【和訳/解説】Three Among Shrubs/ Men I trust
You make no sound
As folks gather ‘round
Like shadow hounds
みんなが周りに集まってくるとあなたは静かにしている
影が付きまとうみたいに
Eyes seem unsound
As folks gather ‘round
And please you aloud
みんなが周りに集まってあなたを喜ばせようとする時
不安定に見える瞳
And I now believe that no one asked
About your secret past
The pain to match your strength
誰もたずねなかった
あなたの秘密の過去とその強さに似合う痛みを
And I now believe that no one thought
You had a lonely past
The pain and strengths so vast
誰も考えなかった
あなたに寂しい過去と、すごく大きな痛みと強さがあったのを
From mellow seas
To houses on wheels
To slabs in West lands
穏やかな海から
トレーラーハウスまで
ウェストランドのスラブまで
Hand in hand
From yellow bills
To slabs in West lands
Like bones in your hands
手をつないで
黄色い紙幣からウェストランドのスラブまで
あなたの手の骨のように
But I see a tree that's standing high among the shrubs
So only one hand may rest its palm upon my cheeks
だけど私は低木の中に立つ高い木を見る
だから片方の手のひらだけ頬の上に添えられている
The only one that I'll need
To know why no one asked
About your secret past
The pain to match your strength
あなたの秘密の過去とその強さに相応しい痛みをなぜ誰も尋なかったのか
それを知るために私が必要な唯一のもの
And I now believe that no one thought
You had a lonely past
And pain to match your vein
誰も考えなかった
あなたに寂しい過去とその静脈に相応する過去があったのを
When it rains
雨が降る時
houses on wheels
A house on wheels is a moveable home, such as a caravan, that can be taken anywhere and has all the amenities of a house.(トレーラーハウスはどこへでも移動できる家であり、家としての設備がすべて整っている。)
Slabs in West lands
Slab City, also called The Slabs, is an unincorporated, off-the-grid squatter community consisting largely of snowbirds), located in California, western USA.
Slab City is known for attracting people who want to live outside mainstream society.
(Slab CityはThe Slabsとも呼ばれ、アメリカ西部のカリフォルニア州にある。自治体に属さず電力系統のない、不法占拠者のコミュニティであり、多くの避寒してきた人たちによって構成される。スラブシティは、主流社会から離れて暮らしたい人々を惹きつける場所として知られている。)
https://genius.com/23907985
"slabs in west lands" Could be referring to communities in the southwestern United States such as slab city, which is an off-the-grid alternative lifestyle community east of the Salton sea.
感想
抽象的な歌詞が多く、どう解釈したらいいのかが分からない部分が多々ありました。
上記のリンクにはいくつかの解釈が上がっています。
I think the track is largely talking about the travel and movement of this person who had the secret past. The yellow bills I think is also just representing somewhere else this person went or something they did in their past life. The slabs might refer to hard metal squatter sheds, which would be hard like bones in your hand? Idk the bones in your hand line is kind of confusing, because it doesn’t have to mean hard like a bone.. (この歌は主に、秘密の過去を持った人の旅や移住について歌っているものだと思う。黄色い紙幣というのはその人が過去に行った場所か過去にしたことを表している。厚板は不法占拠者の固くて金属製の小屋を示しているかも。そしてそれは「その人の手の骨のように硬い」ということか？「手の骨」の部分はちょっとわかりにくいな、だって骨のように硬いとは限らないから…)
slabs in West landsをどう解釈するかで曲全体の理解が変わってきそうです。Slab cityという街が実際に存在するのでその街のことなのか、もしくはただ単にslab((石・木・金属などの四角く幅の広い)厚板、石板)という意味なのかもしれません。
To me, the song seems to describe a developer or a general capitalist who seems to disguise themselves as someone who worked their way up to their success but is a fraud (hence why they are a tree amongst the lowly shrubs).(私としては、この歌は土地開発業者や一般的な資本家を表しているようだ。彼らは苦労して成功したがそれは詐欺のようなもので自分自身が嫌になった人たちだ(だから彼らは地位の低い低木の間にいるのだ)。)
The first verse talks about people who are following this successful person and who praise them. But the truth is that this person has hid their secret past as the child of privilege, wealth, and nepotism, not an actual self-made person. Their pains (of being poor) do not match their strengths (of overcoming it) bc they were never poor and are not self made.(一番最初のメロでは成功した人に追従しその人を褒める人々が描かれている。しかし本当のところではその人は秘密の過去を隠してきた。その過去は特権的で富に溢れていて身内びいきがあって、実際にはその人の成功は自身によるものではない。その人は貧乏だったことはないし自分自身の努力で成功したわけじゃないから、その人の痛みはその強さに匹敵しない。)
The yellow bills is money, the slabs in the west are the foundations for houses being transported on wheels to be developed and “bones” is another word for money but can also be interpreted as exploitation for their capitalist ventures.(黄色い紙幣はお金のことで、西の厚板は開発のために車輪で運ばれた家の基礎部分のことだ。そして骨はお金の言い換えであるが、また彼らの冒険的事業のために搾取されたものと解釈できるかもしれない。)
単語メモ
folks: people in general
hound: to follow someone and annoy them by asking questions or taking photographs
unsound: not safe or robust
mellow: (especially of a sound, flavor, or color) pleasantly smooth or soft; free from harshness.
hand in hand: holding each other's hand
shrub: a woody plant which is smaller than a tree and has several main stems arising at or near the ground.
vein: 静脈
off-the-grid: not connected to or served by publicly or privately managed utilities (such as electricity, gas, or water) "When folks move to an off-grid, rural homestead, they often end up burning a lot of fossil fuels."
squatter: a person who unlawfully occupies an uninhabited building or unused land.
shed: 納屋、小屋、物置、倉庫、上屋、車庫
work one's way up to: progress towards something better or ascend a series of ranks through hard work.
lowly: low in status or importance; humble. "she'd been too good for her lowly position"
nepotism: the practice among those with power or influence of favouring relatives, friends, or associates, especially by giving them jobs.
self-made: rich and successful as a result of your own work and not because of family money "a self-made millionaire"
exploitation: the action or fact of treating someone unfairly in order to benefit from their work. "the exploitation of migrant workers"