椎名林檎 (Shiina Ringo, also sometimes spelled "Sheena Ringo" or "Shéna Ringö")… Read Full Bio ↴椎名林檎 (Shiina Ringo, also sometimes spelled "Sheena Ringo" or "Shéna Ringö"), born November 25, 1978 in Saitama and raised in Fukuoka, is a Japanese singer, songwriter, guitarist, and pianist. Her family name is Shiina (椎名) and she chose to perform as Ringo instead of her birth name Yumiko (裕美子) because - as a shy child - her cheeks would blush red like an apple (the fruit being 'ringo' in Japanese).

After quitting school to enter a musical contest, Shiina was quickly signed to EMI, then promptly left Japan to avoid the trappings of contract work. After returning, she quickly released a series of singles and albums, all self-penned (a relative rarity for Japanese pop artists), and all meeting with great success on the Japanese charts. A hiatus to start a family followed, itself followed (after a divorce) by both a new album and a new side project, the band 東京事変. (Tokyo Jihen - or Tokyo Incidents)

After more success with the band, Shiina returned to a solo career in 2006 as the Music Director for the film 「さくらん」(Sakuran), quickly taking the number one slot on the Oricon charts with the album Heisei Fuuzoku released in tandem with a major soundtrack project. Following was a B-sides album which peaked quickly at the number one Oricon slot. In the years proceeding this, she spent most of her time dedicated to Tokyo Jihen occasionally revisiting her solo work.

Despite being involved in the main Japanese pop scene, Shiina has created a niche for herself based on a much wider musical range than most artists. Where most pop singers develop a basic sound based on contemporary pop aesthetics and throwaway lyrical matter, Shiina builds on a base of jazz, rock, Motown, and even French chanson equally well (the chanson works especially well with her trademark nasal delivery), infusing her projects with a very different aesthetic, and gaining a fan base separate from the core constituents of the Japanese pop apparatus.

Despite the release of album 三毒史 (trivisa-itihasa) in 2019, released after a myriad of singles being majorly included in aforementioned work. In 2020, Ringo and band Tokyo Jihen turned their backs to their past, doing a major reunion, with the drop of a few projects, such as sixth studio album 音楽.

Discography

Singles

幸福論 (Koufukuron)（1998）
歌舞伎町の女王（1998）
ここでキスして。 (Koko de kisu shite)（1999）
本能（1999）
幸福論（1999）
ギブス (Gibs)（2000）
罪と罰（2000）
真夜中は純潔（2001）
絶頂集（2000）
茎（STEM）～大名遊ビ編～（2003）
りんごのうた (Ringo no Uta)（2003）
この世の限り (Kono Yo no Kagiri) (2007） (With Saitou Neko and her brother Shiina Junpei)
ありあまる富 (Ariamaru Tomi)（2009）
カーネーション (Carnation)（2011）
自由へ道連 (Traveling Companion to Freedom) (2012)
いろはにほへと (Les Couleurs Chantent) (2013)
孤独のあかつき (The Solitude of Dawn) (2013)
NIPPON (2014)
至上の人生 (A Life Supreme) (2015)
最果てが見たい (2015)
長く短い祭 (2015)
神様、仏様 (2015)
ジユーダム (2016)
目抜き通り (2017)
獣ゆく細道 (2018)

Albums

無罪モラトリアム (Muzai Moratorium) (1999)
勝訴ストリップ (Shouso Strip)（2000)
加爾基精液栗ノ花（Karuki Za-men Kuri no Hana）(2003)
平成風俗 (Heisei Fuuzoku) (2007) (with Neiko Sato)
三文ゴシップ (Sanmon Gossip) (2009)
日出処 (Hi Izuru Tokoro) (2014)
三毒史 (trivisa-itihasa) (2019)

Covers Album

唄ひ手冥利～其ノ壱～ (Utaitemyori Sonoichi)（2002）
逆輸入～港湾局～ (Reimports Vol.1) (2014)
逆輸入〜航空局〜 (Reimport Vol.2 -Civil Bureau Aviation) (2017)

Compilations

私と放電 (Me & Electric Discharge) (2008) - (B-Sides)
ニュートンの林檎 (Apple of Universal Gravity) (2019) - (Overview)

灰色の瞳
椎名林檎 Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

枯野に咲いた小さな花のように
なんて淋しいこの夕暮れ
とどかない想いを抱いて
なんて淋しいこの夕暮れ
とどかない想いを抱いて
私の大事なこの笛のうたう唄を
あなたは聞いているのだろか
どこかの小さな木の下で

あなたは聞いているのだろか
どこかの小さな木の下で
澄んだ音色で響くこの笛
あなたは聞いているのだろか
泣きくたびれた笛の音を
あなたは聞いているのだろか
泣きくたびれた笛の音を
山は夕暮れ夜の闇がしのびよる
あなたは何処にいるのだろか
風の便りも今はとだえ
あなたは何処にいるのだろか
風の便りも今はとだえ
山の坂道一人で歩いて行った
あなたは今も唄っている
彼方の空に声が聞こえ
あなたは今も唄っている
彼方の空に声が聞こえ
一人ぼっちで影を見つめる
あなたは何処にいるのだろか
風の便りも今はとだえ
あなたは何処にいるのだろか
風の便りも今はとだえ

ララララ...
ララララ...

Overall Meaning

The lyrics to 椎名林檎's song 灰色の瞳 convey a sense of loneliness and longing as the singer imagines their loved one listening to the song they play on their flute. The small flower that bloomed in the withered field serves as a metaphor for the singer's feelings: fragile and isolated. The singer is unable to reach the person they love and can only hope that they are listening to the melancholic tune. The sound of the flute, played with clear notes, echoes throughout the mountains as the evening darkness sets in. The wind brings no news of the person the singer yearns for.

As the singer treks through the mountain path alone, they imagine that the person they long for is still singing in the far-off sky. The final verses suggest that the singer may be in the afterlife, contemplating their own shadow as they wonder where the person they love might be.

Overall, the song expresses a deep sense of loss and yearning for a loved one. The flute's song and the natural setting of the mountains and the wind serve as a backdrop to the singer's mourning and loneliness.

Line by Line Meaning

枯野に咲いた小さな花のように
Like a small flower that bloomed in a withered field

なんて淋しいこの夕暮れ
How lonely this evening is

とどかない想いを抱いて
Holding onto feelings that don't reach

私の大事なこの笛のうたう唄を
Are you listening to the song my precious flute plays?

あなたは聞いているのだろか
I wonder if you're listening

どこかの小さな木の下で
Underneath some small tree

澄んだ音色で響くこの笛
This flute's pure sound resounds

泣きくたびれた笛の音を
The sound of a flute that has cried and grown tired

山は夕暮れ夜の闇がしのびよる
The mountains cloak themselves in the darkness of the evening and night

あなたは何処にいるのだろか
Where are you, I wonder?

風の便りも今はとだえ
Even the wind's wispered messages have stopped for now