Dear Mr. Socrates
“Let’s give Socrates a wink and rush out to town! If you turn your back to philosophical skepticism, the world is what you want it to be.”
OR: A girl wants the super-cerebral guy she likes to stop thinking so hard and live a little.
PaPaPa… sugu ni iki wo kiraseta kimi no atama wo nadete ageru yo
PaPaPa… I’ll pat your out-of-breath self on the head right away
angou magai no MEERU wo tobasu kakedashita mama oitekebori no kimi e
I launch a psuedo-encrypted text At you after leaving you behind as you ran
gomen ne wagamama de gomen ne demo yamerarenai kara
I’m sorry, I’m being selfish I’m sorry, but I just can’t help myself
DETANTO magai wa konomi ja nai no wahei koushou kikoenai furi suru no
I’m not very fond of mock-détentes so I pretend not to hear your attempts at peace negotiations
gomen ne komarasete gomen ne demo tomerarenai kara
I’m sorry, I’m causing you trouble I’m sorry, but I just can’t stop
SOKURATESU ni UINKU shite machi e tabidasou fukachiron ni se wo muketara sekai wa omou mama omoitsuki de sashidasu te ni moshimo oitsuitara sugu ni iki wo kiraseta kimi no atama wo nadete ageru yo
Let’s give Socrates a wink and rush out to town If you turn your back to philosophical skepticism, the world is what you want it to be If you can catch up to the hand that I impulsively stretch out Then I’ll pat your out-of-breath self on the head right away
gomen ne migatte de gomen ne demo gohoubi ageru kara
I’m sorry, I’m being selfish I’m sorry, but I’ll give you a reward, so
SOKURATESU ni UINKU shite machi e tobidasou fukachiron ni se wo muketara sekai wa omou mama ware omoFU yue NI ware ARI yuigadokuson sugu ni iki wo kiraseta kimi no atama wo nadete
Let’s give Socrates a wink and rush out to town If you turn your back to philosophical skepticism, the world is what you want it to be “Cogito ergo sum” is self-conceit¹ I’ll pat your out-of-breath self on the head immediately
SOKURATESU ni UINKU shite machi e tabidasou fukachiron ni se wo muketara sekai wa omou mama omoitsuki de sashidasu te ni moshimo oitsuitara sugu ni iki wo kiraseta kimi no atama wo nadete ageru yo
Let’s give Socrates a wink and rush out to town If you turn your back to philosophical skepticism, the world is what you want it to be If you can catch up to the hand that I impulsively stretch out Then I’ll pat your out-of-breath self on the head right away
PaPaPa… massugu ni mayowazu kimi to yukou
PaPaPa… I’ll go straight forward without hesitating, together with you
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¹ This is my favorite line in the song for wordplay that doesn’t really translate that smoothly into English. For starters, I translated the Descartes quote in Latin and not in as it’s commonly cited in English (“I think therefore I am”), mostly because the Japanese verb conjugation used here is similarly old-timey (most Japanese students remember the saying as ware omou yue ni ware ari—the omoFU ending used in this song is needlessly pretentious). Second, the word for self-conceit (yuigadokuson) starts off the same as solipsism (yuigaron), so the listener expects something like “Cogito ergo sum is self-referential knowledge” but instead gets the line “Cogito ergo sum is too much self-centeredness”, lolololol.