しかめつら describes a face distorted into a frown or grimace, often because of discomfort, displeasure, or being dazzled. In the song, the image of someone looking しかめつら、まぶしそうに creates a vivid, slightly mysterious portrait, making this an expressive and memorable Japanese word.
"Robinson" by Spitz is a love song where two people build a private world out of very ordinary things. It opens in a new season that somehow feels like "なぜかせつない日々で" (for some reason, days that ache). The singer remembers chasing someone riding a bike along a riverbank path, carrying old records and "大げさなエピソード" (exaggerated stories) on tired shoulders. I love how unglamorous that is. The magic here is "ありふれたこの魔法" (this everyday magic): saying the same words at the same moment without meaning to.
From that, they build "誰も触われない 二人だけの国" (a country just for the two of us that nobody can touch), and the chorus lifts it into the sky to "宇宙の風に乗る" (ride the wind of space). The "ルララ" before it is just a sung la-la sound. The verses stay oddly scruffy: a cat thrown away in a corner that still won't stop breathing, which he picks up and presses to his cheek, a grimy round window, and a thin crescent moon "僕を見てた" (was watching me). It's a strange, slightly clumsy kind of tenderness, and that's the charm.
Learner tip: "せつない" is a very common Japanese word for a sweet, aching sadness that has no neat English match. And "生まれ変わるよ" (we'll be reborn) shows the casual "よ" ending, used here like a quiet promise.
Spitz is a Japanese rock band formed in Tokyo in 1987 by four art school students: Masamune Kusano on vocals and guitar, Tetsuya Miwa on lead guitar, Akihiro Tamura on bass and Tatsuo Sakiyama on drums.
They released their first single, "Hibari no Kokoro", in 1991. The single "Robinson" (1995) sold more than 1.6 million copies, "Cherry" (1996) more than a million, and the 1995 album Hachimitsu topped the Oricon chart and won Best Album at the Japan Record Awards.