Idol Densetsu Eriko - Unchained Heart

[EJTranslations]

Ah, cheesy 80s pop, my guilty musical pleasure. I wish I could find mp3s of the rest of the songs for this series. But anyway, on to the lyrics!

My biggest problem with this song was figuring out when the singer was talking about herself and when she was talking to/about other people (oh Japanese, you and your minimal pronouns), so... if I've messed that up anywhere please let me know?

あいつもこいつも　急がしいね　What you doin'
ねずみ達のレースだよまるで　朝の都会
何のためなのか　それさえ忘れちまって
追いかけてる　数字だけ
I've gotta get away

aitsu mo koitsu mo isogashii ne What you doin'
nezumi-tachi no REESU da yo marude asa no machi
nan no tame na no ka sore sae wasurechimatte
oikakete'ru suuji dake
I've gotta get away

All these people are so busy -- what you doin'?
The city in the morning is just like a rat race
Having forgotten the reason why
They just chase after numbers [1]
I've gotta get away

ひとり群をはぐれて　歩いたよ
変わった奴と言われても　OK
自分らしく生きてくことだけ
Baby　忘れずに

hitori mure o hagurete aruita yo
kawatta yatsu to iwarete mo OK
jibun rashiku ikite'ku koto dake
Baby wasurezu ni

I walk alone, away from the crowd
If they say I'm weird, that's OK
Baby, I won't forget
Just to live life my own way

※Come on everybody stand up
燃やしなよ　その炎
心までは誰も　しばれやしない
Come on everybody wake up
時代にだまされないで
この手で抱きしめる　unchained heart※

* Come on everybody stand up
moyashina yo sono honoo
kokoro made wa daremo shibare ya shinai
Come on everybody wake up
jidai ni damasarenaide
kono te de dakishimeru unchained heart

* Come on everybody, stand up
Make those fires burn
No one can bind your heart
Come on everybody, wake up
Don't be deceived by the times
With my hands, I'll embrace this unchained heart

光るナイフのような　言葉で強がって
本当は見えない明日が　怖いのね
来なよ　みんな同じさ　傷だらけのハート
手探りの迷路だけど
We've gotta get away

hikaru NAIFU no you na kotoba de tsuyogatte
hontou wa mienai ashita ga kowai no ne
kina yo minna onaji sa kizudarake no HAATO
tesaguri no meiro dakedo
We've gotta get away

With words like a shining knife, you pretend to be tough
But you're really scared of the unseen future, aren't you?
Come on, everyone's the same, with their wounded hearts
We fumble our way through the maze, but
We've gotta get away

Lonely nights　闇にまぎれてひざを抱き
口笛ふいた幾つもの夜
だけど　泣ける胸にめぐり逢う
Sweet dream 捨てないよ

Lonely nights yami ni magirete hiza o daki
kuchibue fuita ikutsumo no yoru
dakedo nakeru mune ni meguriau
Sweet dream sutenai yo

On lonely nights, slipping into the darkness, I put my arms around my knees
And on countless nights I whistled
But I won't throw away my sweet dream
Just to find a heart to cry on

Come on everybody stand up
少し勇気出そうよ
昨日はポケットに　現在を見つめて
Come on everybody wake up
時代に流されないで
一番大事だよ　unchained heart

Come on everybody stand up
Sukoshi yuuki dasou yo
kinou wa POKETTO ni ima o mitsumete
Come on everybody wake up
jidai ni nagasarenaide
ichiban daiji da yo unchained heart

Come on everybody, stand up
Gather up a little courage
Put yesterday in your pocket and look to the present
Come on everybody, wake up
Don't get swept along with the times
The most important thing is your unchained heart

(※くり返し)

* kurikaeshi

* repeat

[1] This is one of the places where I'm not sure whether the singer is talking about herself or the people in the city. Thoughts?

[3] I... really have no idea what's going on with this entire stanza.

P.S. Azu-chan, is there any chance you could change the formatting of the romaji lyrics already on the site when I submit this? I don't want to make extra work for you, but it's grouped together into giant blocks of text at the moment, which makes it kind of hard to read, and I'd rather not have to do the same to my translation.

[AzureDark]

Don't worry, I'm stingy with alignment, so I'll fix em but only when you submit it.

[1] My gut feeling is that the "numbers" are digits of time. Again taking context of the whole stanza, the previous line described how listless everyone is by rushing about, like catching up with the numbers of time.

[2] You're right in rearranging the two lines, just that 1) to me that ーずに is actually the interchangeable -ないで, then the negative ーて at the end would be of a sentence-joining verb form (a property of -てform). 2) You put the だけ at the wrong place.

Baby, I'll keep in mind
To just live life my own way

[3] ...well, I guess that's what it is actually. Though it's 捨てない and not 捨てないで, coupled with the だけど it gives the impression that it's a fact not a command. (note that plain negative actually has a commanding context for informal feminine, but doesn't have a terminating particle like the one here)

[EJTranslations]

Awesome, thanks!

[1] Okay, good.

[2] Oh, okay. I didn't quite get what you were talking about at first (it's late, after all), but I see it now. I guess I was overcomplicating things to assume that there was an omitted verb at all, huh?

[3] ... haha, oops, you're right. Silly mistake.

[Datenshi]

I had a nice, long response typed out which a sporadic connection at an Internet Cafe in Ikebukuro was happy to blast away (I've moved recently and no longer have an Internet connection at home, which accounts for my recent although probably largely unnoticed inactivity), so you'll have to forgive me but I'm just going to write my suggestions. My justifications will follow if they're needed and when I have more time.

>追いかけてる　数字だけ
>They just chase after numbers
My first impression was the numbers here are more like the numbers in business. Like sales, performance rates and such. Score points in the rat race.

>本当は見えない明日が　怖いのね
>But aren't you really scared of the unseen future?
If it were as you put it, it should read 怖いん（=の）じゃない？
It's not an outright question more than an implied understanding.
-> But you're really scared of the unseen future, aren't you?
I hope I got the difference across.

>だけど　泣ける胸にめぐり逢う
>Sweet dream 捨てないよ
>But I won't throw away the sweet dream
>I found inside my crying heart [3]
I disagree. Again, if it were as you put it, the original line should read ～にめぐり逢った. Also, note it's 泣ける (able to cry) not 泣いている (crying).
So there are two possible interpretations:
1. " I won't throw away the sweet dream / to find a heart to cry on"
胸 in Japanese has a connotation similar to "shoulder" in the English phrase "shoulder to cry on", cf. 「胸をかりる」.
2. "I won't throw away the sweet dream / to find a heart able to cry"
As in, finding a soul (possibly a soul mate) that still has the emotional richness to cry, in a city and times that is inhuman and spiritually deprived, as described in the song.

Hope that helps.

[EJTranslations]

Ah, okay, I see. Thanks for your suggestions!