Translation: Dusk (Sons of Sun)

By the time I was on Dusk (Yanagida/Matsumoto), Takashi's third Kaizoku Kid no Bouken song, I was spellbound. The songs were not only as beautifully composed as Kazemachi Roman, they felt gentler and more personal. Which meant that Takashi had written two masterpieces back to back (or maybe even three... or, possibly, four? and a half? but more on all that later).  One became known as an all-time great album, while Kaizoku Kid no Bouken never even became a cult classic — but that's the listeners' fault. Sure, Sons of Sun are not Happy End — no one is. But you can't ask for more gorgeous settings of Takashi's words than those Hiro and his band provided.

The souvenirs and octopi bit (おみやげをみっつ   たこみっつ) is another reference to children's rhymes (see also A Flower Costs One Monme and May the Weather Tomorrow Be Good). The words are a segment of a spell encouraging someone to keep a promise.



:::

Laid out in the distance

up on top of the hill,

the chimneys of the houses

that look like wooden playing blocks from here

are spitting smoke into a sky

suffused with orange sunset.

The sky, stained red,

is as still as death.

Children are hurrying home.

"Three souvenirs, three octopi..."

No matter how long I wait, though,

I can't spot the first star of the evening.

An old man stands

off in the distance,

puffing on a big seaman's pipe,

drawing the orange sunset 

into his lungs.

The sky is as still as death,

its colors fading.

Children are hurrying home.

And though both the frogs and the crows are done singing,

no matter how long I wait,

I can't spot the first star of the evening.

No matter how long I wait, though,

I can't spot the first star of the evening.

I hear the whistle of a train

in the distance.

Its chimney

(it looks like a toy train from here)

is spitting smoke into a sky

suffused with twilight, all ultramarine.

The sky, stained blue,

is as still as death.

Children are hurrying home.

Feels like tomorrow it'll be spring for sure.

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