Pleasure ~Jinsei no Kairaku~
Pleasure ~Jinsei no Kairaku~ (人生の快楽, The Pleasure of Life) is the title of an evolving song by B'z that originally debuted in 1991. The song has become the theme of the Pleasure LIVE-GYM concerts and is something of a unique entity in the B'z catalogue in that its lyrics and arrangement have evolved and changed over time with new iterations. Primarily, the first line of the song and the lines immediately following the first chorus differ in the new versions, along with some altered backing vocals. This ongoing story is captured in the song's many renditions, of which only three have been released on CD (1991, 1998, and 2008) with the rest available from live performances.
Each iteration of the song is accompanied by the year in which it was released, beginning with "Pleasure'91". A version of "Pleasure" has been played at every Pleasure LIVE-GYM to date apart from the 1993 and 1997 editions. In addition, "Pleasure'91 ~Jinsei no Kairaku~" served as the opening track on all dates of B'z LIVE-GYM in Taipei & Hong Kong 2001, which marked the first and only time the song appeared outside of the Pleasure LIVE-GYM concerts.
Lyrics chronology
- He finally became a father on a Saturday night
- On the phone, while receiving congratulations, he bit his lip for a while for some reason
- Five years have passed since he became a father
- On the phone, when asked "How're things?", he sighed after a while for some reason
- He became lonely on a Monday night and suddenly felt the need to get drunk
- Everybody will remember him as a useless bum in anger
- He's thrown everything away and has gone on a journey
- On the phone, he's shouting firmly, "I've finally found freedom"
- He, who secretly came back from his long journey,
- Has realized that running far away won't change anything so easily
- He, who had never taken an interest in anything but himself before,
- Looked over and said, "For the first time since I was born, I've found something I want to protect"
- Two or three summers have passed without hearing from that guy,
- but he should be doing fine somewhere. I would be glad if we were to meet again soon.
- Yes, I can't do anything about it
- To be revealed as part of B'z LIVE-GYM Pleasure 2018 -HINOTORI-