Haruomi Hosono

the Swing Slow reissue cheats a bit because parts of it were actually re-recorded or remixed. but the Omni Sight Seeing/Medicine Comp reissues are incredible, two of the best sounding albums in my collection really. it's especially impressive since OSS is 48 minutes long

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2n6Z6PWXlDY

Just had YouTube suggest this video compilation of music from his label Non-Standard to me - has anyone else seen this before?

NON-STANDARD SPECIAL PV

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gHiI_MWqkk

00:00 Opening
00:36 Strange Love / 細野晴臣
06:38 野ばら / コシミハル (Miharu Koshi)
09:42 瞳はサンセットグロウ / SHI-SHONEN
13:45 細野晴臣 SFX CM
15:15 Dr.Diet / URBAN DANCE
18:49 オードリィ・ヘプバーン・コンプレックス / ピチカート・ファイヴ (Pizzicato Five)
23:39 太陽とダァリヤ / WORLD STANDARD
27:40 冬のノフラージュ / MIKADO

^^^ !!!

reissue news:

https://wrwtfww.com/album/quiet-logic

that's quiet logic, a 90s collaboration between hosono, mixmaster morris and jonah sharp

He's grown his hair out again, bless him!

https://tower.jp/article/news/2022/06/28/tg009

He mentioned he was recording -- wonder whether he meant the recent (beautiful!) ambient work Undercurrent or something else that hasn't yet surfaced.

Oh man, those descending "mmmmmmm"s in the outro of Funiculi Funicula!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGBe3Fb6Jco

Here's a neat Hosono composition snuck on to the end of a [Sandi & The] Sunsetz album from 1981. If you wanted to bridge Cochin Moon and Philharmony with a single track, this would be the one.

hard to believe there's still 80s Hosono stuff out there I haven't heard

cool track but slightly cursed wouldn't you say

I like the first track on that album, it sort of reminds me of The Slits or something

Been digging around in Hosono's 1987 -- things seem to get especially messy for a while, post-Monad, with F.O.E. gaining members (and opening for James Brown in Japan...?). There was the soundtrack to The Tale of Genji, (same director as Night on the Galactic Railroad) and then the thoroughly collaborative (her website: "Absolute simulative works from the original recording by HARUOMI HOSONO and MIHARU KOSHI / Manipulated by HARUOMI HOSONO") Echo de Miharu, finished in December '86 but released in 1987. Between those two, there's enough magnificent music for anyone... you'd think. But as usual, with Hosono, there's more in the corners. Tell me, how can you not adore a man who, in the very same year, made both this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8yViRPNNweQ

and this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBUBMDuejM4

“The Tale Of Genji” is a lovely soundtrack

This thread seems to be where most of the Miharu Koshi action is -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-nHP84Tgug4

Thank you Mare, sampled a bit, gonna need to listen in full.

I've been having too much fun working on these translations. Why stop?

Paraiso has its share of heavy spiritual longing (Shimendoka, Worry Beads, title track, arguably Asatoya Yunta, maybe Shambhala Signal too if you just go by the title) and, as we English speakers know, its equally heavy share of goofball numbers... like Femme Fatale.

...

Here are the ends of the earth.
A mysterious oasis hidden in the city.
Today, too, I will search for you,
and when I find you,
the birds in the red sky will clamor.

The sun is in the west.
When the moon rises and illuminates the dark,
moonburned skin will give off the fragrance
of blood, sweat, and tears.
It's an omen of death.

Hey, listen!
The ground is rumbling.
You can hear it shaking in the distance!
Come on, quit it with these scary omens -- femme fatale!

You are a demon's daughter
and, ah, once again I am your captive.
The moon is full
and a dreadful god is coming,
swooping down to abduct you!

Hey, listen!
The ground is rumbling.
You can hear it shaking in the distance!
Come on, quit it with these scary omens -- femme fatale!

Really enjoying your translations and commentary.

Thank you, Kim!

Mare, that series looks nuts! There's a whole episode on Chu Kosaka's wonderful Horo?! (aka the Hosono solo album Hosono didn't make himself because he felt his voice wasn't suited to that sort of R&B / blues, so instead he tasked Chu Kosaka aka lead singer of Apryl Fool with making it).

Glad you like! I love that such a thing as an ALFA YT channel exists.

No kidding! Seems too good to be true!

Swinging over to Philharmony for a minute, to the only Japanese song, unless you count the Japanese bits in Luminescent/Hotaru ("Firefly! Come!"). The words to Funiculi Funicula are based more on the premise of Peppino Turco's original 1880 text than on its actual content. The words are credited to Sō Aoki, "lyricist and translator from French" sez Discogs, and to one Shin Yakyō, whose sole credit this is -- presumably a Hosono pseudonym. The words certainly carry the Hosono brand of lovely absurdist humor.

...

(Verse 1)
Let's go up the mountain that spews red fire.
Let's go up! Let's go up!
And once we're there, let's have a peek inside the furnace of hell.
Have a peek! Have a peek!
Now that we have the cable car,
anybody can go up.
The billowing smoke is inviting
everybody! Everybody!

(Chorus)
Let's go, let's go to the fiery mountain!
Let's go up the mountain!
Funiculi, funicula, funiculi, funicula
Anyone can ride it! Funiculi, funicula

(Verse 2)
Looking so bright red in the dark night sky --
I can see it! I can see it!
It's the fiery mountain, Vesuvius.
Fiery mountain! Fiery mountain!
The cable car has come down
to the foot of the mountain.
The burning flame is reflected in the sky.
Blazing! Blazing!

(Chorus again)

(Verse 1 again)

(Chorus again & again & agaaaain)

Seems too good to be true!

And it kind of is -- given the length of the episodes, I would've liked everyone to go into more detail. But there are worse ways to spend 45 minutes than listening to YMO fans chat. The first Ginger Root episode, in which he does a cover of Kimi ni Mune Kyun, went over several terrific historical / contextual tidbits I didn't know about; recommended!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrmTGtUyM_A

On the translation front, here's a version of Paraiso.

...

Sometimes, in dreams, I'll see a fantasy vision
and, following it, end up at a pier.
As for this city I'm in now, well --
I could get used to living here, if I had to --
this island country I've tried and failed to slip away from.
Tomorrow I'll try and fail again.

(chorus)
From the pier, I'll leap aboard a ship hailing from a distant land --
adios, farewell! --
and blow a kiss to the lights of the city,
gazing at them as I would a woman's face --
bye bye, bye bye, goodbye.

Paradise! Paraiso!
Ever-expanding fantasy!
Mirage! Paraiso!
Melting into reality.

(synthesizer paradise)

(chorus again)

Someday, with me and the city both in twilight,
I will make my way to the side
of somebody who is waiting for love to arrive.
Adios, farewell, sayonara.

(and Harry's message to us all at album's end: "Next time will be 'more better' !!!")

I had no idea about this YEN Records channel, this is amazing

and lol @ "synthesizer paradise", that part is so insane and weirdly intense it barely fits the song, kind of the ultimate Hosono moment I suppose

listening to that 2019 live album now and it's hilarious the way the crowd cheers for the "Yellow Mario" line

Yen channel?

Thanks a lot for this stuff TNNN

I see this is getting reissued - I'd never even heard of it before

https://www.discogs.com/release/240618-Mixmaster-Morris-Jonah-Sharp-Quiet-Logic

Although, I'm curious what exactly Hosono does on this. the reissue lists him in the artist credit but idk maybe that's a marketing ploy? either way I checked out some samples and it is indeed very nice.

currently listening to Loophole and I can't believe how well this album has held up. makes me wonder if they'd have produced more albums if not for that quasi-YMO reunion in 2007. kind of the last we heard from Hosono as a songwriting voice too. I like the HASYMO stuff fine but it feels a bit like a compromise, this very much does not

Daisyworld is Hosono's label. Per Discogs:

Haruomi Hosono (co-founder of Yellow Magic Orchestra) directs this label and releases only things he likes.

(though you probably knew that)

love that quiet logic record but it really isn't particularly hosono-ey, much more on a 90s chillout room tip

Maffew, my pleasure! Hard to believe that it's 2024 and nobody beat me to the work. It's great having something to contribute back to the pulsating orb of joy, generosity & good vibes which is the YMO corner of the Internet. These past six months of obsession would not have been as fun or, actually fuck understatement, soul-expanding if not for places like this forum.

Frog, that moment on Paraiso is my favorite part of that song too. Feels like being lifted straight to heaven by a host of angels, each as handsome as Ryuichi Sakamoto himself. It's *thematically* appropriate, it turns out -- as far as the lyrics go -- but sonically it's just pure whooooaaa.

Translating all this stuff is making me love it so much more. The words to Tokyo Rush are as perfect as the music would have you expect. That Honolulu line! Hosono is brilliant.

...

From way over there and from over here, it's vroom vroom vroom.
All year long, at the intersections, it's vroom vroom vroom.

Tokyo rush! Lotta people rush.
Tokyo rush! It's a gas, gas, gas.
Tokyo rush.
Occasionally I'll take refreshing trips to Honolulu.

Twist, twist, speeding down the meandering highway.
Twist, twist, getting pissed off.

Tokyo rush! Lotta people rush.
Tokyo rush! It's a gas, gas, gas.
Tokyo rush.

From Moscow and from Dhaka, it's vroom vroom vroom.
All year long, at the air control towers, it's vroom vroom vroom.

Tokyo rush! Exploding information rush.
Tokyo rush! Secret intelligence rush.
Tokyo rush.
Time to run away, fly direct to Hong Kong.

Down. Down. Feeling depressed. And no sooner do I realize it than:
Down. Down. Feeling ridiculous.

Tokyo rush! Lotta people rush.
Tokyo rush! It's a gas, gas, gas.
Tokyo rush.

loving these translations

My current favorite of all Hosono compositions: Worry Beads. His most heartfelt vocal performance on record? Those harmonies! And the group vocals! The piano! It's one of the most beautiful spiritual/religious songs I know, and I know some incredible ones. Plus the Japanese has that incredible Hosono wordplay I was talking about, which just makes it tons and tons and tons of fun to sing, and makes the touching parts of the lyrics still more touching.

Regarding the chant, Google turned this up: "Om Chandraya Namaha is a Sanskrit mantra used in Hindu and yogic practices. It is a mantra dedicated to the Hindu god of the moon, Chandra, and its repetition is said to bring clarity, insight, perspective, and calm, especially in times of confusion and distress."

...

Come, let us go!
Let us return
to the deserts of the moon
and plant the moon's seeds
within our hearts.

One hundred and eight troubles --
the first one, the second --
all you can do is count them.
But look! Your body is so light,
you can go anywhere,
any place at all you can think of,
you can go soon,
you can go right away.

(repeat chorus)

Count the worry beads --
basking in the moonlight,
you count the seeds,
and if you allow your breath to be taken away --
look! The deserts of the moon in your heart
spread forth, and then --
soon, right away --

Om Namah Chandraya
Shantih Shantih Chandraya

Come, let us go!
Let us return
to the deserts of the moon
and plant the moon's seeds
within our hearts.

The first bead for that child's sake.
The second bead for this child's sake.
But, everybody, look! The thread is unraveling,
you can go anywhere,
any place at all you can think of,
you can go soon,
you can go right away.

Om Namah Chandraya
Shantih Shantih Chandraya

Now for Shimendoka (Song of Four Directions) -- a few months back I stumbled on the Chinese translation, and was moved me to tears (which is normally more Takahashi's ballpark). While reading, I forgot how happy a song it actually is. But it's got that core of desperate longing. Lately I've been listening to it every morning, as a prayer and a pick-me-up. Great way to begin the day. (Though I should admit I stole the idea from the song's YouTube comment section. YouTube also supplied the video I'll link to after the lyrics.)

Delving into the Japanese was great fun. The full translation that the dictionary supplied for the term I rendered "wicked demon" is "demon who hinders Buddhist training / demon who obstructs sentient beings from maintaining moral behaviour."

...

In the morning I'll set out
from my west-facing door
for Bhārat, where lotus flowers bloom,
going to meet the gods.

The way may be full of flowers or full of storms,
but it doesn't matter, I'm going.
I'm shaking off sad words and heading out.

When the flowers are in bloom, I'll set out
for southern seas,
where the hot winds are blowing --
to bask in Caribbean sunsets.

The way may be full of flowers or full of storms,
but it doesn't matter, I'm going.
I'm shaking off sad words and heading out.

Wicked demons, get lost.
Evil devils, get lost.
Wicked demons, get lost.
Evil devils, get lost.
Out of my way.

When the wind comes blowing, I'll set out
towards that eastern sky,
to Chaldea, country of the magicians --
to bask in moonlight.

The way may be full of flowers or full of storms,
but it doesn't matter, I'm going.
I'm shaking off sad words and heading out.

And when night falls, I'll arrive
at that northern island
and find you pursuing the phoenix
down the streets of your city.

You need to be a little careful
when you're trying to catch that thing,
it's so easy to get burned by its flames!

Wicked demons, get lost.
Evil devils, get lost.
Wicked demons, get lost.
Evil devils, get lost.
Out of my way.

...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0RRsX35pyEA

A simple one today -- though the background is rich enough -- Japanese Rhumba. It's a so-called "GI song"," copyrighted 1951, written by an American soldier stationed in Japan, surnamed Miller (no agreement about his first name). From an essay by Minako Waseda:

Some GI songs also employ the so-called "Bamboo English" -- a form of pidgin characterized by a crude mixture of English with Japanese words and phrases, often in corrupted pronunciation and with limited syntactic possibilities. It was a language developed in the relationship between GIs and their Japanese girlfriends.

So the Japanese is full of simple phrases that you probably know anyway (precisely correct and in their polite form, like "oyasuminasai" instead of just "oyasumi" for "good night"), but the grammar is kind of wonky and the sentences halting. stroke of Hosonian subversive genius was assigning lead vocals to Tib Kamayatsu, a jazz singer of the previous generation, 67 years old in 1978. As I hear it, these lyrics delivered by that so evidently old voice makes it less of a song about how people fumble towards love, or motions of love, even in unusual and politically incorrect circumstances, and more a song of love boiled down to its absolute, core, universal essentials.

...

Where are you go...? Here, welcome, yeah?
Excuse me. Uhh. Good morning.

Japanese rhumba, ay ay ay.
Japanese rhumba, ay ay.
Japanese rhumba, ay ay ay.
Good morning!

What is it, Mama-san? Hurry up, Papa-san. Yes.
Excuse me, young lady. Wait a moment, please.

Japanese rhumba, ay ay ay.
Japanese rhumba, ay ay.
Japanese rhumba, ay ay ay.
Wait a moment, please!

What, uhh, I mean -- beautiful, yes? Your make-up. Yes.
What do you... I mean, hi. Good afternoon.

Japanese rhumba, ay ay ay.
Japanese rhumba, ay ay.
Japanese rhumba, ay ay ay.
I mean, hi! Good afternoon!

Good evening.
Good evening.
Good evening.
Good night.

There are a couple of mostly incomprehensible English versions of Asadoya Yunta floating around. I thought I'd give it a shot myself, but the lyrics are a poem from the 1930s and I have enough difficulty with contemporary Japanese.

One thing, though; the chorus, which is so old that nobody (Japanese or western) has a clue as to its meaning, has the word "Hari" ... both Paraiso and Bon Voyage Co were released as "Harry Hosono" records, and it makes me wonder to what extent that Hari in Asadoya Yunta helped make it a candidate for Paraiso.

With Paraiso done, I'll probably be jumping around a bit. I definitely want to do all of Hosono House soon. I'm scared of Bon Voyage Co -- my impression is that the album is Hosono Wordplay Central.

I wanted to work on Hurricane Dorothy today, but someone beat me to it, back in 2021:

https://lyricstranslate.com/en/hurricane-dorothy-hurricane-dorothy.html

The same someone also did Akiko's Rose Garden: a metaphor for her creative process! Maybe. I'm always reading metaphors for the creative process into things.

https://lyricstranslate.com/en/rose-garden-rose-garden.html

So here's Androgena from SFX instead. Such a cool song. Miharu Koshi singing harmony. SFX in general is one of my favorites -- though, what does that mean when talking about the Hosono catalogue...? They're all my favorites. He's my favorite artist. I'd have a miserable time trying to pick a Hosono top five, even.

Still! SFX has a vibe and atmosphere like nothing else I've ever heard. Maybe except John Frusciante's Enclosure -- the mad scientist locked away in his lab tower, shutting out the rest of the world, kind of sound.

I have no idea what the reference to Agatha's miracle is. All that a search turned up was a Japanese listener mentioning that those words confounded them too -- in a welcome way.

...

Lunatic Androgena!
Lunatic Androgena!
Shining inside the gods' hand-mirror.
You employ white magic
and let your silhouette
reflect the sky.

Lunatic Androgena.
Lunatic Andro-genius.
Dazzling Eros of the moon!
Hiding your winged body
in garments made of dazzling light.

Gena, Gena!
Agatha's miracle,
a sad kind of joy.
Gena, Gena!
Where are you going, Gena,
vanishing now, like an angel?

(repeat second verse)

(repeat chorus)

I wonder with the repeated references to androgyny, the line is alluding to Saint Agatha whose breasts were cut off in her martyrdom.

Oh, right on! I didn't even make the androgyny connection -- I was thinking Hosono was playing on Andromeda.

I don't have any albums in hard copies and today got a torrent that included artwork from a Paraiso reissue... which came complete with English translations. So I feel a little silly -- though I don't regret doing it, since there are shortcuts taken here and there by the official translator. But also a couple of grammar mistakes in mine, the kind that affect the meaning: in Worry Beads, we're being ENCOURAGED to count the seeds as a way to illumination, instead of what I understood -- the suggestion that counting them won't be of much use since it won't make your worries go away. And in Shimendoka, it's the narrator who's going to chase the firebird in that town on the northern island, and not the old friend he mentions. But it's also encouraging that I've made so FEW mistakes. Onwards!

Do the Light in the Attic LP reissues come with lyric translations?

Here's the song with which the Tropical Trilogy originated, track 4 on the almighty Dandy, Nettaiya (Sultry Night). Hosono has said that he was originally envisioning a more Band-esque, "Hosono House 2" arrangement for it. That would have emphasized the city scenes. Instead, with ole Martin Denny in mind, he decided to go tropical, leaning into the fantastical/imagined elements of the lyric -- the things that AREN'T present, that need to be summoned by his imagination. No wonder Paraiso is such a spiritual record (or that Chow Chow Dog is apparently about Nirvana?!).

...

The submerged sea.
The floating island.
The moon that makes
the stillness full.

In Tokyo, at about this time,
the asphalt is melting,
the streets becoming
streaming rivers.

In Shanghai, at about this time,
the pots of fish will be at rolling boils
and the wind wandering the city.

Mm mmmmm.
Mm mmmmm.
Close your eyes.

Fragrant water.
Drowsing ferns.
This is the Pure Land.
Hot as hell.

At about this time, in Minnesota,
the eggs will have boiled through.
At night, it's impossible to sleep.

I think of Trinidad
and it hurries across the world to me.
It must be so lovely there tonight.

The submerged night.
The floating dream.
A full heart holds
the wind within it.

I've got some of the LitA reissues. though I think they were actually made by Great Tracks in association with Alfa...either way pretty good repressings. but I don't think there are any translations of the lyrics. in fact I think the Paraiso liners are all in Japanese despite that pressing being mostly for Western markets. the Philharmony and OSS ones have extensive interviews in them which are very nice. I can send photos of them but I think they're all on Discogs anyway.

I'd love to see photos of those English pages, Frog! I'm not too adept at Discogs but all I found was some super lo-res scans of the Hosono House bits, impossible to actually read.

Decided to face my fears and tackle something from Bon Voyage Co., specifically Tokyo Shyness Boy, because it's short. The middle verse was tricky because it plays off (as far as I can tell) stereotypes about Tokyo -- first that Tokyoites make a lot of money and spend it all as soon as they get it, the second an old saying, from Tokugawa Shogunate times -- "fistfights and fires are the flowers of Edo," because there were so ridiculously many major fires (read into this! it's wild!). Still not positive I got that line quite right. But the first and third verses were easy.

...

Bright red spreads fast over my face from my neck: I'm shy!
Moreover, when I talk, I tend to stammer: I'm shy!
No doubt about it,
I'm an authentic Tokyo Shyness Boy.

I spend all my money overnight. Afterwards, I regret it deeply.
As far as fistfights and fires go, I prefer fireworks.
As a matter of fact,
I'm a Tokyo Shyness Boy.

In the warm sunlight, I will catch a cold and blow my nose.
At the height of summer, my heart will suddenly grow numb with cold.
To be frank with you --
achoo -- Tokyo Shyness Boy.

An obscure one today, from Chu Kosaka's '75 Horo, an album with a great backstory. Hosono after Hosono House really wanted to make a funk/soul/R&B sort of record. Each time he picked up a bass, he would go right into funk riffs. His band (still called Caramel Mama then, later Tin Pan Alley) excelled at funk. So he wrote a bunch of songs in that mode, only to discover that when he put his vocals over that sound, the effect was ruined. Naturally, Hosono was upset, and when he was talking with friend/collaborator Makoto Kubata about it, Kubata told him, "Are you really that surprised? We all know you're just a tropical dandy at heart." -- that bit of lore has been documented in an interview on the English internet somewhere, but what I discovered on the Chinese side is that Hosono felt his old Apryl Fool bandmate/vocalist Chu Kosaka DID have the right voice for the task, and so the '75 Kosaka album Horo came to be. Hosono produces. The band is Tin Pan Alley with Akiko Yano on piano and Minako Yoshida, Taeko Ohnuki, and Tatsuro Yamashita as backup vocalists. There are four new Hosono songs, two remakes of songs from the last (and best!) Happy End album, a good if string-drenched Yano tune, and two solid Kosaka originals. Two of the four new Hosonos appear on the 20th Century Pops Box and kick unholy amounts of ass. Another two don't (appear on there, or kick quite as much ass), but they're good too.

So, today's translation is a Horo song that's not on the Pops Box, called Ryusei Toshi (The City of Meteors).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBUi6R52oRs

Hosono's tune, with lyrics by Takashi Matsumoto of Happy End, who probably just around this time was giving up his drumming and beginning his work as a full-time lyricist. At his best, Matsumoto is sublime, one of the best lyricists I know. At some point in the '70s or '80s, Japan's record labels began to treat him as a hit-making factory, and I'm not sure how his quality control has been over the years. Kimi ni Mune Kyun has nice touches but is nothing revolutionary, yeah? The City of Meteors, for its part, is a simple, sweet love song.

...

Your skin is pale flame in the light of the moon.
The city spreads out from your fluttering skirt.

I'm madly in love, always.
I'm madly in love with you.
I'm dozing off with my head in your lap
and we'll stay just that way until morning.

A dream is being woven by your curly hair, your lips.
H. G. Wells' submarine floats by outside the window.

I'm madly in love, always.
I'm madly in love with you.
Captain Nemo plays a melody on the Hammond organ.

Like a meteor shower raining down on the city,
I am trembling as I hold you,
and in this way, the night goes by.

I'm madly in love, always.
I'm madly in love with you.
And with warmth in my heart,
I doze off.

(followed by the first chorus three times through)

Oh! Also! I wanted to ask -- does anyone on here have Miharu Koshi's Parallelisme on LP? I'm crazy about that record (who wouldn't be, Miharuomi forever) and curious about the words, but most of the lyrics aren't available online. Discogs suggests that there IS a lyric sheet in the LP, but the scan is too lo-res for me to make much out.

thanks again, these are fun to read :)

would appreciate if you could figure out what he was thinking on the scat-singing section of Tokyo Shyness Boy...by far the funniest moment in his catalogue if you ask me. I have to think he realized how funny it sounded.

as for the liner notes - I have Hosono House, Paraiso, Philharmony, Omni Sight Seeing, and Medicine Comp. I can try to take pictures of them when I've got some time.

I have to think he realized how funny it sounded.

He even went as far as to multi-track!

I didn't expect the answer would be so easily available. Turns out that, lyrically, the song is about Keiichi Suzuki, and that Hosono wrote it as a response to Moonriders' sleazy late-night-alley song Hinotama Boy (Fireball Boy), off their own '76 release, which was written about Hosono. And what do you think the Moonriders song ends with...

I have to think he realized how funny it sounded.

He even went as far as to multi-track!

I didn't expect the answer would be so easily available. Turns out that, lyrically, the song is about Keiichi Suzuki, and that Hosono wrote it as a response to Moonriders' sleazy late-night-alley song Hinotama Boy (Fireball Boy), off their own '76 release, which was written about Hosono. And what do you think the Moonriders song ends with...

hah, never would've made the connection. haven't listened to Tropical Dandy in a while...they desperately need to reissue those

Here is Track 3 on Side B of Tropical Dandy, Sanji no Komori Uta (3 o'Clock Lullaby), the solo acoustic song that's followed immediately by its own, lushly arranged instrumental version.

In the Tropical Trilogy era, Hosono was really outdoing himself with album closers (or... well, I don't know what to call this, sort-of-closers? it's the last song with vocals, at least, and everything after feels like one long and ingenious epilogue). Exotica Lullaby is similarly beautiful, lyrically. What a spirit a person must have to write songs as sweet, tender, and wistful as these two (and Honey Moon, that one's outstanding too, as the music would lead you to imagine).

...

Dream thee now, here on my lap
while an old record is playing.
And you, wind; and you, light; outside my window there.
This is the three o'clock lullaby.

Until somebody knocks on the door,
we'll be stuffing this old magic bottle
full of tea and full of stories
here beneath a cold tin roof.

When we've discussed the town gossip
and when we've sung that hit song even though it's a hit song,
tell me about the rest of your dream.
That will be my lullaby.

Not a lot of people on this thread gravitate to Happy End or the early Hosono like I do, so I don't know how much interest this stuff holds for you folks, but now that I've been translating it, I'm addicted to Tropical Dandy all over again. I'll fill in the blanks in the coming days (sans mostly-Portuguese opener).

Here's Honey Moon. Beautifully sparse in Japanese, the personal pronouns vaguely implied rather than stated. The ending's open to interpretation: is he talking about death? There's such blissful relaxation in Hosono's delivery when he sings that penultimate line (1:31 to 1:45 or thereabouts).

...

My heart is the setting sun.
The honey moon is in the sky.
At night angels will come to earth.
Our dreams are the sway of their hair.

A serenade like the touch of silk.
The honey moon is in the sky.
My chest is a pegasus, trembling,
its mane swaying.

Shall I captivate you with a love song?
The full moon is approaching on tiptoe.
You and I will head back up to the moon --
but not quite yet, it's still too soon.

Oops, missed the last line: after some more humming, there's:

Here we sway.

Dandying on. Track 1 on Side B, Hyouryuuki (The Castaway's Song). People talk about that feeling of liberation in Hosono's music, of "anything is allowed" and "anything is okay." Lyrically, it's much the same thing, as I'm learning daily. Harry felt like writing a song from a castaway's perspective? Well...

...

The phantom of the town I'm from
comes floating underneath me.
I'm not going anywhere.
I'm on a raft.

(Chorus)
At last I make it to a deserted island,
the merest shadow of a man.
Entrusting my life to the heat,
I start to whistle,
as out of tune as ever.
Some things never change.

The town floats onward, underneath me.
I pole the raft along.
If I dive down, I'll remember very clearly
the town that I was born in.

(and the chorus again)

Last track on Side A of ropical Dandy, Peking Duck. Didn't expect this to literally be about a Peking Duck. The red shoes presumably being the fire as the roasting commences. A song of Buddhist sympathy, then? (Chow Chow Dog, the song on Bon Voyage Co with all the references to nirvana, is about a dog kept for meat -- sensing a bit of a theme here).

...

In Yokohama, rain falls on a brightly lit street.
It's just like that old movie "Singing in the Rain" --
the rain, the man, his song.

You're wearing red shoes,
you're in the company of three foreigners,
you're stuck in a cage and bewildered.
Chinatown is an ocean of flame.

(Chorus)
Escape, duck, hurry!
The fire is bouncing, crackling, howling.
Escape from this city that burns bright red!
You're clearly the so-called Peking Duck.

In Yokohama, on a brightly-lit street,
the fire climbs higher.
It's just like it would be in a dream:
Chinatown is an ocean of flame.

(Chorus)

The rain and the burning flame are buffeting your back.
Escape!
Your chest is getting firmer.
You're becoming that so-called Peking Duck.