So Hosono, clearly, was in peak form. But I'm starting to worry about Takashi. It's Springtime, Mon Amour (Hosono/Matsumoto) is the second 1983 Takashi lyric that I've translated, and it probably ties with the first (My Heart Goes "Kyun" for You) for the dubious title of least interesting Takashi lyric I've worked on. Either I'm just having awful luck, or 1983 was a low point — one of those nadir periods when Takashi spun off course and needed to revisit his Happy End-era work to reorient. I suspect it's just my bad luck (Takashi wrote about a hundred songs that year) but, pessimist that I am, I'm getting worried about Takashi's '80s in general. What I've worked on from 1981 hasn't had the most encouraging ratio of good to great either, and it's the great Takashi songs I'm searching for, of course.
It's weird to think that Hosono/Matsumoto songs always began with the lyrics. That means Takashi wrote these words, and delivered them to Haruomi, and that Haruomi read them, and then set them to music so beautiful, it would make you think Miki Fujimura was revealing mystical secrets.
:::
If I saw you by chance
on the street corner,
I wouldn't say anything.
I would polish my hand-mirror
and signal you
with a gleam of light.
Someone as dazzling as you
would undoubtedly notice.
"You're beautiful."
— but you can't let your guard down
around a voice that sounds kind.
If you make to grab hold of its owner,
they'll just slip skillfully away.
I realize that lost time
can't be called back again.
But my heart has turned the color of adventure.
You're dangerous, my darling.
Even if you take me out on a date,
I'll keep looking at my watch
as if I have another appointment.
I'll annoy you on purpose.
I got jilted long ago,
so I've learned to keep a certain distance.
This whole time I've been so eager to see you, though.
But I'll be keeping that a secret.
Now I'm getting this strange feeling
that spring is almost here.
I'm dangerous, my darling.
My heart has turned the color of adventure.
You're dangerous, my darling.
Dangerous, my darling.
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