THE PHILOLOGIST!

I have a feeling if I were ever bitten by a radioactive spider, I wouldn't luck out like Peter Parker did. I'd end up with some sort of lame ability like the ability to spot a spurious etymology from a hundred yards. Who needs a power like that? Anyway, this little number goes out to all the classicists who never thought I was a real philologist (*cough*John Foley*cough*).

わたしのなまえをおしりになりたいのでしょう
watashi no namae wo oshiri ni naritai no deshou

I never would have suspected Shiina Ringo to have written a song entirely in kana, given her penchant otherwise to use kogo (classical Japanese) and some of the most obscure kanji (chinese characters) in composing her lyrics. it looks like a kids' song (Ringo's [Apple's] Song), and that's precisely what it was when the song was set to an animated short for NHK's Minna no uta (Songs for Everybody).

you probably want to know my name

The Ringo persona addresses her audience in keigo (respect language) and further softens the presumption that she knows what her superior desires with the supposition deshou. assume for a moment, though, that oshiri ni naritai is not keigo at all.

you probably want my name to shoot our your butt

But now that Ringo is no longer speaking keigo she could just as easily be talking about her own desires.

I kinda want to shoot my name out my butt

The auxiliary verb なる (whence naritai, "[somebody] wants to なる) becomes 生る, "to bear fruit," a verb entirely appropriate for the assumption that Ringo is singing in the persona of an apple tree. and if なる becomes 生る then something has to be done with oshiri; easy, make お知り (the articular form of the verb 知る, "to know") into お尻, "butt." you might prefer something more literal, then.

I kinda wanna bear the fruit of me name in me bum

it's no coincidence this song comes as a loner when Ringo was making several transitions: a transition to motherhood, a transition from marriage to divorce, having her trademark mole removed, from a solo career to joining a band. the biographical reading of this moment is both easy and entirely unnecessary.

I wanna shove my name up your ass

な る could just as easily be 成る, "to include/to comprise." we've already seen how the lack of explicit subjects in Ringo's statement permits a shifting of perspectives. it can just as easily switch back. once again, you might want something more literal.

I want for my name to be included in your butt

Normally, we'd expect oshiri kara here if the verb なる is in fact to be read as 成る. I don't think this is a matter of great concern, as the most common verb of receiving もらう can take either or kara to indicate the direction of reception (はは　に/から　りんごをもらった, "I got an apple from my mom"). I see a certain affinity between the two verbs, so let us assume for the moment 成る can take ni as well.

I want my name to be behind me

What if なる is just なる? in pulling the syntactic taffy, I've failed to entertain the possibility that なる is just plain old なる, "to become." and until now I've also assumed that を is nothing but the particle that marks a sentence's direct object. it has an emotive use as well.

夢と知りせば覚めざらましを
ah, if I'd known it to be a dream, I'd never've awoken!

What is your butt? euphemistically speaking, it's your behind. it's behind you. in that other video set to the same song, Ringo appears alone re-presenting all of those images of herself over the years. it's cute in its own way.