Working on the translation was a drag, since the lyrics are neither easy nor interesting, but — completionism again — I forbid myself from doing any of the great Yudemen songs before I finished this one.
A really faithful version would have required more effort than I was willing to give, so line for line the translation may often be off, but I think it gets the mood across. As it happens, Hosono himself wasn't faithful to Takashi's lyric sheet. The main point of the song is probably not any given line or verse so much as the nervous, feverish, psychedelic piling-on of weird and gloomy images.
:::
The tearful green moon
crept in through the cracks
as I was drifting off to sleep.
I could feel something coming toward me,
cleansing the room as it moved.
Rain blew and beat against
the floorboards and the walls
and the quiet sound of their breathing.
It was a very strange night.
Time flapped its wings,
looking off in every direction.
February drifted by,
so dizzyingly deep as to seem bottomless.
An enemy was present,
exploding with energy,
as cold as glass,
a cold screw slumbering
behind a curved needle.
It was a very strange night.
A warm futon!
I needed to be wrapped up snugly
inside a warm futon!
I was so cold.
What was the resentment aimed at? What?
Gasping in pain
at the bottom of an explosion of glass.
It wasn't the least bit funny,
but I still felt like laughing.
Silence fell.
It was a very strange night.
(Back to: List of Translations)
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