Bully Bully

Can we be the witches of change?

Welcome to new subscribers and regular readers! Thank you for joining me for today’s song, “Bully Bully” by Holly Near. If you’d like to hear the song before you read about it, I’ve included a YouTube video below the article.

Below, you’ll find my interpretation of the lyrics which are written in italics. For Japanese students, vocabulary words in bold are provided in Japanese below. TOEIC (PBT) 450+, Eiken 2, CEFR B1.

(694 words)
Bullying (いじめ) has probably existed ever since the human race began. Let’s look at a few words that might be confusing for language learners:

A bully [ˈbo͝olē ] [n.] is a person who tries to make someone else do something. They might use force or threats or fear to get what they want.

To bully [v.] means to use some sort of power (force, threat, fear) over another person to make them do something.

Today’s song was written by Holly Near in 2017 and is about bullying. It gives many examples of what a bully will do. Some of these things you might have seen in the classroom or in your club at school.

Are you a bully bully bully bully bully bully, are you a bully bully?
Sometimes a bully is just someone who doesn’t know how to stop teasing
Sometimes a bully will steal your coat especially when it’s freezing

A gang is a group that has power of some kind. To rule means to use that power to take control of a place.
Sometimes a bully is a gang of gals who rule the cafeteria

In high school, there might be a handsome and popular young man who puts others down if they aren’t like him. A geek or a nerd is someone who might have trouble talking with others, or they might be someone who has a very special interest and knows a lot about one particular topic.
Sometimes a bully is a handsome guy who calls the geeks and nerds inferior

Bullies often use physical force to get what they want.
Sometimes a bully is just someone who hits and kicks and pinches

From April 2022 through March of 2023, there were 732,568 cases of school bullying that were reported in Japan, “a record high for the third consecutive year.” (Japan Times, 2024)

They might use offensive words to make others afraid of them. Fatty isn’t a nice word to call someone who is overweight. If someone calls someone queer, it probably is in a mean way that doesn’t show respect toward a member of the LGBTQ community. Calling someone a bitch is an offensive word for a woman.
Sometimes a bully calls the others names like fatties, queers, and bitches

Sometimes a leader of a country will use his or her position to personally gain something instead of care about the people of the country.
Sometimes a bully is the president who forgets his station

Bullies might look professional. They might dress well and have good manners, like business people or government officials. But their actions are the same - using some sort of power to make others do what they want.
Sometimes the bully is a three piece suit who threatens the Indian nation

In the U.S., children will grab someone’s tennis shoes, tie the laces together, and throw the shoes on a telephone line so that the owner can’t get them.
Sometimes a bully throws a tennis shoe high up on the wire

Powerful world leaders have their finger on the button, meaning they could cause a nuclear war.
Sometimes a bully has his finger on the button and could set the world on fire

Long ago, people believed that ghosts, ghouls, and goblins also had power and that they sometimes played tricks on people. They believed that witches could cast spells to change the future.
Can we be the ghosts and the ghouls and the goblins, can we be the witches of change?

Here, the singer thinks of Cinderella. Her fairy godmother changed a pumpkin into a coach. When 12:00 a.m. comes in this song, however, the singer will not turn from a princess into a regular person. The pumpkin will still be a pumpkin.
When the clock strikes twelve I will still be myself and the pumpkin will go in the pie

I wonder what the singer means in the last two lines. Could it mean that magic spells will not help us create the world we want? Could it mean no one else will create it for us? That we each have to take action and work toward making the world a better place?

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Question

What do you think the last two lines of the song mean?

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Vocabulary

bully いじめっ子
threat 脅し
tease からかう
gal / guy 女 / 男
geek, nerd オタク
inferior 劣勢
pinch 摘む
offensive 侮辱した言い方
station 立場
laces ひも
ghouls, goblins 化け物
cast spells 呪文を唱える
fairy godmother 妖精のおばあさん
coach 馬車

Sources

Japan school bullying cases leading to police probes hit 10-year high. (2024, March 14). Kyodo News. https://english.kyodonews.net/news/2024/03/bd970897b56b-japan-school-bullying-cases-leading-to-police-probes-hit-10-yr-high.html Accessed 11 February 2025.
Japan working to address school bullying through local support. (2024, December 31). The Japan Times. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2024/12/30/japan/society/school-bullying/ Accessed 11 February 2025.


To learn more about Holly Near and her music, please visit her website at: https://hollynear.com/

All photos: Unsplash

英検2級以上 | 名曲で英語を学ぶ