雲を抜け風下へ私だけ Lyrics in English by Yorushika
Yorushika turn the singer into weather here. She says it straight out: "私は青い風" [I am a blue wind]. The whole song is a gust tearing across a grassland, and the title line keeps coming back like the wind itself: "雲を抜け風下へ私だけ" [through the clouds, downwind, only me]. Listen for 抜け (nuke), "passing through", stacked over and over: through the grass, through the flowers, through the sky, and finally "今を抜け 風下へ私だけ" [through the present moment, downwind, only me]. It is a great verb to learn, and by the end you will never forget it.
What I love is how lonely and wild it gets. She stares at someone and says "貸せ お前の白い羽根" [lend me your white feathers], which is blunt and a little rude, since お前 is a rough way to say "you". Then she admits "とうに空っぽ" [empty long ago] about her own eyes. The rain is a passing shower she orders away with "片時雨 早く往ね" [passing rain, get lost already], using the old-fashioned verb 往ぬ, "to go away". And the ending is pure dawn: "朝ぼらけ 待ちぼうけ" [the grey of dawn, left waiting], with "ただ濡れた魂の匂い" [only the smell of a wet soul]. That last image is so odd and so specific that it sticks with me every time.
