July 18, 2024

Translation: Juliet (Shigeru Suzuki)

Come the back half of the 1970s, Takashi was writing mostly for female singers. The Shigeru collaborations were a relief valve. A song like Juliet ... "pent-up" would be one way to describe it, no?

Musically it's peak SSSRT, so unless you're a veteran city popper or love Eric Clapton's Backless as much as I do, I would recommend ... uh ... caution. But if you do happen to fit in one of those two categories, follow the link to Juliet and bliss out.

For a song this raunchy, the last line is both raunchy and romantic — mystically beautiful, even.

Also, "come on and flaunt your naked love" (むきだしの愛を見せつけてやれ) is one of those lines where I thought, "Surely this can't be the right translation...?" And maybe it isn't, I do make flagrant errors and only realize months later, but to the best of my current knowledge (and also based on how Shigeru sings it), that does seem to be the gist.



:::



Juliet, 
bathe your golden skin
in the cascade of light,
and sleep.

Juliet —
the alcohol I drank
is spurring me on,
merging with the tidal wave
that's rising in my heart.

The summer's hot enough 
to burn the sand to ashes.
Come on and flaunt your naked love!

Juliet 
combs her hair out in the water.
She looks like a fairy
with the light behind her.

Juliet
has taken off her bathing suit.
I am drowning in the ocean
of her back.

The summer's hot enough 
to burn time itself to ashes.
There's eternity in our entwined fingers.

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