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)

Yokushitsu
椎名林檎 Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

新宿のカメラ屋さんの階段を降りた茶店は
ジッポの油とクリームあんたの台詞が香った
云ったでしょ?「俺を殺して」

今日は特別に笑ってばかりのあたしは丁度
さっき一度夢で死んだあんたを仕方無く愛す
どうか見捨てたりしないで

洗って切って水の中
呼吸器官は冒される
あたしが完全に乾くのいまきちんと見届けて
磨いて裂いて水の中
無重力に委される
あたしが完全に溶けたらすぐきちんと召し上がれ

あんたが目の前で絶えて嗚咽を止められなかった
何だか浮世の全て恋しくて堪らなかった
あんな夢を見させないで

甘い匂いに汚された
御留守になっていた守備部隊
あたしが完全に乾くのいまきちんと見届けて
赤い嘘に汚された
自分で吐いて傷を見た
あたしが完全に溶けたらすぐきちんと召し上がれ

云ったでしょ?「俺を殺して」

洗って切って水の中
呼吸器官は冒される
あたしが完全に乾くのいまきちんと見届けて
磨いて裂いて水の中
無重力に委される
あたしが完全に溶けたらすぐきちんと召し上がれ

退屈なんか怖れていない
どうして二人は出逢った?

退屈なんか怖れていない
どうして二人は出逢った?

Overall Meaning

The lyrics to 椎名林檎's song 浴室 (yokushitsu) delve into complex emotions surrounding love, death, and submission. The song opens in a tea shop near a camera store in Shinjuku. The singer describes the oils and creams used to maintain a lighter and the scent of the beloved's words in the air. The phrase "I told you, kill me" reveals the intensity of the singer's desire to submit completely to the beloved.

The singer then describes their day, where they have been smiling all day long. They reveal that they died in a previous dream and are now forced to love the beloved, almost like a puppet. The second stanza of the song repeats twice, referencing the act of washing, cutting, and being immersed in water. The singer urges the beloved to witness their complete drying and then dissolution as proof of their love. The lyrics are haunting and hint at a willingness to surrender completely to the beloved's desires, no matter the cost.

Line by Line Meaning

新宿のカメラ屋さんの階段を降りた茶店は
The tea shop down the stairs from the camera shop in Shinjuku

ジッポの油とクリームあんたの台詞が香った
Smelling of Zippo oil and cream, your lines filled the tea shop

云ったでしょ?「俺を殺して」
Did you not say, 'Kill me'?

今日は特別に笑ってばかりのあたしは丁度
Today, I'm laughing excessively

さっき一度夢で死んだあんたを仕方無く愛す
Loving you despite you dying in my dreams earlier

どうか見捨てたりしないで
Please don't abandon me

洗って切って水の中
Washing and cutting, in the water

呼吸器官は冒される
The respiratory organ is invaded

あたしが完全に乾くのいまきちんと見届けて
Watch me dry completely

磨いて裂いて水の中
Polishing and tearing, in the water

無重力に委される
Being left in zero-gravity