I'm a stubborn person, so I've been seeking out Takashi songs from 1983 precisely because the first two I translated were disheartening. Morocco (Tsutsumi/Matsumoto) is better, if not great. There's more character to it, but it remains Takashi by-the-numbers. It's too easy for him to write lyrics like this these.
Since Kyohei Tsutsumi is involved, the music and the words meld well. Enka singer Shinichi Mori, for whom the Hosono/Matsumoto duo wrote a couple of songs that year too (both on the 20th Century Box), croons the "sensitive tough guy" sentiments to life. I was wondering whether there is a less unpleasant way to render the word "bitch" (おばずれ), but the harshness seems intentional, and in-character. Listen to how Mori himself shies away from the word.
:::
Get me a double scotch with ice.
Man, has this city turned into a wasteland.
Say, do you happen to know the woman in this picture?
I mean, it's a really old one, I'm sure she looks different now...
Right outside the window is the desert,
and up above the coconuts, the blue moon.
Even though she was a bitch,
she was like an oasis to me.
Hey bartender, pour me another glass.
It's strange, but I dream about her all the time.
You know how people never age in dreams?
We had a tryst once in a hotel up the road,
but when I stopped by earlier,
all that was left was a vacant lot.
Right outside the window is the desert.
And a human heart's the same.
It doesn't matter how far you walk,
all you'll ever find is emptiness.
Well now, bartender, I've talked your ear off
with yet another dismal story.
Right outside the window is the desert,
and up above the coconuts, the blue moon.
Even though she was a bitch,
she was like an oasis to me.
Say, bartender...
once I've drunk myself unconscious,
do me a favor
and leave me in the desert to die.
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