Where all the colors are
Ocean
The silent ocean knows
Your face
Your reality

Haven't been the same lately
wonder could it be lack of devotion?

Seeing in monochrome
Who taught you emotions
Who taught you emotions

Feel
Can you feel
Might be why colors disappear

The place we call our soul
Ocean
The cyber ocean sees
Your dreams
Your totality

Nothing stays the same
Someday
I hope you will make more lasting connections

Feeling in monochrome
Who taught you emotions
Who taught you emotions

See
Can you see
Colors that the ocean offers

Be
Can you be
Something more that black, white and gray

Being in monochrome
Who taught you emotions
Who taught you emotions




Lyrics submitted by lacunzacoil84

Monochrome song meanings
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4 Comments

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  • 0
    General Comment

    No comment on this song? My heart could always explode when I listen to it. So unbelievable beautiful and "out of this world", wow. And the song is included in one of the best, if not the best episode of "Ghost In The Shell: Stand Alone Complex" (2nd gig, episode 2). The song plays when the pilot is flying with the major over the city at night. The meaning: It fits the schizophrenia perfectly in my opinion. There a several thoughts in it. First it's about feeling watched by everyone. The "cyber ocean" is full of data about him. Even his thoughts aren't safe from the new technology. The second thing is that he somehow lost "something". He's not the same person he was before. I wouldn't say because of his schizophrenia, because I think that the schizophrenia is actually the result of it. ("Nothing stays the same...someday..."/"Haven't been the same lately") And the third aspect is the new person that's born inside of him. He hopes that this person will make the life better ("I hope you will make more lasting connections"), but is somehow shocked by the fact that this person seems to have no emotions. So it's somehow the "social person" inside of him that ignores his emotional side, but makes him able to live in this world. Hard to explain for me in english. I hope it's understandable :). One of the best songs I've ever heard. And Yoko Kanno has such a wonderful voice for this kind of songs (At least I read that Gabriela Robin was singing this song, which is actually her. I'm sure! ;))

    XCrusherXon August 08, 2007   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    Oops, sorry. This one is sung by Ilaria Graziano. Very similar voices.

    XCrusherXon August 08, 2007   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    Also, the word monochrome sums it up you know? The same color in different shades - Black, White, and Gray, Black and White being two colors that are often seen as opposities but in this case they are just different shades of each other...again the schizophrenia. Its like you say, the he is separating from the person he was, and becoming something or someone else, but it is still all the same, jsut different shades of his original self, amazing lyrics.

    DeafDumbBlindMuteon December 18, 2007   Link
  • 0
    My Interpretation

    Though it can apply to the Schizo guy, the song as a whole really apply to Major, and her love interest, Kuze. The mechanical/techno stucco background of the song expresses their "mechanical" nature and their emotional state- though capable of love, and a wide range of emotions, both are more or less 'emotionless' . Motoko typically keeps a straight face and often feigns emotions to get an edge, and we never exactly know what she is thinking or feeling. The major, despite looking more human than the Tachikomas and Batou, is quite clearly a machine from her cold personality. Kuze himself is displayed as being almost a distaff counterpart, being also entirely cybernetic, but literally having a face devoid/incapable of expressing emotion- Motoko has trouble or won't show her feelings, while Kuze literally can't, and we see the comparison.

    The two both believe in the power of the "cyber ocean", Motoko in movie and in show prone to weighing her own existence versus that of the whole collective consciousness found in human technological networks, and Kuze ends up leading his refugees to refuge within that "ocean" to escape the world. Kuze disappears within it, and by the SAC movie, Motoko is drifting in and out of that ocean. Motoko in the show and movie sutfers the paradox of being a very self-contained person who is constantly connected to a greater network, trying to find a balance between herself and the greater consciousness hence her philosophical bent.

    The "who taught you emotions?" is a jab at her and Kuze's difficulty expessing themselves beyond their role and function in events., and their ultimate fate is to ultimately become more than themselves and wander the 'network of human consciousness, which is truly deep and infinite.

    jeremyston November 15, 2013   Link

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