The Music of Hayakawa Yoshio (4): “Letter to My Father”
(In anticipation of the October 18, 2013 concert by Hayakawa Yoshio and Sakuma Masahide at the University of Chicago, over the next few weeks I will be posting a series of entries here introducing Hayakawa’s music. More information about the concert, which is free and open to the public, is available here.)
“Letter to My Father??? ????????????????? appears on Hayakawa’s sixth solo album, Uta wa uta no nai tokoro kara kikoete kuru (Sony, 2000). Taking autobiographical materials as its source, the song explores a topic that Hayakawa also sometimes writes about in his published essays: his relations with his own family. Simultaneously elegiac and celebratory, the song explores the possibility that music can help us accomplish the work of mourning.
Video of Hayakawa performing “Letter to My Father??? in a television appearance:
“Letter to My Father???
(Music and lyrics by Hayakawa Yoshio)
English translation by Michael Bourdaghs
Back in the days when my father was dating my mother
That line Dad spoke in front of the shaved-ice café:
‘I’ll wait here outside, so
You go in by yourself and have some.’
Such a funny dad
Drove me crazy, but I love him
The same blood flows in me
Hey, Dad, how you doing?
I’m still singing my songs
About that uncontrollable part inside of me
About those sad thoughts with nowhere to go
Still don’t understand a thing
Still seeking out beauty
Wish you could hear them, Dad
Hey, Dad, there’s this great place in Hakone Okuyumoto
Let’s go soak in the hot springs and watch the moon together
Me, I haven’t changed a bit, still a difficult person
Never feel the same as others do
Never go visit your grave, Dad
Just stare absentminded at the sky
But it’s not as if you were
Really there beneath the black soil;
Look within each heart
Hey, Dad, all those rituals and ceremonies, they’re just pointless, for show, right?
Hey, Dad, how do I become a good person?
Hey, Dad, I wish we’d shared more laughs, more heart-to-heart talks
Hey, Dad, let’s take Mom to watch the fireworks again someday
******
“T??san e no tegami???
Mukashi, t??san ga kaasan to deito shita toki
K??riya no mae de t??san ga itta serifu
Watashi wa soto de matte imasu kara
Anata dake tabete kinasai
Sonna okashi na t??san ga
Boku wa komaru kedo suki da yo
Onaji chi ga nagarete iru
Nee t??san, ogenki desu ka
Are kara boku wa uta o utattemasu
Jibun no naka no te ni oenu bubun ya
Yukiba no nai kanashimi ya omoi o
Nani hitotsu wakatte nai kedo
Utsukushii mono o tsukamitakute
T??san ni mo kiite moraitakute
Nee t??san, Hakone Okuyumoto ni ii onsen ga arunda
Nee t??san, tsuki o minagara issho ni atatamar?? yo
Aimokawarazu boku wa henkutsu na no de
Hito to onaji kimochi ni narenai
T??san no hakamairi ni mo ikazu
Bonyari to sora o nagametemasu
Kurai tsuchi no naka ni t??san ga
Nemutte iru wake wa nai
Sorezore no kokoro no naka sa
Nee t??san, arayuru gishiki wa wazatorashiku muda de kokkei na mono da yo ne
Nee t??san, d??shitara boku wa sunao ni nareru no desh?? ka
Nee t??san, motto uchitokete shimijimi to katari warai aitakatta
Nee t??san, mata kaasan to issho ni hanabi o miy?? ne
