Tuesday, February 9, 2010

“Shisuuki” by Iwasaki Hiromi

This might sound strange but when I like a musical performance I sometimes picture it as a cupcake. You don’t need to know the artist’s entire repertoire to appreciate it – it’s just a small taste. It’s not just the flavor that is important but the appearance and the scent and the packaging. Yesterday’s song, for example, would have Valentine’s pink frosting but would have a ominous hint of lemon. A replica of her headgear stuck to a toothpick, stabbed into a frosting heart.

Today’s song is chocolate all the way, dark and elegant and understated. Iwasaki Hiromi has been in show business since 1975, and this song came out just tears after. But though I’ve seen videos of her performing the same song when she was that young, barely twenty, they lack something that her more recent performances have in abundance. I’ve heard it said that Sondheim’s “Send in the Clowns” should not be performed by people under a certain age because they lack the perspective and experience. While that sort of ageism rubs me the wrong way and has ever since I was a precocious young thing, the long spans of some careers in Japan certainly provides room for comparison.

Even my footsteps make no sound - I've gone too far.
I'll see out the season alone.
Overflowing with tears, I am eighteen.

Silent but warm is the person who holds my heart,
His parting words as he held me close.
Before long, I am nineteen.

My heart shakes. Fall arrives. I am brittle with tears
Youth is something fragile. We love, but are hurt.
Youth is something losable. We only realize after we've passed through.

The first time we kissed, unexpectedly,
That person said, "I'm sorry,"
And with that, I also lost my voice.

The day before graduation,
The person who came to tell me his mind
Saw my troubled face and shrugged his shoulders.

Everyone passed through, never again to return.
Youth is something fragile. We love, but are hurt.
Youth is something losable. We only realize after we've passed through.

While drinking tea alone,
I write a postcard or something.
Is everyone healthy?
Let's meet sometime.

The words of innocent springtime,
The jokes of brilliant summer,
Rolling with laughter over this or that,
I remember on a day in autumn.

岩崎宏美 思秋期 歌詞 翻訳 英語

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