Fulfilling a request for a friend, it's Supercar's first single and a really cute love song. I had to sacrifice the entirety of Ishiwatari's cleverness in translation on this one, unfortunately, but the meaning is still very pretty.
スーパーカー - Cream Soda
Translated by Alan Rice
Last night again with indifferent eyes1
I saw a dream of you and these open skies
I'm just thinking of how nice it'd be
to fly in the real sky with you someday
that's all
If I, a vapor trail, stretched out my white arms2
those open skies would soon become yours and mine
I was thinking of how I ought to tell you
the real truth of things someday
I'm just thinking how I'd love to meet you
in the usual sky again tonight
that's all
Even though far ahead, forever beyond
freedom surely waits
that's why
I hope you'll forgive that my car's so plain3
though I wanted a big4 one you'd feel fancy riding in
I just think you can't really see anything
if all you do is yearn
so I won't say I give up
even if I wake from this dream
that's all
The main cleverness in this song comes from a repeated use of the words 白い "white" and 広い "broad/wide" in different contexts each verse:
1. He is literally (Japanese-ally anyway) using the phrase "白い目で見る" here, which idiomatically means to look at something coolly, indifferently, or even with a bit of a frown. The tension between him being tired of the dream and longing for it still is cool!
2. Here we get to use 白い in a more literal sense, as he metaphorically describes himself as a contrail reaching out his white hands.
3. Finally for our 白シリーズ, this one is a bit of guesswork/fudgery on my part, but I think when he calls his car white in contrast to a big, fancy-feeling car, "plain" is a pretty solid shot. If I'm wrong and/or anybody can let me know of a better translation, much appreciated!
4. Another untranslatable Junji Ishiwatari wordplay afoot! In the first two verses, a "broad," "wide," "open," etc. sky works, but none of those adjectives can be applied well to the fancy car in verse three he doesn't have, so another great little lyrical parallel is killed by the English language.
The original Japanese lyrics:
昨日また僕が白い目で見た夢は
この広い空と君との話だよ。
いつかは君と本当の空を飛べたらなぁって、それだけさ。
ひこうきぐも僕が白い手を差し出せば、
その広い空は、もう君と僕のものだよ。
いつかは君に本当のコトを言わなきゃなって思ってた。
いつもの空で今夜も君に会えたらなぁって、それだけさ。
ずっと向こうのその先に
きっと自由があるのにねぇ、そのせいだよ。
自動車なら僕の白いので許してよ。
気取って乗れるような広いのにしたいけど、
憧れだけじゃ本当は何も見えないなって思うから、
あきらめだけは夢から覚めても言わないよって、それだけさ。
