that foreign music blog🌎

While I wasn’t planning to do anything with this song, I noticed in the comments that someone had requested a translation into English. Given how this song has given me a lot of vocabulary and phrases–as well as embarrassing experiences with former crushes–I decided that it’d be a good opportunity to expand on the meaning. At least, what I can understand of it. After all, this was the first song of theirs that I heard.

To begin, the title translates to “Angel’s Suitcase”–天使/てんし/ten-shee, being ‘angel’. Knowing only that, we can already guess that this will be romantic. And boooooooooy is it~ Shintaro being the poet he is, I had no idea what I was singing in the car of my crush at the time when I said, “あなたの身体で染めてよ” or “Color me with your body”. I mean…when you translate it, you realize it’s about sex, but at the time I really didn’t even think about it until my crush went red in the face and stammered, “What did you say??” “Isn’t that a nice lyric??” “….You….You know what that means, right?”

I was embarrassed after he explained the implications, but also found it an even more beautiful way to express those feelings. In any case, the general meaning of the song is that the speaker seems to want to run away with their angelic lover, given the repeating mention of shoving dreams, memories, and their future in a suitcase. When I listen to this song, I imagine two young lovers leaving the city with nothing much other than themselves and their love for each other. That’s the vibe I’m getting, so keep that in mind as we go through the lyrics together. I also apologize that these will not be perfect because I’m not a translator, but I’ll do my best~

スーツケースにガラクタぶち込んで/スーツケースにがらくたぶちこんで
Throw your junk in the suitcase

街を抜け出す/まちをぬけだす　(When translating ぬけ / noo-keh and だす dah-soo separately, it’s ‘remove’ and ‘out’)
We’ll get out of town

スーツケースに未来をぶち込んで/ スーツケースにみらいをぶちこんで
Throw your future in the suitcase

私つまらない/わたし　つまらない
I’m bored (?? It translates as “I’m boring” but I think because the speaker seems to want to runaway, they’re probably bored of their current lifestyle. This line is also in this first verse, so it must connect with the lines before it. )

綺麗事ばかりだから/きれいことばかりだから
Because there are only beautiful things

嘘みたい/うそみたい
It doesn’t seem real (translates to: it seems like a lie, but I felt ‘it doesn’t seem real’ fits better with the flow of the song)

もう泣きたくはない/もうなきたくはない
I don’t want to cry anymore

あなたの身体で染めてよ/あなたのからだでそめてよ
Color me with your body

真っ赤になってとろけるまで/まっかになってとろけるまで
Until we melt to deep red

スーツケースの思い出１５ｃｍ 髪を切ったのよ/
スーツケースのおもいで １５ｃｍ かみをきったのよ
The memory of the suitcase and your 15cm haircut (It translates directly as “The suitcase’s memory 15cm hair you cut” but….not sure that’s actually what Shintaro wants to say????)

スーツケースと麦わら帽子で/スーツケースとむぎわらぼうしで
With that suitcase and your straw hat

天使みたいでしょ/てんしいみたいでしょ
You surely look like an angel

綺麗事ばかりだから/きれいことばかりだから
Because there are only beautiful things

嘘みたい/ うそみたい
It doesn’t seem real

もう泣きたくはない/もうなきたくはない
I don’t want to cry anymore

あなたの身体で染めてよ/あなたのからだでそめてよ （そめる soh-meh-roo means ‘to dye’)
Color me with your body

消えないマークが愛しい/きえないマークがいとしい　(I’ve seen いとしい ee-toh-shee mean ‘lover’, or ‘my love’. I think it holds an endearing and romantic nuance, but also feels a bit old-fashioned in an overly flowery way? Kind of like how English speakers will sometimes refer to Shakespearean terms to describe love? I’m not sure if that’s correct, but it’s how I feel.)
I love that mark that can’t be erased

あなたが置いてった白い小さなアネモネの花には水をあげるよ/あなたがおいてったしろいちいさなアネモネのはなはみずをあげるよ。(おいて oh-ee-teh actually means ‘put’, but contextually, I translated it as planted. It may be closer to ‘put down’ here)
I’ll give water to the anemone (windflower) that you planted

来世もきっと一緒だよ/らいせもきっといっしょだよ
We’ll be together in the afterlife, too

綺麗事ばかりだから/きれいことばかりだから
Because there are only beautiful things

嘘みたい/ うそみたい
It doesn’t seem real

もう泣きたくはない/もうなきたくはない
I don’t want to cry anymore

あなたの身体で染めてよ/あなたのからだでそめてよ
Color me with your body

真っ赤にして忘れないで/まっかにしてわすれないで
Don’t forget to make it red

怒りも、涙も、笑顔も、悲しみも/いかりも、なみだも、えがおも、かなしみも
Anger, tears, laughter, and sadness

スーツケースにガラクタぶち込んで/ スーツケースにがらくたぶちこんで
Throw your junk in the suitcase

サヨナラしよう/さようならしよう
Let’s say goodbye

That was actually much harder to translate than I expected. Towards the end it almost sounds like the speaker isn’t just driving away, but dying?? I know that red is a color of passion, but could it also be the color of the speaker’s blood?? IS THIS A LOVE SUICIDE?? Then again, going with the ‘color me with your body’ line, the red in the lyrics is probably about passion, not death. But since this is an ‘angel’s’ suitcase, it does make you think about about what the speaker is referring to when he says ‘we’ll be together in the afterlife, too.’ Of course this is a common concept in a love song, but considering what leaving everything behind can also imply, as I was translating, my mind started interpreting ‘escaping with an angel’ as LITERALLY ‘escaping’ with an angel. Like DYING. I don’t think it’s about suicide, though…probably.

However, what I also realized is that, while I promote using lyrics to learn a language, you also need to keep in mind how you really can’t translate everything directly. Maybe that seems obvious, but that’s also why I added so many notes this time around. While the meaning of the vocabulary may be one thing, contextually, it can translate to something different. When learning a language, remember to be flexible to these things. It’ll be much less frustrating when discovering inconsistencies, which you definitely will.

In any case, I hope you enjoyed this little romantic journey! Until next song~