Reol's "YoiYoi Kokon" is a super catchy song that nails to fuse the traditional aspect of Japanese culture with modern trends. The lyrics are written in Old Japanese, and from a perspective of an Old Japanese connoisseur, it holds up to a good standard. Having said that, here are the few gripes I have with the Old Japanese language used in the song (and perhaps someone could correct me if I'm wrong):
- If we assume the lyrics on the side of the screen in the MV as the interpretation, the line "俗な答えなどはあらざらむ" does NOT mean "全てを満たせる答えなどは最初からないよ". "俗" meant... "俗" in Old Japanese; but also "世間一般". The second meaning allows for a broader interpretation inside the scope of the meaning "俗", but does not allow for a completely new meaning (like is purported in the side lyrics: "全てを満たせる(ような)" ~ "普遍的").
- "あまりてなどか人ぞ悲しき" is inspired by the 39th poem in 小倉百人一首, spare "恋しき" for "悲しき". It's hard to find a good analysis of haiku, even in Japanese, that would include grammatical nuances. The problem is with the word "あまりてなどか", which is linked to "しのぶれど" that comes before it in the poem, so there it makes sense. In Reol's song, however, it is not clear what gets "あまりて" (what "overflows, grows in excess"), and why it's in 連体形 (why there's semantically a comma after it).
