Translation: The Crossroads of Love (Agnes Chan)

I'm swiftly becoming an Agnes Chan fanatic. At least an Agnes + Takashi fanatic. Counting the two songs I haven't posted yet, their collaboration hit/miss tally is currently at five/zero.

The word "crossroads" in the title (十字路) conjures too much Robert Johnsonian rurality for this (classically Takashi) urban scene — it should really be "traffic intersection," I guess — but while The Traffic Intersection of Love would be a great song title, it doesn't exactly suit a tune this lovely or a tale this mournful. The Crossroads of Love it is.

The music (reminiscent of contemporaneous songs from Poland's own folk/pop scene... I'm Polish and grew up on that great stuff... listen to how the riff comes in under Agnes's last long notes in each chorus!) is by Kohichi Morita, an experienced pop songwriter who also did the music for Poppy Flower, Agnes's crossover / breakthrough hit in Japan. There's a total of nineteen Morita/Matsumoto songs, and the majority of them appear on a 1976 album called Chiisana Koi no Merodii, by The Lilies, with all tunes credited Morita/Matsumoto. I'll probably adore it. Where would I be without YouTube? 

:::

You waved good morning

with a hand from which

the ring that had our names engraved on it,

matching the ring I wore,

was missing.

You'd only mislaid it.

You'd taken it off for a good reason.

I didn't ask what the reason was.

I stared down at my feet

and the city trembled in the wind.

If love is really like a flame,

then please, oh, please don't blow it out.

It seems that a gentle sigh

will suffice to snuff it completely.

Tender-hearted people

pass each other in the street.

There at the crossroads,

I get the feeling

I'm going to lose you.

We walked along the tree-lined avenue.

We weren't even arm in arm.

You suddenly broke into a sprint and left me

on this side of the red light.

The road stretched out between

two transformed people.

Where had the tenderness

you always used to show

gone off to?

Please take my hand.

I'm about to cry.

Your love is so far off

all I can do is gaze in its direction.

Lonely-hearted people

pass each other in the street.

There at the crossroads,

I get the feeling

I'm going to lose you.

There at the crossroads,

I get the feeling

I'm going to lose you.

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