NOTHING HAPPENS なにもおこらない
A poem/song written and read by Yuri Kageyama
Featuring Tea on vocals and the YURICANE band with Hideyuki Asada (guitar, arrangement, audio mastering), Hiroshi Tokieda (bass) and Takuma Anzai (drums).
Photo by On Lim Wong.
I started working on this song in February 2019. It’s finally finished in 2023, as a recording, with singing and music. The piece is about how people like to talk about “what’s happening” or what’s going to happen. But most of the time, nothing happens. And nothing needs to happen. If anything, it can be a good thing when nothing happens. With the pandemic unfolding, the song became for me more pertinent than ever. I reworked the song to reflect that. In June 2020, I added the rap section in Japanese that refers to the death of George Floyd. We must not forget how precious those moments are when horrible things that can happen don’t happen, and we can just sit back and enjoy the passage of time, when utterly nothing happens.
Nothing happens なにもおこらない
_ a poem/song by Yuri Kageyama
(1)
Nothing happens
Bombs no longer falling
Nations aren’t killing
Nothing happens
^___<
(2)
Nothing happens
Women aren’t screaming
Children aren’t starving
Nothing happens
^___<
(BRIDGE)
なにもおこらない
このきもち
なにもおこらない
しずけさ
^___<
(4)
Nothing happens
The stars will shine
Behind clouds that hide
Nothing happens
^___<
(5)
Nothing happens
Birds, blossoms remind
The passing of time
Nothing happens
^___<
(rap section)
Nothing happens
We took it for granted
Nothing is boring
Nobody up to no good
Looking for something
Something to happen
Before the coronavirus
Now we wake up to numbers
Pray the curve gets flattened
Pray it’s no one we know
Waiting for a vaccine
Scared by the sirens
Italy, New York, Spain, Wuhan, Tokyo
Now nothing else happens
Nothing else can happen
Now you know it:
Now you wish you didn’t wish it
Now you know for sure you like it
When Nothing happens
Yeah, Nothing happens
なにもおこらない
死ぬまえ
のこる生命で
えらんだ言葉
息ができない
彼のおもい
アメリカの差別
歴史のおもい
すべてすごくて
言葉がない
息ができない
息ができない
You know that’s the view:
No news is good news,
It’s so quiet you can hear it
Silence is the music
When NOTHING HAPPENS
^___<
なにもおこらない
このきもち
なにもおこらない
しずけさ
^__<
Nothing happens
The Virus descends
Like a stranger of death
Nothing happens
^___<
Nothing happens
We can forget the rest
How we miss those days
When Nothing happens
^—–<
And this is how the song all started; the clip below is from while it’s in the works (Artwork by Munenori Tamagawa):
Yuri Kageyama · NOTHING HAPPENS a poem/song by Yuri Kageyama with guitar/arrangement by Hide Asada
My other Virus Song (a side B to NOTHING HAPPENS if this were a CD like back in the good old days)
I AM THE VIRUS a poem written and read by Yuri Kageyama with piano by Nobutaka Yamasaki
I am the virus
I thrive on mossy envious egos
They keep showing up
Offices, clubs, picnics,
Choosing being seen, hoarding
Over social dis-tan-cing
I am the virus
I fester in corona-shaped clusters
Commuter trains, cruises, crowds
Peering at the Olympic torch,
I love the naming “Chinese virus”
The taunts, attacks on slant-eyed people
I am the virus
I cower when folks stay in
Takeout food, work from home,
A meter apart on solitary walks,
Wearing masks, washing hands,
Mixing aloe and alcohol
I am the virus
The crazy evil devoured
By doctors, vaccines, canceled concerts
Turning into live-streamed music,
People who remember to tell those they love
How much they really love them.