Midaregami

Siezed by the translation demons as I was last night, I cranked through “Sunny” by The Back Horn.

Yesterday was incredibly great, by the way. More on that soon.

I think this song is about loss of childhood innocence.

The is the kind of song that music snobs listen to and immediately dismiss as being the worst kind of derivative ska-punk schlock.

I would have disagreed with them before, and after translating the lyrics, I not only disagree, I think they’re the worst kind of wrong.

Let’s walk with the dawn along the huge black wall

Look! The streamline feels like when you kill a man.

We crossed the barbed-wire fence

And not knowing a thing

Laughed like it was a dream

We thought we could look down on

the whole world from here

The coffee-colored darkness dulls the sky

Will our filthy world

start to drink even such bitterness?

That day in the pouring rain

Taken by the adults

You were crying, calling out for me

Trembling, I couldn’t move

Even now, I still can’t.

The big hand stole our hearts and disappeared

After the rain, if we see a rainbow in this sky

Let’s grab the tail of the dark and the light,

and head for Tomorrow.

Never to return.

We crossed the barbed-wire fence

And not knowing a thing

Laughed like it was a dream

We thought we could look down on

the whole world from here

Trembling, I couldn’t move

Even now, I still can’t.

Here’s the Japanese. Romaji upon request, I suppose.

黒い大きな壁を歩こう　夜明けとともに

見ろよ流線型は　人を殺す時の気持ちさ

僕ら有刺鉄線を越え　何も知らないいままで

夢見るよう二笑ってた

ここから見下ろす景色は

世界の全てと思っていた

コーヒー色した闇が　空をつまらなくしてる

汚い社会　苦い味さえ

飲み込めるようになってしまうの？

あの日　土砂降りの夜の事　大人達に連れられ

泣きながら僕を呼んでる

震えたままで動けなかった

今もあの時の気持ちのまま

大きな手　僕たちの心奪って消えてった

雨上がり　この空　虹を見えたら

闇と光の尾を引いて　明日へと

行こう　もう二度と戻らない

僕ら有刺鉄線を越え　何も知らないいままで

夢見るよう二笑ってた

ここから見下ろす景色は

世界の全てと思っていた

震えたままで動けなかった

今もあの時の気持ちのまま

This entry was posted on Monday, May 17th, 2004 at 9:39 am and is filed under Translations. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.