I first heard the song at a piano live stream on YouTube, where this song was requested by the audience. During the piano performance, I was immediately caught by the sudden high note in the chorus, then kept it in my karaoke wishlist. The song is filled with a Japanese flavour, which you can hear from the intro, and immediately takes you to a summer night where people would watch firework displays.
Speaking of firework displays, what is a goldfish firework? From the Internet, it looks like a firework installed on the tail of a goldfish-like object. When lit, the firework pushes the "goldfish" to make it swim around in the water. The Wikipedia page of Kingyo Hanabi claims while the song's title mentioned the firework, the song actually had nothing to do with it. We will see whether that's true while we read the lyrics.
心に泳ぐ金魚は 恋し想いを募らせて
(These goldfish swimming in my heart, make my thoughts of love grow stronger)
真っ赤に染まり実らぬ想いを 知りながら それでも
(Those thoughts have not ripen into a [goldfish's] crimson red, I know that, but even with that)
そばにいたいと願ったの
(I wished I could be around you)
This verse tells us the goldfish in this song is a metaphor for a love story, which is important for later verses. Two lovers are apart, and one is thinking of each other.
The rhythm of this song is difficult, as the stresses might not be where you expect them to be. For example,
夏の匂い雨の中で ぽたぽたおちる金魚花火
(In the rain with the smell of summer, goldfish fireworks are falling drop by drop)
光で目がくらんで 一瞬うつるはあなたの優顔
(As my eyes are dazzeled by the light, I see, for a brief moment, your face)
When writing lyrics in Japanese, a common phenomenon is to describe what's in the scene, rather than writing complete sentences. For example, "ぽたぽたおちる金魚花火" is literally a noun phrase, "goldfish fireworks falling drop by drop". But because there's no other verb in the sentence, we rephrase that noun phrase into a sentence.
This seems to correspond to a convension in the Japanese language. For example, "昨日は仕事でした" (literal: "Yesterday was work."; meaning: "I worked yesterday.")
What's more important here is the question we asked at the beginning. Does the title "金魚花火" has anything to do with the an actual goldfish firework? From the text, it looks like it doesn't, because a goldfish firework is lit on the water surface, not one that shoots into the sky, and therefore we shouldn't see them falling ("おちる").
But, the music video suggests something different. After the second chorus, the singer sitting on the beach lit a firework (which was not a goldfish firework) and let it drop into the water. At the same time, the singer at the bottom of the water saw the bright firework drops falling down. This immediately tells us three things:
- The chorus lines were written from the goldfish's viewpoint
- Looking up at the goldfish firework from the bottom of the water resembles humans/bears looking up at the fireworks in the sky
- Therefore, the title "金魚花火" refers to a summer firework display for the goldfish(or the thoughts of love from the first verse), which can be created using goldfish fireworks
Last point. When singing this line, be careful with the free fall after the high note in the "ぽたぽたおちる金魚花火" line.
心に泳ぐ金魚は 醜さで包まれぬよう
(These goldfish swimming in my heart, they don't seem to be covered by the ugliness)
この夏だけの命と決めて 少しの時間だけでも
(Their lifespan of this summer only has been predetermined, but even with only a bit of time)
あなたの幸せを願ったの
(They wish you bliss)
What does that ugliness refer to? Recall from the last verse that these goldfish, representing love for the other, failed to grow completely to a red colour, before they had to die. But even so, they did not submerge themselves in such negatives, and continued to wish for bliss for the other.
The rhythm of the last two phrases was particularly fast. It feels as if, because my life is near the end, I have to squeeze as many words for you as possible.
夏の匂い夜が包んで ぽたぽたおちる金魚花火
(Surrounded by the night with the smell of summer, goldfish fireworks are falling drop by drop)
どんな言葉にもできない 一瞬うつるのあなたの優顔
(I cannot think of any word to say, as your face appeared for a brief moment)
This second chorus was then followed by a few repeated "夏の匂い雨の中で" and chorus segments. The music video of this segment switched amongst the singer sitting on the beach, the singer underwater representing the goldfish, and a flashback of a love story. Near the end of the song, the singer reached out her hand to the other person, but was harshly rejected. As the other person walked away, the goldfish played by the underwater singer also fell off the rock it sat on to the side, appearing dead.
However, the song has been quiet the whole time, without key changes and obvious rise or fall in tempo. Even at the point when the goldfish died, only the tempo rose a bit, and soon fell back to the quiet night mood again. It's like a firework that sparkles for a brief moment and then falls to silence, leaving only the beautiful memory.