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[Xiao Quer] �曲儿 - 上邪 | Oh heavens


renn

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Xiao Quer (å°æ›²å„¿) -

| Oh heavens[1]


Lyrics: æ¨é†‰ (Hen Zui)
Composition: å°æ›²å„¿ (Xiao Quer)
Arrangement: airs, ç°åŽŸç©· (Hui Yuan Qiong)

 

Lyrics translation by renn at www.onehallyu.com

credits.png

 




ä½ å«è¡£å¦‚ç«ç¼ä¼¤äº†å¤©æ¶¯ï¼Œ
从此残阳烙我心上如朱砂。
都说你眼中开倾世桃花,
å´å¦‚何一夕桃花雨下。

nÇ jià yÄ« rú huÇ’ zhuó shÄng le tiÄn yá,
cóng cÇ cán yáng lào wÇ’ xÄ«n shàng rú zhÅ« shÄ.
dÅu shuÅ nÇ yÇŽn zhÅng kÄi qÄ«ng shì táo huÄ,
què rú hé yÄ« xÄ« táo huÄ yÇ” xià.

Your wedding robes are like fire and have burned the ends of the earth;
From now on, the setting sun brands my heart like cinnabar[2].
[They] all say exceedingly beautiful peach blossoms bloom in your eyes,
Yet how is it that in the span of a night, the peach blossoms have fallen like the rain.


é—®è°èƒ½å€Ÿæˆ‘回眸一眼,
去逆æµå›žæº¯é¥è¿¢çš„æµå¹´ï¼Œ
循ç€ä½ ä¸ºæˆ‘è½»å’的《上邪》,
å†åŽ»è§ä½ ä¸€é¢ã€‚

wèn shéi néng jiè wǒ huí móu yī yǎn,
qù nì liú huí sù yáo tiáo de liú nián,
xún zhe nÇ wèi wÇ’ qÄ«ng yÇ’ng de 《shàng yé》,
zài qù jiàn nÇ yÄ« miàn.

ask: who can lend me a backward glance
In order to go against the current [of time] and trace the memories back to those distant fleeting years,
Following the "Shang Ye" song[1] that you lightly sang for me,
To see you one more time.


在那远去的旧年,
我笑你轻许了姻缘。

zài nà yuǎn qù de jiù nián,
wÇ’ xiào nÇ qÄ«ng xÇ” le yÄ«n yuán.

In that old year[3] that has become far away,
I laughed at how you too easily promised away your happy fate of marriage.


是你用尽一生åŸå’《上邪》,
而我转身轻负你如花美眷。
那一年的长安飞花漫天,
我å¬è§å¡žå¤–春风泣血。

shì nÇ yòng jìn yÄ« shÄ“ng yín yÇ’ng 《shàng yé》,
ér wÇ’ zhuÇŽn shÄ“n qÄ«ng fù nÇ rú huÄ mÄ›i juàn.
nà yÄ« nián de cháng Än fÄ“i huÄ màn tiÄn,
wǒ tīng jiàn sài wài chūn fēng qì xuè.

It is you who has used up [your] entire life singing "Shang Ye",
And yet I turned around and easily let down you down—you, [my] beautiful wife.
That year, in Chang'an, flying flowers filled the whole sky;
I heard the spring wind crying blood beyond the Great Wall[4].


轻嗅风中血似酒浓烈,
耳边兵戈之声åžå™¬æ—·é‡Žï¼Œ
ç«å…‰é‡Œé£žå›žçš„é›ä¹Ÿå‘œå’½ï¼Œ
哭声传去多远。

qÄ«ng xiù fÄ“ng zhÅng xuè sì jiÇ” nóng liè,
Ä›r biÄn bÄ«ng gÄ“ zhÄ« shÄ“ng tÅ«n shì kuàng yÄ›,
huÇ’ guÄng lÇ fÄ“i huí de yàn yÄ› wÅ« yè,
kū shēng chuán qù duŠyuǎn.

lightly scented the windborne blood that is as thick and fiery as wine;
By [my] ear, the sounds of warfare engulfed the vast wilderness.
In the firelight, even the wild geese that flew back sobbed.
Oh how far the sound of weeping carried.


那首你诵的《上邪》,
从此我å†å¬ä¸çœŸåˆ‡ã€‚

nà shÇ’u nÇ sòng de 《shàng yé》,
cóng cÇ wÇ’ zài tÄ«ng bù zhÄ“n qiè.

That "Shang Ye" song that you sang,
From now on I can no longer ever hear it clearly.


敌ä¸è¿‡çš„哪是似水æµå¹´ï¼Œ
江山早为你我说定了永别。
于是你把å字刻入å²ç¬ºï¼Œ
æ¢æˆ‘把你刻在我åŸå‰ã€‚

dí bù guò de nÇŽ shì sì shuÇ liú nián,
jiÄng shÄn zÇŽo wèi nÇ wÇ’ shuÅ dìng le yÇ’ng bié.
yú shì nÇ bÇŽ míng zì kè rù shÇ jiÄn,
huàn wÇ’ bÇŽ nÇ kè zài wÇ’ fén qián.

Time that flows away like water is not what [we're] no match against;
The rivers and mountains of this land have long ago agreed upon an eternal farewell for you and I.
And so you carve [your] name into the annals of history;
Let me be the one to instead carve you before my grave.


é£žèŠ±åˆæ•£è½åœ¨è¿™ä¸ªå­£èŠ‚ï¼Œ
而你å«è¡£æ¯”飞花还è¦è‰³çƒˆï¼Œ
ä½ å¯å”‡ä¼¼åˆè¦å’é《上邪》,
è¯´çš„å´æ˜¯ï¼š"我愿与å›ç»ã€‚"

fÄ“i huÄ yòu sàn luò zài zhè gè jì jié,
ér nÇ jià yÄ« bÇ fÄ“i huÄ hái yào yàn liè,
nÇ qÇ chún sì yòu yào yÇ’ng biàn 《shàng yé》,
shuŠde què shì:"wǒ yuàn yǔ jūn jué."

Flying flowers once more scatter in this season,
And your wedding robes are even richer and fierier than the flying flowers.
You part your lips as if you're about to sing "Shang Ye" again,
But what you say is: "I wish to sever ties with you."



T/N:

[1] 上邪: where 上 (up/upper) refers to the sky/heaven and 邪 is a marker of exclamation. This is an old folk song written from a woman's point of view, professing her deep, steadfast, undying love.

Original text:
上邪ï¼
我欲与å›ç›¸çŸ¥ï¼Œ
长命无ç»è¡°ã€‚
山无陵,
江水为竭,
冬雷震震,
å¤é›¨é›ªï¼Œ
天地åˆï¼Œ
乃敢与å›ç»ï¼

Roughly:
Oh heavens!
I wish for you and I to love one another
Till the end of time, without these feelings ever fading.
Only when the mountains are peakless,
And the rivers run dry,
And thunder roars during winter,
And snow falls during summer,
And the sky meets and joins with the earth,
Would I dare to sever and abandon my feelings for you.

 

And so you see the contrast painted by the last lines of the lyrics.


[2] 朱砂: cinnabar (or mercuric sulfide, for the chemically inclined) is a bright red ore and has been used for its color in paints and cosmetic rouges. The phrasing here, particularly the inclusion of the word "heart", leads me to believe that the lyricist is referring to cinnibar in the context of using it to draw a cinnabar mole (朱砂痣). This, in turn, is set in the context of a popular saying "心å£ä¸Šçš„一颗朱砂痣" (a cinnabar mole upon the heart), which is derived from Chinese author Eileen Chang's 1944 novel "Red Rose and White Rose":

Original text:
也许æ¯ä¸€ä¸ªç”·å­å…¨éƒ½æœ‰è¿‡è¿™æ ·çš„两个女人,至少两个。娶了红玫瑰,久而久之,红的å˜äº†å¢™ä¸Šçš„一抹蚊å­è¡€ï¼Œç™½çš„还是"åºŠå‰æ˜Žæœˆå…‰";娶了白玫瑰,白的便是衣æœä¸Šæ²¾çš„一粒饭é»å­ï¼Œçº¢çš„å´æ˜¯å¿ƒå£ä¸Šä¸€é¢—朱砂痣。

Roughly:
Perhaps each and every man has had two such women, at least two. Marry the red rose, then as time passes, the red becomes a smear of mosquito blood on the wall while the white remains "the bright moonlight before the bed"*; marry the white rose, then the white is a grain of cooked rice that has stuck on his clothes and yet the red is a cinnabar mole upon his heart.

[*an allusion to Li Bai's poem "A Quiet Night Thought", which uses moonlight to convey homesickness and is one of the first poems taught to kids, the latter giving it an association to innocence and wholesomeness.]

So cinnabar mole, in this context, is a woman of unforgettable allure whom he longs after in a "the one that got away" kind of way.


[3] æ—§å¹´ is literally "old year" but technically refers to the year that has just past, in contrast to the "new year".

 

 

[4] 塞外 is literally "outside the key fortresses of the frontier" and refers to land north of the Great Wall of China. Many battles were historically fought long this northern border. This also explains the phrase "the wild geese that flew back" in the next verse: wild geese are migratory birds and they have "flown back" up north since it is spring.

 

BONUS: Just my own musings, but it's interesting that though flowers come up over and over, the first verse specifically identifies peach blossoms. Peach blossoms, in connection with the eyes, refer to a pair of expressive eyes that enraptures others. In connection with luck, they refer to good luck in affairs of love. In connection with a place, they describe paradise, an ideal place. However, peach blossom is also a metaphor for a woman and in the idiom 桃花薄命, it is an unlucky woman whose life is filled with hardship.

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Wah, the translations are so beautiful! It must've taken you so long to translate all of these, especially with the idioms/poetic expressions/etc. Thank so so much for the hard work! 

:chu:

(P.s. Also thank you for the little extra note on the bottom; who knew that something so beautiful could also be so tragic?  :rlytearpls: )

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Wah, the translations are so beautiful! It must've taken you so long to translate all of these, especially with the idioms/poetic expressions/etc. Thank so so much for the hard work! 

:chu:

(P.s. Also thank you for the little extra note on the bottom; who knew that something so beautiful could also be so tragic?  :rlytearpls: )

 

You're very welcome!

 

Haha I was already familiar with the original "Shang Ye" song since I watched My Fair Princess when I was little and Ziwei says a shortened version of it to Fu Erkang. (Just the "Only when the mountains are peakless and the sky joins with the earth, would I dare to sever my feelings for you" part.)

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You're very welcome!

 

Haha I was already familiar with the original "Shang Ye" song since I watched My Fair Princess when I was little and Ziwei says a shortened version of it to Fu Erkang. (Just the "Only when the mountains are peakless and the sky joins with the earth, would I dare to sever my feelings for you" part.)

 

omg I remember that quote; I just didn't realize it was part of Shang Ye/incorporated into this song as well. HZGG was and still is one of my faves.

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