boy-and-girls band known for a theme song of Youkai WatchMusic Video.

Idoling: this Idols band of Avex covers it in the same year, for the compilation of TRF respect Idol.
TRF Respect Idol Tribute!! / TRF Respect Idol Tachi

Prizmmy : an Idols anison band created for the anime Pretty Rhythm: Rainbow Live itself inspired by the rhythm game series. EZ Do Dance is its 2nd opening, in 2013: Music Video.

A C-Pop version was realized for Taiwan and Hong-Kong remixed by C. Y. Kong (江志仁) in 96 Pop Mix.

Links

Other sources: wikipedia JP, reportages TV...

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