Sunny Day Service is a three-piece guitar band from Japan. Originally forme… Read Full Bio ↴Sunny Day Service is a three-piece guitar band from Japan. Originally formed in 1992 as a punk band, the group consisted of 曽我部恵一 (Keiichi Sokabe), Takashi Tanaka, and other members. They released the EP "Cosmo-Sports" and independent album "Super Disco", and in 1994 the "Hoshizora no doraibu" (Starry Sky Drive) and "Cosmic Hippie" EPs.

Their sound evolved with time, and when Harushige Maruyama joined the band (now a three-piece) they released their first major label mini album,『若者たち』(Wakamonotachi, "Young People"). From their own admission, the album's sound owed much to the Japanese guitar group Flipper's Guitar, of which they were big fans. Their sound was also reminiscent of the folk music revolution, exemplified in the music of late 60s Japanese group はっぴいえんど (Happy End). Sunny Day Service has gained considerable recognition for their acoustic work from this album.

Continuing their success and releasing a number of albums and singles, at the end of their Love Album Tour in 2000, Sunny Day Service announced they would disband. Since disbanding, a best of and b-side compilations have been released, while Keiichi Sokabe has gone on to a successful solo career.

あじさい
サニーデイ・サービス Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

あじさいの花がひとつ咲いていました
小雨まじりの梅雨の宵
鉄道線路行ったり来たり
可愛いひとがひとりきり立っていました
いたずらそうなくちもとが
春の風を強請るんです
西洋看板並ぶ通りに薄い霧が降りて来て
そっと手を引かれるまま暖簾をくぐりました

二階の窓の簾越しやまぶきが覗けば
花は咲けども実はならず
湿った空に溶け出します
可愛いひとはぼんやりと畳を見つめ
ふっと夜が横切れば
白い笑顔見せるんです
さいだぁのストロオに細い指をからませて
遥か遠い蜃気楼できみが笑いました

濡縁側に花鋏うち捨てられて
畳の目からにじみ出す花を切るの忘れてます

さいだぁのストロオに細い指をからませて
遥か遠い蜃気楼で袖を引かれました

Overall Meaning

The lyrics of サニーデイ・サービス's song "あじさい" tell the story of a scene set during a rainy evening in the middle of the rainy season. The opening lines describe a solitary hydrangea flower in bloom, symbolizing the transient beauty that comes with the season. Along the railway tracks, a cute person stands alone, their mischievous mouth pleading for the spring breeze. As a light mist descends on the street lined with Western-style signs, they are gently led by someone's hand through a noren (a traditional Japanese curtain) and enter a place behind it.

Looking through the window on the second floor, beyond the half-closed curtain, one can catch a glimpse of yamabuki flowers. Although the flowers are in bloom, they never bear fruit, dissolving into the damp sky. The cute person gazes absentmindedly at the tatami floor, and when the night suddenly passes by, they reveal a smiling face. At the Strau of Seitei, they entwine their slender fingers and in a mirage far away, you laughed.

Line by Line Meaning

あじさいの花がひとつ咲いていました
A single hydrangea flower was blooming

小雨まじりの梅雨の宵
A rainy evening in the midst of the rainy season

鉄道線路行ったり来たり
Going back and forth on the railway tracks

可愛いひとがひとりきり立っていました
A cute person was standing alone

いたずらそうなくちもとが春の風を強請るんです
Their mischievous lips are begging for the spring breeze

西洋看板並ぶ通りに薄い霧が降りて来てそっと手を引かれるまま暖簾をくぐりました
As a light mist descends on the street lined with Western-style signs, I quietly followed as someone took my hand and passed through the noren curtain

二階の窓の簾越しやまぶきが覗けば花は咲けども実はならず
Looking through the bamboo blinds of the second-floor window, I can see the mountain laurel blooming, but it bears no fruit

湿った空に溶け出します
It melts into the damp air

可愛いひとはぼんやりと畳を見つめふっと夜が横切れば白い笑顔見せるんです
The cute person gazes absentmindedly at the tatami floor, but when night suddenly passes by, they show a white smile

さいだぁのストロオに細い指をからませて遥か遠い蜃気楼できみが笑いました
Wrapping their slender fingers around the straw of a Coca-Cola bottle, you smiled in a distant mirage

濡縁側に花鋏うち捨てられて畳の目からにじみ出す花を切るの忘れてます
Thrown away on the wet veranda, the flower scissors have been forgotten, and they no longer cut the flowers seeping through the tatami mat

さいだぁのストロオに細い指をからませて遥か遠い蜃気楼で袖を引かれました
With their slender fingers wrapped around the straw of a Coca-Cola bottle, they were pulled by the sleeve in a distant mirage

Writer(s): Keiichi Sokabe

Contributed by Mia O. Suggest a correction in the comments below.

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TRACKS