August 28, 2024

Translation: Capture Me in a Strawberry Field (Seiko Matsuda)

So it turns out I was wrong about the overarching theme of Kaze Tachinu being "happy songs about unhappy situations." That's representative of Side B, yes, but Eiichi's five on Side A are just as happy or as sad as they sound. Take this song, Capture Me in a Strawberry Field (Ohtaki/Matsumoto). The lyrics are exactly as playful as Eiichi's setting.

And yet... it seems to me that there's power in these lyrics that Eiichi played down. I can imagine an arrangement that leaned more into splendor and beauty, to match lines like "come to me through the light of dawn" (!) or "I'm waiting for you, dressed in lace," or the recurring image of the glass princess. There's an elemental longing behind the play-acting, and I think Eiichi's happy-go-lucky melodies obscure it.

That fake-out ending is apposite, though. Just when you think the chase is over...



:::



Come get me, quickly,
riding a white bicycle.
Like in a Disney movie,
come to me through the light of dawn.

On this morning
with the raindrops
still shining on the window,
I'm waiting for you,
dressed in lace.

Come capture me 
in a strawberry field.
I would love it if you did.

Love is a sorcerer who,
with the wave of a magic wand,
can turn an ordinary girl
into a princess made of glass.

I plant a soft kiss
on the seed of a red strawberry.
How good it would be
to toss that seed into your hand
as you run in my direction.

Even if you whispered the words "I love you,"
and even if it made me dizzy to hear them,
there's no way I would turn around
to face you just yet.

Come capture me
in a strawberry field.
I would love it if you did.

Instead, I would become the wind,
teasing your outstretched hands,
and when I got tired of running,
maybe I'd stumble and fall on purpose...

When you find someone you like,
first things first, you run away.
That's what my mother taught me
about the ways of love.

Love is a sorcerer who,
with the wave of a magic wand,
can turn an ordinary girl
into a princess made of glass.



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