"Dada" | ||||
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Single by Radwimps | ||||
from the album Zettai Zetsumei | ||||
Released | January 12, 2011 | |||
Format | CD single, digital download, rental CD | |||
Recorded | 2010 | |||
Genre | Emo punk,Post-punk,rap-rock | |||
Length | 3:45 | |||
Label | EMI Music Japan | |||
Songwriter(s) | Yojiro Noda | |||
Radwimps singles chronology | ||||
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"Dada" is a Japanese-language song by Japanese rock band Radwimps, released on January 12, 2011 as the first of two singles leading up to the band's sixth album, Zettai Zetsumei.
The single debuted at number one on Oricon's single charts, and in terms of physical sales, "Dada" is the band's most commercially successful single as of 2011.
The song is a rock song that begins with vocalist Yojiro Noda's voice and drums, as well as background sound effects, which cut away to a violent bass, drum and electric guitar instrumental motif, with verses having a similar arrangement to the introduction, and the chorus arranged heavier, much more in common with the instrumental motif. The version of the song that appears on Zettai Zetsumei, "Dada (Dadadada Ver.)" has the same structure as the original, and the motif remains untouched. However, different instruments are louder and quieter in verses, such as the telephone sounds. The beginning of the song also features an extended drum solo introduction.
The lyrics of the song describe many nihilistic ideas about youth. While verses are dense with many concepts talked about quickly, the song's chorus is mostly single sounds repeated. Lyricist Yojiro Noda birth as an entrance and death as an exit, and that all life between these two points is a detour, and that all time between these two points is just "killing time." Noda questions why people forget about death, and only think of themselves in the present. He asks people to try to search for short-cuts. He calls disbelief in wishes, hate and prejudice as "the extremes of fiends," and then mentions nenbutsu, the Buddhist repeating of a phrase to negate karma. The song also talks about technology and ecology, and about how despite the need for the planet to be protected, people believe in the sentiment but forget about it, to do other things.
The title of the song was chosen for three meanings: its connection to Dadaism, the Japanese word dadakko (駄々っ子, "selfish/restless/spoilt child"), as well as because the musical keys D and A were used in the song. Noda described the song as coming from the thought that if everyone eventually dies, everything between then and birth is pointless. He describes wanting to find a "short-cut" as having something note than death. Recording of both "Dada" and the B-side "Ruru" was finalised in late November, 2010.