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)

Momen No Handkerchief
椎名林檎 Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

恋人よぼくは旅立つ
東へと向かう列車で
はなやいだ街で君への贈りもの
探す探すつもりだ
いいえあなた私は
欲しいものはないのよ
ただ都会の絵の具に
染まらないで帰って

染まらないで帰って

恋人よ半年が過ぎ
逢えないが泣かないでくれ
都会で流行りの指輪を送るよ
君に君に似合うはずだ
いいえ星のダイヤも
海に眠る真珠も
きっとあなたのキスほど
きらめくはずないもの
きらめくはずないもの

恋人よいまも素顔で
くち紅もつけないままか
見間違うようなスーツ着たぼくの
写真写真を見てくれ
いいえ草にねころぶ
あなたが好きだったの
でも木枯らしのビル街
からだに気をつけてね
からだに気をつけてね

恋人よ君を忘れて
変わってゆくぼくを許して
毎日愉快に過ごす街角
ぼくはぼくは帰れない
あなた最後のわがまま
贈りものをねだるわ
ねえ涙拭く木綿の

ハンカチーフ下さい
ハンカチーフ下さい

Overall Meaning

The song "木綿のハンカチーフ" by 椎名林檎/松崎名央 talks about a man who is leaving his lover to travel to the east by train. He plans on finding a gift for her in a cheerful city along the way. However, she tells him that she doesn't want anything and to just come back without being tainted by the colors of the city. The lyrics then fast forward six months, where the man has not seen his lover and tells her not to cry because he is sending her a ring from the city. Again, she declines and says that there is nothing that could sparkle as much as his kisses. The song then moves to present day, where the man asks his lover if she recognizes him in the suit he has on in a photograph. He tells her not to worry about him, as he often thinks about how much he loved lying in the grass with her. He then tells her that he has changed from the man she knew, and that he cannot return to the happy everyday life he once knew.

Line by Line Meaning

恋人よぼくは旅立つ
My love, I am leaving on a journey

東へと向かう列車で
Heading towards the east on a train

はなやいだ街で君への贈りもの
In a lively town, I will search for a gift for you

探す探すつもりだ
I am determined to look for it, to search and search

いいえあなた私は
No, my love, there is nothing I want

欲しいものはないのよ
There is nothing I desire

ただ都会の絵の具に
All I want is to not be colored by the paint of the city

染まらないで帰って
I want to return without being stained by it

恋人よ半年が過ぎ
My love, half a year has passed

逢えないが泣かないでくれ
Please don't cry because we cannot meet

都会で流行りの指輪を送るよ
I will send you a ring that is in fashion in the city