pinocchiop - onion / 玉葱 english translation
涙は全部がたまねぎのせい
these tears are all because of an onion
笑顔はヤバイきのこのせい
this smile is because of magic mushrooms
気分が悪いのは毒電波のせい
i feel nauseous because of these toxic radio waves
なんでも何かのせいだね
no matter what it is, there's always something else to blame
ゴキブリ嫌いは遺伝子のせい
i hate cockroaches because of my genes
お化け嫌いは生きてるせい
i'm afraid of ghosts because i'm still alive
世界が終わるのはみんなのせいで
the end of the world will come because of everyone on earth
私のせいじゃないんだよ
everyone except for me, that is
はじめはそんな決めつけなんて
at first, these kinds of unwavering assertions
あやふやなものだった
seemed dubious at best
だけど正しいと思い込んでしまったんだ
but i've become convinced that it's all correct
いじめのきっかけはお笑いのせい
bullying starts because of comedies
犯罪はネットやゲームのせい
crime happens because of the internet and video games
頭が悪いのはマンガのせいで
people are becoming stupid because of manga
なんでも何かのせいだね
no matter what it is, there's always something else to blame
なんとなく仲間はずれになるのは
is it possible that my ostracism started
正しすぎる決め付けのせい？
because my assertions are too truthful?
涙がふと零れ落ちたけれど
tears suddenly begin to fall, but
これもたまねぎのせいかな
i guess this must also be because of the onion
ひとりぼっちになってしまったのは
i've become completely alone
意地悪な神様のせい
because of a malevolent god
そんな私がもしどこかへ消えたら
when i'm like this, if i were to disappear
君は涙を流すかな
i wonder if you'd shed a tear
それはほんとの涙かな
i wonder if those tears would be real
ららるららるらららららら
lalalu lalalu lalalalala
もしやたまねぎの涙かな
i guess these tears must also be because of the onion
here's another pinocchiop translation. this song is pretty short and simple, and i enjoy that there are several versions of it. the one i linked at the top of the post is my personal favorite version, which is actually a remake/remaster of the original, which is one of the first songs pinocchiop ever released. the mixing on the original is pretty bad honestly, so i'm glad that there's a remake. there is also onion+, which is a remix which sounds completely different. i do like that version too, but i prefer the version i linked.
to speak from a personal place for a moment, translating this song got me to think about the reason i've started translating songs in the first place. this song has a perfectly reasonable english translation which may arguably be better than mine, so this translation might be kind of pointless. however, i enjoy creating these translations, so i'll continue to post anyway.
anyway, onto to the translation notes:
涙は全部がたまねぎのせい
these tears are all because of an onion
throughout the entire song, each line follows the same structure of ending with のせい, which roughly means "because of" or "at the fault of." even if it sometimes makes the sentences sound a little awkward, i tried to structure every line as "(a) is because of (b)" so as to match this same kind of structure as the original. some lines may have sounded better formatted a different way, but this was my way of staying faithful to the original
笑顔はヤバイきのこのせい
this smile is because of magic mushrooms
the original says ヤバイきのこ ("dangerous mushrooms"), but ヤバイ is a word with kind of a loose meaning, as it's used in a lot of different ways. plus even if its not explicitly stated, i think the implication of the "mushroom" being psychoactive is pretty clear here
気分が悪いのは毒電波のせい
i feel nauseous because of these toxic radio waves
the word 毒電波, which i translated as "toxic radio waves" (given that the kanji are literally "poison" and "radio wave,") is actually a slang term meaning "radio waves, as sent out and received by people's minds" according to the dictionary. however i don't really know a natural-sounding way to translate that into english as this isn't a concept we really have, so i kept the translation a bit more literal here. i guess a western audience might assume it's talking about 5g or something like that, lol
なんとなく仲間はずれになるのは
is it possible that my ostracism started
正しすぎる決め付けのせい？
because my assertions are too truthful?
the literal meaning of these lines is roughly "somehow, was me being left out caused by my too-true assertions?" i understand that technically it's not saying the alienation was caused by the assertions being too true, but rather that the assertions themselves are the cause, while simply happening to be "too true." honestly speaking, the phrase "too true" just sounds really awkward in english but i wanted to include it somehow. i think the translation i came to works well enough, but i acknowledge it may be slightly inaccurate
もしやたまねぎの涙かな
i guess these tears must also be because of the onion
the literal meaning of かな at the end of a sentence is "i wonder," and you can see i translated the previous few lines that also end in かな that way. so why did i choose to translate it differently for the last line? honestly, i think it just sounds better and more satisfying as a song lyric. i do think that the meaning is roughly the same though, as かな can be used in a very similar way as "i guess" in english