It's a wonderful love song. In its "this is all really a little too much" spirit, Evening Love reminds me of Hosono's Choo Choo! and the Clattering Train. But where Hosono's narrator was ready to throw in the towel, Koh's is indomitable. The couple in this song can only spend one day a week together: it's not a lot, but it's something, and these two lovers are going to make sure it counts.
There's a great episode of Daisy Holiday with Eika. Chu had passed away a year earlier. Hosono had been charged with preparing the tracklist for the two-disc Ultimate Best Chu Kosaka retrospective. Eika, who married Kosaka in the early '70s and was with him until his death, wondered whether it hadn't been too painful a task, but Haruomi assures her that, bittersweet though the task may have been, he had a lot of fun ("it was so hard to pick only two CDs' worth of songs!"). The two reminisce about the friend and companion they had lost. Eika calls Hosono "Omi-chan."
Mind that the title is a pun. ゆうがた (yuugata) means "evening" but considering how it's pronounced and the word that appears next, the song's title sounds a lot like "you gotta love." — I figured that much out on my own, and found my surmise confirmed in the Chu's Café episode about this song, and therefore felt all clever and perceptive. But Kosaka went on to reveal that the album title is a pun too! — ほうろう, romanized on the front cover as Horo, punning on the phrase "hold on." I had no idea.
There's a great episode of Daisy Holiday with Eika. Chu had passed away a year earlier. Hosono had been charged with preparing the tracklist for the two-disc Ultimate Best Chu Kosaka retrospective. Eika, who married Kosaka in the early '70s and was with him until his death, wondered whether it hadn't been too painful a task, but Haruomi assures her that, bittersweet though the task may have been, he had a lot of fun ("it was so hard to pick only two CDs' worth of songs!"). The two reminisce about the friend and companion they had lost. Eika calls Hosono "Omi-chan."
Speaking of the passage of time, the line "but Sundays are all yours" took on an unexpected meaning for Kosaka after his conversion to Christianity later that decade. Please go watch the Chu's Café episode just so you can enjoy Kosaka's smile as he reflects on how that worked out.
:::
On Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays
I work at the movie theater
all evening long,
all evening long.
Otherwise I'm
at the drink stand, selling
Coca-Cola,
Coca-Cola.
Daytime? Nope.
Nighttime? Nope.
But Sundays are all yours.
(Thursday, Friday, Saturday.)
(Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday.)
(Thursday, Friday, Saturday.)
(Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday.)
On Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays,
it rains.
Crowds of people.
Crowds of people.
Weekly magazines
and a crowded train:
I'm a day laborer.
I'm a day laborer.
I'm a day laborer.
Daytime? Nope.
Nighttime? Nope.
But Sundays are all yours.
(Thursday, Friday, Saturday.)
(Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday.)
(Thursday, Friday, Saturday.)
(Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday.)
I don't have any steady work.
Just part-time jobs.
Just part-time jobs.
I never even have
two days off in a row.
Crowds of people.
Crowds of people.
Daytime? Nope.
Nighttime? Nope.
But Sundays are all yours.
(Thursday, Friday, Saturday.)
(Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday.)
(Thursday, Friday, Saturday.)
(Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday.)
(Thursday, Friday, Saturday.)
(Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday.)
(Thursday, Friday, Saturday.)
(Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday.)
(Thursday, Friday, Saturday.)
(Back to: List of Translations)
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