【Lyrics】シザーハンズ (Scissorhands/The Scissors)

An Original Composer-approved post. I think. Thanks again to Nem for all the input and willingness to communicate with me! It’s such an honour…!

This post consists of four parts:
1. Original lyrics
2. Transliteration
3. Translation
4. Recommended Covers

シザーハンズ (Scissorhands)

Lyrics: Nem
Compose: Nem
Arrange: Nem
Vocals: Hatsune Miku

Illustrations: 九藤咲織 (KUDOU Saori)
Video: Spica0350
Guitar: KP (A “nice guy” from Nem’s old high school band club)

Nico | Youtube
MP3 + Instumental → http://nemiu.com/scissors.zip

Nem’s comments:
I composed this song as a homage to Tim Burton’s famous movie “Edward Scissorhands”, but the story in the song has nothing to do with the movie. I wanted to explain the growing mentality during boyhood instead. The scissors are a symbol of juvenile violence.

Main image used in video. Click to enlarge. (Illust: 九藤咲織@Piapro)

Description: A jazzy song with a very cool image of Miku with scissorhands. This is Nem’s first time using Miku for vocals (instead of the usual GUMI), and is his most Mylisted work to date. Good tuning and incredible lyrics and melody, but is a little tricky to sing along to due to the intro that you have to accurately count in. Oh, and the official English song title is The Scissors, while the Japanese title translates to “Scissorhands”.

Also, Nem’s comments in English above was actually provided by Nem himself…and was originally in English! It’s pretty incredible that somebody can be this amazing. Please take a look at his other works too! (Linked to a previous post on this blog)

【Vocaloid Composer/Musician】 Nem

Even if you have no interest in this post whatsoever, if you have ANY appreciation for good, cool, and lovely music, please give this song a listen. Please.

Nem is a male composer best known for his GUMI (Megpoid) songs, most notably スターマイン (Star Mine) and 宵闇のアウグスティン (Yoiyami no Augustin/Augustin of the Twilight). He also does music outside of the Vocaloid genre, and composes, writes, arranges, and produces music to either his own vocals or a female vocalist named 山崎彩 (YAMAZAKI Aya), who is part of his unit. As of now, he hopes to provide songs for major artists and is working towards that goal. Nem’s birthday is on January 2nd, was born in Kyoto, Japan, and can play the guitar.

Main artwork for スターマイン/Star Mine. (Illust: UpRightLeftDownChuChuChu@Piapro)

Nem’s vocaloid songs are very unique in that he is able to tune the vocals so well that even the normally artificial voice seems to evoke emotion. Nem’s GUMI sounds different in all his songs, but they’re always tuned to fit the song naturally. As for music composition, there is always a main melody, but unlike most other songs, it’s not repeated so many times that the song sounds long and dragged out, and has enough variation and progression to make it sound interesting even with repeated listens. Nem also doesn’t always stick to one genre, and his songs can go from sounding like it’s from a drama (スターマイン/Star Mine, 春のかけら/Haru no Kakera) to quite jazzy (夏、夢、蜃気楼/Natsu, Yume, Shinkirou) to something that can’t be neatly classified (Augustin). Nem himself says that his music “blurs the lines between reality and fairy tale”. At the time of this post, Nem has only used GUMI for his Vocaloid songs, though in his blog he says that he intends to use Hatsune Miku…someday.

As for non-Vocaloid work, he either sings his own songs himself or gets his vocalist Aya (also known as きのこの食堂/Kinoko no Shokudou) to sing it. Both parties are extremely skilled. In 2008, Nem, with Aya’s vocal contribution, won NEXTMUSIC’s Peoples’ Choice award for the song 春のかけら (Haru no Kakera/Fragments of Spring).

Vocaloid – Essential Works:
1. スターマイン (Star Mine) {niconico link} **Note the breaths taken by GUMI**
→Version with Aya’s vocals here.
2. アリスにさよなら (ARISU ni Sayonara/Farewell to Alice) {niconico link} **Listen for the voice growth**
3. 宵闇のアウグスティン (Yoiyami no Augustin/Augustin of the Twilight) {niconico link}
→Augustin was one of Nem’s old songs with vocals originally done by Aya. One line of lyrics were changed. Original version {via.}

Independent – Essential Works:
1. 夏、夢、蜃気楼 (Natsu, Yume, Shinkirou/Summer, Dreams, Mirages, vocals by Aya) **Very Extremely Highly Recommended!!** {NEXTMUSIC link}
2. 春のかけら (Haru no Kakera/Fragments of Spring) {NEXTMUSIC link}
3. カノン (Canon, vocals by Nem) {niconico link}

Website: http://nemiu.com/ (Japanese)
Blog: http://nemiu.sblo.jp/ (Japanese)
Nem’s Mylist: http://www.nicovideo.jp/mylist/11859415
NEXTMUSIC archive: http://bit.ly/vBhev  (Songs for dl uploaded by Nem)
Aya’s blog: http://ameblo.jp/ayahhoo/ (Japanese)