number girl - iggy pop fan club [english translation]
君は家猫娘だった
you were a house cat girl
この部屋でいつも寝ころんで
always laying down in this room
俺のこの部屋に入り込む夕陽に映る
the reflection of the evening sun shining into my room
君の顔見とれてた俺はまさに赤色のエレジーだった
made me a red elegy, as i gazed captivated by your face
何度となく聞いたこの部屋で
countless times i heard, in this room
君の夏初体験物語
stories about your summer, and the new experiences you had
このレコードを君は嫌いって言った
you told me that you hated this record
この曲を笑いながらヘンな歌って言った
you smiled as you complained about how weird this song is
あの曲をいま聞いてる
as i listen to that same song now
忘れてた君の顔のりんかくを一寸
the long-forgotten features of your face
思いだしたりしてみた
are all coming back to my memory
思い出してる
i remember
この部屋で思い出してる
in this room, i remember
思い出してる
i remember
思い出してるちゃんと
i remember perfectly
忘れてたりんかくを一寸
i had forgotten your face, but
思い出したりしてみた
it's all coming back to me
思い出してる
i remember
思い出してる 思い出してる 思い出してる
i remember, i remember, i remember
思い出してるちゃんと
i remember perfectly
oh hey, some non-pinocchiop for once! i honestly love this song, and i have fond memories regarding when i first heard it (seems on-brand given the lyrics). i discovered this song when i was still very early into learning japanese, and i got so excited that i recognized the word "思い出してる" that i started spam-listening to it. well, i didn't really recognize the word, i knew 思い出す but i hadn't learned て-form yet... lol
the lyrics to this song are really simple, which made things a lot easier for me this time around. the last few songs to translate took me hours, but i was able to get this one done in like 30 minutes and i barely even used a dictionary. just cause the lyrics are simple doesn't mean they're bad though, this song can honestly get me a little emotional sometimes.
the aforementioned simplicity means i don't have many translation notes this time around, but here they are:
君の顔見とれてた俺はまさに赤色のエレジーだった
made me a red elegy, as i gazed captivated by your face
yeah this line is a weird one. i wouldn't even really know how to translate it literally, but it's combining an idea of infatuatedly gazing at someones face, while also describing yourself as a "red elegy." i figure the red coloration is relating to the previous line with the sun shining in, but interestingly the adverb "まさに" is used here too, meaning "exactly" or "just right." i assume its essentially saying "turned me into an elegy that's just the right shade of red," but i couldn't really find a way to include that detail without changing the structure of the sentence and making it sound really awkward, so i just dropped it
忘れてた君の顔のりんかくを一寸
the long-forgotten features of your face
in my mind, the flow of saying "i had forgotten your face, but now i remember" feels more natural and satisfying for a song, however that isn't really how the original song was written. i do think the usage of "一寸" here essentially functions as "but," and i do translate it that way in the last verse, but in this instance i feel the translation i went with is more accurate and still works pretty well, even if it maybe sounds worse to me than the original japanese does