[Heart-wrenching] A Special Feature on Songs Themed Around Lies That Hit You Deep—Classics and Fan Favorites
The word “lie” carries a sense of guilt and remorse, yet there are many forms it can take—poignant lies told out of love for a partner, gentle lies meant to protect someone dear.
Songs themed around such “lies,” packed with the delicate nuances of human relationships, brim with lyrics that make your chest ache and melodies you can’t help but relate to.
In this article, we’ll introduce moving songs about “lies,” from anime tie-in tracks to classic Showa-era hits.
You might just find a song that resonates with your heart.
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[Heart-Wrenching] A Special Feature on Songs Themed Around Heart-Piercing Lies: Masterpieces and Popular Tracks (21–30)
I tell lies with these eyes.CHAGE and ASKA
A so-called “lying song” that declares from the title itself that it will tell a lie: CHAGE and ASKA’s “I’ll Tell a Lie with These Eyes.” The track was included on their 1991 album TREE and was later released as a single.
Lying isn’t a good thing, of course, but in this world there are things we’re better off not knowing, and there are “kind lies” told so as not to hurt someone.
This song is a male-perspective ballad that sings of gentle lies told to a woman.
LIARNakamori Akina
Akina Nakamori has had a mature, mysterious aura since her teenage years, and she still has many fans today.
Her song “LIAR” also feels very grown-up; her singing, voice, and expressions make your heart race.
It portrays a very adult kind of romance, depicting a strong woman who, though hurt, never shows it.
While many love songs about lies focus on the feelings toward lies told by a partner, this song can be taken as dealing with lies to oneself—lies about one’s own feelings.
[Heart-wrenching] A Special Feature on Songs Themed Around Lies That Hit You Right in the Heart: Masterpieces and Popular Tracks (31–40)
wicked womanNakajima Miyuki
There aren’t many lyrics that so vividly capture the wretchedness and sorrow of a woman’s heartbreak: realizing that the person she loves desperately already has a new girlfriend, she puts on her best act as a “bad woman” and waits for him to say goodbye.
It might be easy for a woman to be the one to end things, but hiding her true self, continuing to play a lie, and waiting to be disliked—that’s an act of compassion for the other person.
LiARPorunogurafiti
“LiAR,” which was also the theme song for Nippon TV’s “Sukkiri” in 2016, is a track that conveys vocalist Akihito Okano’s intense feelings toward a woman.
It’s a mature love song centered on a false romance, with the narrator yearning for a woman who left behind a gentle lie.
Curiously, the “i” in the title is lowercase.
According to guitarist and backing vocalist Haruichi Shindo, it was to “leave a scratch mark.” That’s some style, too.
I can’t sayRADWIMPS
The phrase “I can’t say it, I just can’t say it” makes the song incredibly catchy.
It’s precisely these words that make it difficult to interpret the lyrics as either a complex love song or perhaps a wish for a breakup.
The inability to speak one’s true feelings might be because it’s a song that hints at a parting—with a line like “the world of disappointment ends today,” it feels like a breakup is being foreshadowed.
liarTHE BLUE HEARTS
“Usotsuki” (“Liar”) is a song included on THE BLUE HEARTS’ sixth album, “STICK OUT,” released in 1993.
In fact, it has never been performed live even once! You shouldn’t tell lies, but sometimes telling a lie can be the better choice.
The song conveys the struggle with that contradiction in our world.
LiarSomething ELse
Usotsuki, the ninth single by Something ELse, released in 2000.
The song expresses a man’s lingering feelings for a lover he has broken up with, brimming with unresolved attachment.
Sad and heartrending, it conveys a painfully clear understanding of his feelings for her—not blaming the other person’s lies, but the lies he himself told, or the truths that ended up becoming lies.
It’s a poignant love song in which he keeps condemning himself.
Even though he knows there’s no point in blaming anyone, you can feel his desire to turn the blame on himself.