[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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- Masterpieces that sing of despair. Recommended popular songs.
- Recommended songs to listen to when you feel regret: classic and popular Japanese tracks.
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- Masterpieces that sing of love. Recommended popular songs.
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- Hidden gems of yami songs. Recommended popular tracks.
- A playlist of timeless gems with piercing lyrics that will move your heart
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[Heart-wrenching] A Special Feature on Songs Themed Around Lies That Hit You Right in the Heart: Masterpieces and Popular Tracks (31–40)
You told a lie.ofukōsu
“You Lied,” a song by Off Course, the band Oda Kazumasa—renowned for his clear, resonant voice—once belonged to, is their 25th single, released in 1984.
The lyrics convey the feelings of a man who realizes his lover’s heart has changed.
You can feel the restless unease in the moment he senses the lie.
He doesn’t confront or expose the falsehood; instead, he keeps brooding over it in his heart.
It’s a heartbreak song that powerfully communicates that helpless, bittersweet emotion.
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.
Sayonara, baby.Kato Miria
The song “SAYONARA Baby,” which sings about the lies and back-and-forth in a man–woman romance, is Miliyah Kato’s 13th single, released in 2008.
It’s a track packed with that frustrating mix of a man’s betrayal and lies, and the wavering feelings of a woman who knows it’s a lie but still wants to believe.
If you’ve been through something like this, you’ll probably feel a strong sense of “I know exactly how that feels.” More than the desire to believe because you’re in love, you’re already aware of your own emotions that recognize it’s a lie.
LOOKING FOR A RAINBOWLINDBERG
It sings that the rainbow we saw long ago with my childhood friend is a hope for life.
At first I thought this childhood friend was a boy, but in the end it makes you feel she is a girl.
The messages from the teacher and friends telling me to stay away convey the childhood friend’s loneliness keenly.
Above all, the phrase that they were hurt more than others because they hated “lies” is a sad one.
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.
[Heart-wrenching] A Special Feature on Songs with the Theme of Touching Lies: Masterpieces and Fan Favorites (41–50)
A lie to youVALSHE
VALSHE is a female singer whose charm lies in her boyish-sounding voice.
This song was used as the ending theme for the popular anime Detective Conan.
It sings of very heartbreaking, sorrowful lies—ones that make you worry and wonder, “Why tell such a lie?” You’ll want to say, “Don’t be deceived by that lie,” yet the theme is a ballad about so-called gentle lies—lies told out of care for someone else.
It’s a sad number where you can almost feel the heart growing empty in your hands.
Piyo’s GratitudeIwao Junko
This is a song that was broadcast on NHK’s “Minna no Uta” in 2015.
From the title, I initially thought it was a parody of “The Grateful Crane,” but it actually has quite a deep meaning.
Interpretations probably vary by generation, but amid lyrics that pass back and forth between fairytale and reality, why does it speak of fifty years devoted to family? Piyo says that everything is a lie, but that feels like words that just slipped out.
I get the sense that from now on, they want to spend their time looking at the beautiful moon with their beloved grandpa.