I’m currently basking myself in the beauty that is Henry Huo’s (霍尊) first full-length album Heavenly Song or Tianyun (天韵). He was the winner of the first season of Sing my Song (中国好歌曲) when he cause a ruckus with his song Rolled-up Pearl Curtain (卷珠帘) [1], which he ended up performing at the 2014 CCTV Spring Festival Gala.
You can listen to the album over at Xiami or Migu Music (for US locked).
Lyrics, English/Español translations and song embed below the break~
Once again, all Chinese translations by me to be taken with a pinch of salt. xD
I won’t lie to you- I searched for “Naked Beef” first, then for “Beef Naked” LOL
I had been using my wiz google skills to try to find some songs released circa mid early millennium (2000-2002), once that failed a couple of times, I went in deep into my disc backups. After some digging around through old-OLD really purani school files… which were mostly poorly labeled (Hey! I found a Psy and Jolin Tsai tracks with no names downloaded circa 2005), I found what I was looking for et more~
What’s rare and I might post?
Amanda Latona – Can’t Take it Back
Amanda Mumba – Everybody Doesn’t
Ano – 4 tracks of Fruits from the Tree
Marit Larsen & Marion Raven – Synger Kjente (or ten tracks off it)
Capitanes de Lata (the Gloria Maria Solaris children play)
so if any of those search words bring you here, let me know.
Anyway, down the rabbit hole of Amy’s memory lane that included pop, country, r&b, hard rock, metal, electro hip hop rock and what not~ I realized that I have Canadian years gap compared to many of my friends, knowing Canadians bands that had only-Canadian hits between 2003-2006. Out of your Mouth (above), GOB, Our Lady Peace, Billy Talent, Barlow [1] are some…
… and of course I remembered this video of Bif Naked. I knew she was ingrained in my mind because of Buffy, but this video for Tango Shoes and Bif Naked on a tank cruising through downtown Vancouver, Pender St. with spottings of Tinseltown and whatnot. Can’t get more Canadian than that. I remember seeing the video on Much.
… or dusting off my lacking Chinese skills xP, so I ask anyone reading this to 1. Take these with a big grain of salt… and 2. If you’ve got a better translation/tips/corrections/etc. let me know. But… in the age of the internet, where fandoms translate songs en masse, I felt a little “left hanging” with Faye Wong lyrics.
So here are my tries. My mother tried to help, but she gave up. LOL
After much deliberation, I think I like Cong Cong Na Nian (匆匆那年) a bit more, though I didn’t like Ai Bu Ke Ji (爱不可及) on the first go, it’s really grown on me as a song.
Common courtesy for credits and/or link-ups, please.
You do probably know that my Hindi should suck, but that doesn’t stop me from keeping my iTunes library in order… which means I take all of the tracks from Indian movies that I’ve downloaded and try to give an English translation — after all, I should know, at least, what the title of a song means! That, of course, means that titles from hard-to-find movies/OSTs have to do with my own interpretation. One of them is Hu Tu Tu, because no one’s bothered to translate the songs… and my copy of the movie doesn’t come with subtitles in the sung parts.
Most of the titles are easy- Chhai Chhapa Chhai is classic onomatopoeic Gulzar (Jhini Mini Jhini from Maqbool gave me a clue), Jai Hind Hind (Hail, India!), Bandobast Hai (It’s the System), Ghapla Hai Bhai (It’s a Mess, Brother), and Jago Jago Jagte Raho (Get Up, Always Be Awake) seem quite straight forward. Even Yeh Nam Aankhein (These Drenched Eyes) can seem easy when compared to Itna Lamba Kash Lo Yaaron and Nikla Neem Ke Talese Nikla.
So what do those last titles mean?
I’ve sort of translated Itna Lamba Kash Lo Yaaron– since Itna refers to a Quantity (this much or so much), Lamba refers to the Length (height or otherwise), Kash means to Take a Puff or a Smoke (considering the scene), and Yaaron refers to Friends. I sorta translated it to It’s Such a Long Smoke, My Friend. And in the lyrics~
Itna lamba kash lo yaaron, dam nikal jaaye Zindagi sulagaao yaaron, gam nikal jaaye Yaaron, yaaron
Dam = (staying) Power
Nikal = Get out/get lost
Sulagaao/Sulagana = Ignite/set on fire
Gam = Regret
It’s such a long smoke, my friend.
Power, be gone.
Life is set on fire, my friend.
Regret, be gone.
How did I do with that?
Though, Nikla Neem Ke Talese Nikla escapes my comprehension. It doesn’t even look Hindi to me- oh, wait. Never mind. *goes crazy* Why is Talese together when it should be Tale Se? As in Nikla Neem Ke Tale Se Nikla (निकला नीम के तले से निकला) *growls*
Anyone ANYONE who is able to help me out with that title and make my life easier?- I’ll love you forever! LOL From the deep Google that I did, Nikla seemed to refer to “being out,” or “something that sticks out” and I know Neem can refer to the bitterness of the Neem tree [1] or the tree itself, and Tale is “the bottom or base of something” — Does that mean… The Bottom of the Neem Tree Turned Upside Down? LOL, I need to watch this movie again. xD
… voy a alegrar tu tristeza
vamos a hacer una fiesta
‘pa que’ste amor crezca mas.
In all seriousness, most snarky Peruvians would probably mock Gianmarco’s vocal abilities, but I don’t know any of those snarky ones that would mock his composition skills. I think there’s a strong 90% who would praise them. Hoy by Gloria Estefan is one of the most popular ones he’s written, and the video was shot in Cuzco to top it all.
And Hoy isn’t even the most complex of the songs he’s written. But it’s still a really good one.
Quickie literal lyrics translation after the break.
When I translate things, I usually go from Spanish into English, so when I listened to (and obsessed a little) over Neil Patrick Harris at the Tonys, I thought that it’d be good practice for a quick English to Spanish translation exercise.
I just began listening (truly listen) to Mayday’s discography pre the Born to Love days, finishing off titles/pinyin/title translations, when I ran into this song titled Masquerade (Male, Female, One Body) from their 2003 album, Time Machine (時光機). The thing is, the title of the song is Ci Xiong Tong Ti (雌雄同體), which is the term used to refer to “hermaphrodites” (which, by the way, isn’t longer a term accepted for people, who are now referred to as “intersex”). Perplexed, thinking that Google Translate was giving me a wonky translation, I checked the dictionary to double check.
On a quick google search, I found a pretty terrific (singable) translation of the song.
Rather than you understand me—I’d rather be a mystery
A puzzle you just cannot solve, of what’s false and real, it’ll play at your heartstrings
I’ll play you, or play your opposite form; partake in this game of love that you’ve borne.
My mind was melted. I mean, it’s not VERY often you get playful duality in music, playing on gender-role conventions and completely avoiding the titillation that seethes from… well, everywhere now.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Miss you as if you were far away,
Miss you as if you were in front of me.
Miss you as if you were in my mind,
Miss you as if you were in my heart.
