Translation: Rendezvous (Sons of Sun)

Rendezvous (Yanagida/Matsumoto) opens Side B with shimmering folk-rock (which is such a cliche, but how else would you describe this arrangement?) that makes way for a bizarre and wonderful psychedelic bridge, the one moment on the album that hearkens back to Hiro Yanagida's psych rock past.

Before I investigated the lyrics, I thought the long breaks between the lines in the verses (as delivered by Mao, Sons of Sun's androgynous German-Japanese vocalist) were strange, but after I did the translation, the same pauses came to feel beautiful and natural.

Suburban Train is my favorite song on Kaizoku Kid no Bouken, but I think this one comes in second.

:::

For a long time now,

and all too late,

the only thing I've been able to think about

is coffee.

Even as they roll the rays of the sun like dough,

my fingertips are stiff with cold.

See how slowly

the coffee I spilled

glides over the frozen summer...

and oh how pleasantly.

For a long time now,

and all too late,

the only thing I've been able to think about

is you.

My eyes reflect nothing

but the silhouettes

of a city made of paper.

See how slowly

the shards of the love you mislaid

glide over the frozen pavement...

and oh how pleasantly.

For a long time now,

and all too late,

the only thing I've been able to think about

is love.

My lips cling to love

but emit only smoke.

See how slowly

the love song I'd forgotten about

glides over the frozen pavement...

and oh how quietly...

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