波止場町
森進一 Lyrics

The lyrics of this song express the feelings of heartbreak and longing caused by the separation of lovers. The first verse suggests that the person speaking does not want to leave and say goodbye to their loved one, but the distance between them, represented by the strait, tears them apart. The use of the image of seagulls dying in the sea reinforces the idea that the pain of the separation is akin to death, both for the lovers and their love. The chorus then repeats the names of four towns - Hakodate, Yokohama, Takamatsu, and Kagoshima - which are all known for their respective ports or piers, called “hatoba” in Japanese, where ships come and go. Each town represents a place where lovers must part or a place of missed connections between them.

The second verse takes us to Isezakicho in Yokohama, a popular nightlife area where a bitter drink might comfort someone who is still unable to forget their lover. In this place, where drunken women shed tears for their lost love, the lover is not just a man but the woman's only anchor in life. In the third verse, it's revealed that the singer is carrying painful memories of the past love, despite the emotions not having been fully resolved or reconciled. Even when the Seto Inland Sea is calm, the winds of unrequited love continue to blow through the singer’s heart. The wound of love was inflicted on the night spent together, and the singer wants to forget by the time it heals.

Overall, the lyrics of the song portray the feeling of loneliness that comes from losing a lover, and the yearning for lost love at the pier towns, with the various settings and images serving to illustrate the pain and struggle of love.