“Think of it like a film. With a movie, the soundtrack follows the drama, but, with Visual Kei, it’s the other way around. We begin with the music and then build the visuals around it.” ~Kamijo
((Disclaimer: We do not own the logo. We thought it was pretty. We found it on google. Please don't sue us! We don't have any money, anyway!))
The Versailles Lyric Conspiracy Project.
Phoenix and Novice could be geniuses!...or they could be complete idiots. Either way, they've begun the breakdown of all of Versailles' lyrics into story format! The reason?
Versailles seems to have hidden meanings in their lyrics. No, this is not the Da Vinci Code. We're being serious geeks here. We're beginning with two sagas: The Rose and Hades. We'll post more if we find anything!
Disclaimer: We speak English and have only a shaking understanding of Japanese. We read the song translations to gather our information. As we all know (or we’re assuming you all know) the meaning of a song can be completely lost/changed after translation, so we could be waaay off base here… but we decided to put it together anyways, because if nothing else it makes for a fun fan made interpretation right? That and We’re romantic authors at heart, and totally don’t want to work on our own stories.
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The Rose Saga:The Conceived Story:
The story begins at the end (“The Revenant Choir”). Kamijo plays the character of a vampire (goes with his character, as he resembles Lestat in his early Versailles days. Also fits as he is a fan of Anne Rice.) As stated in 'The Revenant Choir', there are two sides to a vampiric feud that has been continuing in a fanciful land. One clan, the Descendants of the Rose, seek eternal life. The others believe that death brings happiness. The leader of the Descendants of the Rose (Kamijo) finds himself attracted to a member of the other clan (Phoenix likes to think they are mortal vampire hunters, but, that's just her crack vampire novels talking. Novice just thinks they are a catholic group.) Knowing it is wrong, he is angered that she has ‘ensnared’ him ("Shout and Bites"). Unable to resist her, he falls into a downward spiral, trapped in her 'love' (“The Red Carpet Day”). Utterly infatuated with her, he does not realize that she intends to betray him. Belatedly, he realizes that he is being hunted and that it is her fault, however, he survives the attempt on his 'life' (“Love from a Dead Orchestra”). Knowing that she is the one who betrayed him, he resolves to kill her to keep his Clan safe (“Ascendead Master”). (If you watch "Aristocrat's Symphony," it almost appears that the rest of the band, the "Descendants of the Rose" will leap to his defense if he can't kill her.) Continuing on, the vampire of the story seduces his former lover to her death (“Aristocrat’s Symphony”), morbidly sacrificing her on the altar of the chapel of his home while she is gripping the cross he gave to her (“Beast of Desire”). He can still admit that he loves her (Kamijo/Kamijo's character mouths the words "I love you" before stabbing her in "Aristocrat's Symphony." Phoenix and Novice agree on this, so you'll be crushing their inner romantics if you point out it's a Japanese phrase...but, please do.) In anger, he comes to the conclusion that he is the "god of death" and descends into darkness (“God’s Palace”), only later feeling remorse and determines that he must move on (“Serenade”), though he realizes that he still loves her. Later he comes to terms that he has killed the woman he loves out of anger and determines that he, also, wants to rejoin her in death (“Destiny- The Lovers”). This brings us full circle to “The Revenant Choir,” where the Descendants join their ancestors in a lifetime of loneliness.
That’s the over viewed version. Remember that each song only tells one part of the story. (Also see Disclaimer) We’ll Post the songs in order with Links for those of who are interested in busting our Conspiracy!
Listening/ Viewing Order:
Songs pulled for this are from:
Noble
Lyrical Sympathy
Jubilee
1. The Revenant Choir
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5827EPsAOis
English Lyrics
The Japanese part we used as support. Translated, it is: "The crimson blood of memory has changed into a rose, her shout and choir."
2. Shout and Bites *
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BO8KeBDhfNk
English Lyrics
3. Red Carpet Day*
English Lyrics
4.Love from a Dead Orchestra
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V51o89D4zYk
English Lyrics
5. Ascendead Master
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ne423XWtjf4
English Lyrics
(SCROLL DOWN past the pictures and video. It's a ways, but it's there.)
6. Aristocrat's Symphony
English Lyrics
7. Beast of Desire
English Lyrics
8. God's Palace
English Lyrics
9. Serenade **
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5L_ZdM7nmzo
English Lyrics
10. Destiny- The Lovers***
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QLA1ipa2Zzk
English Lyrics
11. The Revenant Choir
*Note: "The Red Carpet Day" and "Shout and Bites" could arguably be reversible, however, the meaning is retained either way.
** "Serenade", though some fans agree it was written in Jasmine You's honor was actually written before his death. None of the band members ever expressly said that this song was written for Jasmine, however, Kamijo did dedicate the song to him at a memorial service.
*** "Destiny- The Lovers" video could make it appear as if the song does not fit the song cycle. However, the video concept for the song was created, not by Kamijo, but by Masashi (http://visualkei.wikia.com/wiki/Versailles <-Scroll to the bottom) and does retain much of the same imagery of the other videos in this song set.
Connecting Imagery:
For this section we have two categories of key feature we looked at: Visual (from the videos) and Lyrical (from the lyrics) though some of the imagery was obviously shared.
*Conspiracy within the conspiracy theory: We both had our own take on the girl or "Rose" having the same cross as Kamijo. So we decided to add those as a side note.
Listening/ Viewing Order:
Songs pulled for this are from:
Noble
Lyrical Sympathy
Jubilee
1. The Revenant Choir
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5827EPsAOis
English Lyrics
The Japanese part we used as support. Translated, it is: "The crimson blood of memory has changed into a rose, her shout and choir."
2. Shout and Bites *
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BO8KeBDhfNk
English Lyrics
3. Red Carpet Day*
English Lyrics
4.Love from a Dead Orchestra
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V51o89D4zYk
English Lyrics
5. Ascendead Master
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ne423XWtjf4
English Lyrics
(SCROLL DOWN past the pictures and video. It's a ways, but it's there.)
6. Aristocrat's Symphony
English Lyrics
7. Beast of Desire
English Lyrics
8. God's Palace
English Lyrics
9. Serenade **
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5L_ZdM7nmzo
English Lyrics
10. Destiny- The Lovers***
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QLA1ipa2Zzk
English Lyrics
11. The Revenant Choir
*Note: "The Red Carpet Day" and "Shout and Bites" could arguably be reversible, however, the meaning is retained either way.
** "Serenade", though some fans agree it was written in Jasmine You's honor was actually written before his death. None of the band members ever expressly said that this song was written for Jasmine, however, Kamijo did dedicate the song to him at a memorial service.
*** "Destiny- The Lovers" video could make it appear as if the song does not fit the song cycle. However, the video concept for the song was created, not by Kamijo, but by Masashi (http://visualkei.wikia.com/wiki/Versailles <-Scroll to the bottom) and does retain much of the same imagery of the other videos in this song set.
Connecting Imagery:
For this section we have two categories of key feature we looked at: Visual (from the videos) and Lyrical (from the lyrics) though some of the imagery was obviously shared.
Visual:
The Actress with dark hair: She repeats in every PV video except for three videos. The first one being Revenant Choir which was kind of acting like a set up for a giant flashback. Keep in mind of the fact that they are telling the story as it progresses. She is also not in “Serenade” or in “Destiny -The Lovers”, in of which she would have been dead at that point in the story.
Kamijo's Cross*: The gem studded one. The fact that we pay that much attention to his jewelry is disturbing. We know. You don’t have to tell us. The necklace establishes the girl to Kamijo/Kamijo’s character.
Vampire Theme: This is important. Yes, we realize Versailles have a vampire oriented style. Kamijo's character is a vampire. we think it plays deeper than that. (Also notice its reference heavily in the lyrics)
The Lighting- We mention the lighting in two videos because in the story, it's talking about their fall into darknes and it suports the songs being the first and last songs; completing the cycle.
The Revanent Choir: At the end of the video, the members are walking away from you IE walking away from the light into the shadows.
Destiny the Lovers: Walking towards you, away from the light IE into darkness. (It’s a mirror of Reverent Choir's ending, which lead us to believe it the end of the saga, leading back in a cycle with “The Revenant Choir”)
Serenade has Kamijo engulfed in darkness, but the house is full of light. This if you put it with the lyrics could be symbolizing he's lost in darkness, and longs for the light.
Something else used to support “Destiny- The Lovers” as the lead back to Revenant Choir is Kamijo’s hair. It’s back to the same style, signifying perhaps we are back to that present. (Yes... we stare at that that mans hair. He has beautiful hair. Phoenix especially loves his hair. Novice sometimes finds slight difficulty in looking away from his eyes.)
*Conspiracy within the conspiracy theory: We both had our own take on the girl or "Rose" having the same cross as Kamijo. So we decided to add those as a side note.
Novice's Theory – My first instinct when I saw the cross around her neck was "Oh my god... he got the cross from her!" The supporting facts would be she seemed hugely religious and I think he took her cross after she died, as a memento, to remember her by because even though she broke his heart, he still loved her. A bit sentimental seeing as he killed her yes. But it was an obsessive love. This can be supported by him possibly whispering that he loved her, before killing her.
Phoenix's Theory - I think it was originally Kamijo's. He's constantly wearing it. I believe that he gifted her with that cross. I don't think that he would have taken something from her after her death simply to "remember her". ((Sorry, Novice. My inner angry woman is screaming.)) I think he took it back because it was his. He killed her while she was holding it so that it would give him the sense of some cruel detachment. In later videos, especially the ones expressing remorse, Kamijo is not wearing the cross. He can't even bear the thought of her. Why would he take a trophy after killing her? I think it was a romantic gift and she stepped on his heart and crushed it into a million pieces.
Lyrical:
Rose Imagery. He refers to her as a rose.
Vampire References, like BLATANT vampire references. We also threw in any Catholicism references because Catholicism some believed/believe to be the original vampires. (We're geeky and know facts like that)
Blood
There were lots of Other title references to the songs inter connected. Such as Revenent Choirs "Red Carpet Day" and "Shout and Bites", and Asendead's "Serenade" Reference. There are also a lot of less obvious ones, but you can analyze those your self. Lots of Hidden lyrical messages. Mostly the imagery that ties the songs together. (For Example: referring to the woman as a Rose, talk of being betrayed.)
WTF? A Story? Seriously? (AKA, support!): Novice was looking up Versailles and found a theory that Kamijo may have hidden meanings in his lyrics. One of the songs mentioned was “The Revenant Chior” and someone asked for the translation to the lyrics. Phoenix, getting very offended that someone would assume it was in Japanese and knowing it was English, decided to go look up the lyrics. The first thing she saw were the names of two other Versailles songs, “Shout and Bites” and “The Red Carpet Day”. The first thing that came into her mind was another album by a German rock band, Cinema Bizarre, that had done the same thing, making all of the lyrics on the album connected in some way. Thinking that they meant nothing except to ingeniously hide connections into their lyrics, at first, we ignored it.
The next suggestion…er… “conspiracy” theory we saw, suggested that there were religious symbols hidden in all of the videos and lyrics. So, armed with youtube and English translations of Versailles’ lyrics, we took to 18 hours of mayhem because Phoenix began jumping up and down proclaiming “That’s the same actress! Oh. My. God! This is all connected!”
Eighteen hours later, we realized that this was telling a story, not just on one album, but across three! Noble, Lyrical Sympathy, and Jubilee (as well as the “Destiny- The Lovers” single) hold pieces to the “saga”. Not all of the songs are part of this story. Some of them appeared to be rather clever red herrings that tell stories alone. Others appear to be connected to a different song cycle that we believe to be incomplete.
We are titling this “The Rose Saga” as much of the imagery that lead us to believe the songs were related revolved around personification of a Rose.
It’s not uncommon for there to be hidden stories inside albums. Some bands use entire albums to create Rock Operas (I.E. Greenday’s “American Idiot”, Pink Floyd’s “The Wall”). With Visual Kei, the point of the genre is to be seen and heard. In Kamijo’s own words, “Think of it like a film. With a movie, the soundtrack follows the drama, but, with Visual Kei, it’s the other way around. We begin with the music and then build the visuals around it.” Also, Kamijo created Node of Scherzo (along with Juka and Kaya) in 2007, which was a theatrical rock show (http://visualkei.wikia.com/wiki/Node_of_Scherzo). Story telling is not out of his (Kamijo’s) character. This is just slightly more devious than Node of Scherzo.
How did we determine what songs fit the cycle? The most obvious ones were the ones involved in the videos. Then we went through all of the Versailles songs ever released (and we do mean EVER) and threw out any songs with lyrics not written by Kamijo. If anyone is curious, that’s two songs (“Gekkakou” and “Catharsis” are written by Hizaki Grace, the guitarist. Anyone who thinks throwing those out was a mistake, we went back and made sure they didn’t fit for our conspiracy theory. ;) Base covered!...unless you want to bust it.). After we threw those songs out, we went through transcribed versions of all of the lyrics (see disclaimer) and used only the ones whose imagery fit the cycle to complete the saga.
