Mr Children: Tomorrow Never Knows

Tomorrow Never Knows

04.07.20
Artist: Mr. Children
Title: Tomorrow Never Knows
Words: Sakurai Kazutoshi
Music: Sakurai Kazutoshi

Stuck in time which doesn’t know enough to stop moving forward
I’d watched people coming and going about their daily affairs
Seeing glimpses of immature dreams I can never have again
In a boy who brushes past me.

Desired everything so badly that I could betray others without a flinch
even going so far as to want my good friend’s lover

denied even my redemption, today too I embrace that pain.
if you run through with your eyes set only on the prize,
you won’t be able to see tomorrow
without victory or defeat, the lonely race is going to continue on.

Sadly people are living things that forget
the joy of being loved and their miserable past
In order to advance farther than you are now,
you can’t flee from from the conflict
if you can do that, even today the world will keep on turning.

I’ll reach out a hand oh oh beyond the endless darkness.
even if you try to live for someone else’s sake oh oh tomorrow never knows

my heart just as it is, I go to a tomorrow in which no one knows.

I can’t live with just gentleness.
There are also those who choose their partings,
I wonder if we will meet again somewhere along this long journey.

I’ll reach out a hand beyond the endless darkness oh oh
if your pain is incurable, better to bring it with you.
it’s okay to go outside the borders a little, I’ll paint the dream
Try to live for someone else’s sake oh oh Tomorrow never knows
My heart just as it is, I go to a tomorrow in which no one knows.

Translated by: Brian Stewart & Takako Sakuma

Translator’s Notes: In line three and four of the opening verse, the
japanese is very complicated, it’s kind of hard to imagine but we will try
to explain. The “boy passing by” the singer is a reminder of his own
innoncence being lost in this fading dream of his youth. This is a song
about regret, and deep wounds created by sin. The final chorus which we
translated as “its okay to go outside the border a little” refers to not
just breaking rules but actually pushing the boundaries. Think of it as if
you were in a frame and stretching your hand out, ignoring the boundaries
you are set in, in order to escape and find that you weren’t so trapped
after all. That you could paint your own future. If you hang in there
through it all, you’ll come out on top again someday, because the future
isn’t filled in yet.

ROMAJI

todomaru koto wo shiranai toki no naka de
ikutsu mo no utsuri yuku machi nami wo nagemete ita
osana sugite kieta kaeranu yume no omokage wo
sure chigau shounen ni kasanetari shite

mujaki ni hito wo uragireru hodo
nani mo ka mo wo hoshigatte ita
wakari aeta tomo no ai shita onna de sae mo

tsugunau koto sae dekizu ni kyou mo itami wo daki
muchuu de kake nukeru keredomo mada asu wa miezu
shouri mo haiboku mo nai mama kodoku na reesu wa tsuzuiteku

hito wa kanashii gurai wasurete yuku iki mono
ai sareru yorokobi mo sabishii kako mo

ima yori mae ni susumu tame ni wa
arasoi wo sakete toorenai
sonna fuu ni shite sekai wa kyou mo mawari tsuzukete iru

hate shinai yami no mukou ni oh oh te wo nobasou
dare ka no tame ni ikite mite mo oh oh
Tomorrow never knows
kokoro no mama boku wa yuku no sa dare mo shiru koto no nai ashita e

yasashi sa dake ja ikirarenai
wakare wo eranda hito mo iru
futatabi bokura wa de au darou
kono nagai tabiji no doko ka de

hate shinai yami no mukou ni oh oh te wo nobasou
ieru koto nai itami nara isso hiki tsurete
sukoshi gurai hami dashitatte ii sa
oh oh yume wo egakou
dare ka no tame ni ikite mitatte oh oh
Tomorrow never knows
kokoro no mama boku wa yuku no sa dare mo shiru koto no nai ashita e