August 10, 2024

Translation: Dishevelled Hair (Eiichi Ohtaki) (Hiro Yanagida)

A beautiful little lyric about obsession; or: How to Put Repetition to Proper Artistic Use 101.

What's extra cool about this lyric is that, due to a mix-up in Takashi's documents, he supplied the same set of words to Happy End bandmate Eiichi Ohtaki for his 1972 debut solo album (which has five Takashi co-writes in total), and to Apryl Fool bandmate Hiro Yanagida for his 1972 album Hiro (which has seven). Two very different settings; both wonderful. This version of Dishevelled Hair is Eiichi's, this one is Hiro's.



:::



The blue of the tatami shivers
inside the broken mirror.
What is it you are looking at
so intently?

You cut your hair too short
and now you look just like a boy.
Outside, rain is falling,
looking just like dishevelled hair.

Don't you see? It's your hair that's falling.
Don't you see? It's your hair that's falling.

Your eyes are spots of light
gleaming from the shadows
engulfing the window.
What is it you are glaring at
so fiercely?

You cut your hair too short
and now you look just like a boy.
Outside, rain is falling,
looking just like dishevelled hair.

Don't you see? It's your hair that's falling.
Don't you see? It's your hair that's falling.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Translation: The Kittens of the Apple Forest (Mari Iijima)

Back when I was translating a Matsumoto song or two a day, 1983 felt like a wasteland, and wound up making me feel pretty discouraged. ...