日めくりカレンダー literally means a calendar with a page to tear off for each day. It creates a vivid image of time quietly passing, as the song reflects on memories that remain present even while the days move further away.
Mrs. GREEN APPLE open "lulu." at the end of something: "終わりが来たら / なんて言おう" (when the end comes / what should I say). The singer wants to part "哀しくない様に" (so it isn't sad), but someone's old words still "酷く刺さってる" (sting badly) and at the same time "温かく残ってる" (stay with me, warm). That pairing of hurt and warmth is the whole song, and I love that it never picks one.
The verses are full of small, homely pictures. A 日めくりカレンダー is a tear-off calendar, one page a day, and here it keeps going while a face drifts "何故か遠くなる" (somehow further away) even though the singer says "忘れないのに" (yet I don't forget). Feelings get hidden in a hum, or swallowed while biting a lip, under a swaying lace curtain. Then the song zooms all the way out: "誰もがこの星の子孫" (everyone is a descendant of this planet), and everyone has "帰りたい場所" (a place they want to go home to). For learners, listen for the soft ね at the end of short lines like "約束はね" (the promise, you know): it is the gentle "right?" that makes the whole thing sound like a quiet talk with someone close.
Mrs. GREEN APPLE is a Japanese pop-rock band from Tokyo, formed in 2013 by vocalist and songwriter Motoki Ohmori. They made their major-label debut in 2015 with the mini-album Variety on EMI Records.
Since the start of 2022 the band has been a trio: Ohmori, guitarist Hiroto Wakai and keyboardist Ryoka Fujisawa.