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I heard it in a song called 「さよならはエモーション」 by サカナクション.

The last refrain in the lyrics starts like this:

さよなら

僕は夜を乗りこなす

ずっと涙こらえ

忘れてたこと

いつか見つけ出す

ずっと深い霧を抜け

As to the meaning of 乗りこなす:

From excite.co.jp

のりこなす［乗り熟す］

（ 動サ五［四］ ） 思うままに操れる。巧みに乗る。 「駻馬（かんば）を－・す」

Now, I can't see the meaning behind 夜を乗りこなす even with looking up the meaning of 乗りこなす. Is it maybe just an artistic expression of the songwriter so the meaning has to be interpreted?

Also, the translation of 乗りこなす on jisho.org is:

to manage (a horse)

So the translation of the lyrics would be "I manage the night", but then it doesn't make sense in the whole context of the lyrics to me.

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    Perhaps "I will make the night mine". The definition "to manage a horse" is poorly-chosen English; better equivalents would be e.g. "to break a horse" or "to get a horse under one's control". (乗りこなす comes from 乗る "to ride" + こなす "to master".)
    – senshin
    Nov 12, 2015 at 18:46
  • So the text would go like: [Goodbye I'll make the night mine (in the sense of "I'll spare some time tonight for the following") Trying to hold in the tears Forgotten stuff will somewhen pop up Continuously escaping the thick fog ] This is more or less literally transcribed, am I right on my interpretation of 'make the night mine' here?
    – thz
    Nov 13, 2015 at 12:08
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    If you listen to many サカナクション songs, you'll find out that they personify objects and use figurative speech, so don't take the literal translation.
    – Yuu
    Nov 13, 2015 at 23:29

1 Answer 1

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This is one of those instances were the literal translation from the word on japanese to english may conflict with the overall meaning depending on the context.

As you pointed out the japanese dictionary definition of 乗りこなす is:

思うままに操れる

"To control as you wish"

So in english it will be something like

I will be the master of the night

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