Translation: I Think I Can Smell the Wind Burning (Hiro Yanagida)

Given how much the image of wind meant to Takashi in the Kazemachi period (and continued to), one commenter in Japanese wondered whether the title of I Think I Can Smell the Wind Burning (Yanagida/Matsumoto) alludes to to the disintegration of Happy End. The timing works out. The mixture of weariness and beauty in Hiro's arrangement and vocal delivery gives it the right mood too. "It's all so lovely," but the imagery is violent.

This came out the same year as Hiro, Takashi, and Mao's Sons of Sun album, and while the songwriting voice is recognizable, it's a very different sort of record. On the one hand, Hiro learned from his mistake and got Takashi lyrics on every song with vocals. On the other, half the running length is instrumentals: two solo piano pieces that lean abstract; one fun bit of lounge/surf/exotica (or maybe just samba, as the title suggests), and ten minutes of free jazz to close.

:::

Sure enough, it's summer.

The light is brimming over.

The sky is so blue that it hurts.

The sunlight gathers even in your dimples.

It's all so lovely, isn't it?

The green is melting.

The green is melting.

The streets flicker like fire

in the sunlight

and I think I can smell the wind burning.

Try tossing your straw hat in the air.

— There! See?

Sure enough, it's summer.

The exploding light

bakes and sizzles

in the blue of the sea.

The green is melting.

The green is melting.

The streets flicker like fire

in the sunlight

and I think I can smell the wind burning.

Try tossing your straw hat in the air.

— There! See?

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