Translation: Choo Choo! and the Clattering Train (Haruomi Hosono)

Choo Choo! and the Clattering Train must be the most charming "touring sucks" song ever written. And we have Paul Simon to thank for it — Hosono said that Simon & Garfunkel's Homeward Bound made him realize it was okay to write lyrics about this sort of thing.

The recording on Hosono House is evidence that Caramel Mama were a god-tier band. Later they provided more evidence in the 1975 rearrangement for the Caramel Mama album (with slightly different lyrics, which I'd like to add as an appendix, later, if I don't get too distracted by the next batch of translations).

Kodama and Hikari are two grades of Japan's shinkansen/bullet train. What I have as "call back" seems to be a long-lost gambling term; maybe a game, maybe a move?

:::

I've got to get going at the crack of dawn.

I don't even want to get out of bed.

Of course, it's pouring outside

and I'm soaked by the time I reach the station.

We're going to Osaka.

I don't know the area well.

Choo choo! and the clattering train.

Choo choo! and the clattering train.

Choo choo! and the clattering train.

Choo choo! and the clattering train.

Choo choo! and the clattering train.

Blackjack. Call back.

Once it starts, it doesn't stop.

Kodama. Hikari.

Once it gets moving, it never slows down.

But please slow down. I'm tired.

Please slow down.

I'm not having fun.

This is just exhausting.

I guess it would be nice if I were a famous star.

Yeah, that could really be nice.

I'm getting sick of being in a band, though.

And nobody ever does anything on the train but gamble.

Blackjack. Call back.

Once it starts, it doesn't stop.

Kodama. Hikari.

Once it gets moving, it never slows down.

But please slow down. I'm tired.

Please slow down.

Hey, that guy plays rock and roll!

Man, that must be nice.

— Well, slightly derivative rock and roll.

Does anybody listen to music like that?

Well, I'll be forcing some people to listen 

to that kind of rock and roll

in a city I've never been to before.

Choo choo! and the clattering train.

Choo choo! and the clattering train.

Choo choo! and the clattering train.

Choo choo! and the clattering train.

Choo choo! and the clattering train.

Blackjack. Call back.

Once it starts, it doesn't stop.

Kodama. Hikari.

Once it gets moving, it never slows down.

But please slow down. I'm tired.

Please slow down.

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