Spotted this old lady practicing her Taiwanese song skills on the bus – I wonder if she was just getting her KTV on point or is planning get her man back? Before looking more closely at the lyrics I’ll admit that I thought it was a hymn sheet. Have you seen song sheets like this? There seems to be a cool notation system a little bit like TAB for the guitar.
The song is “Not yet awake from a dream” or 「夢袂醒」bāng bōe chhíⁿ by Fang Yi-ping:
People in Mainland China can watch it here.
The lyrics are as below – it’s pretty easy as it’s just one section repeated over and over:
英暗的這杯酒 是咱最後的溫柔
This glass of alcohol tonight, is the last warmth we have
過去親像夢一場 明日咱變成朋友
The past seems like a dream, tomorrow we become friends
講要牽手天長地久 為何對我下毒手
We said we’d hold hands for eternity, why are you plotting against me
無論怎樣苦苦哀求 擱懇求返來這個巢
However miserably I beg and beseech you to return home
放你自由甭強求 我的心肝結歸球
I’ll set you free, there’s no point in forcing you, my heart is in a knot
叫我怎樣來接受
Making it hard for me to accept
英暗的這杯酒 是咱最後的溫柔
This glass of alcohol tonight, is the last warmth we have
過去親像夢一場 明日咱變成朋友
The past seems like a dream, tomorrow we become friends
講要牽手天長地久 為何對我下毒手
We said we’d hold hands for eternity, why are you plotting against me
無論怎樣苦苦哀求 擱懇求返來這個巢
However miserably I beg and beseech you to return home
放你自由甭強求 我的心肝結歸球
I’ll set you free, there’s no point in forcing you, my heart is in a knot
叫我怎樣來接受
Making it hard for me to accept
講要牽手天長地久 為何對我下毒手
We said we’d hold hands for eternity, why are you plotting against me
無論怎樣苦苦哀求 擱懇求返來這個巢
However miserably I beg and beseech you to return home
放你自由甭強求 我的心肝結歸球
I’ll set you free, there’s no point in forcing you, my heart is in a knot
叫我怎樣來接受
Making it hard for me to accept
Some useful words in case you need to shout at your boyfriend for breaking up with you:
英暗/盈暗 êng-àm (今晚／晚上） this evening/evening
過去 kòe-khì (過去) the past
親像 chhin-chhiūⁿ (好像) to seem as if
朋友 pêng-iú (朋友) friend
講 kóng (講) to say
下毒手 hē-to̍k-chhiú (下毒手) to plot against someone
自由 chū-iû (自由) free (as in liberty)
結歸球 kat-kui-khiû (糾成一團) to be tangled in a knot
怎樣 chóaⁿ-iūⁿ (怎麼樣) how
接受 chiap-siū (接受) to accept
It seems like a great simple song to start you learning Taiwanese if you don’t know it already!
Dear friend,真感謝你對台語的鍾愛。喜歡你的英譯，但是想建議你是否在台華對照的解釋修改一下？把 英暗/盈暗 改為 英暗/今暗 或是 英暗/今暗/今晩。
今kim 訛化（corruption ）為 im/ym/jm 毫無疑問，如「吟」gim /im 在北京話或日語音 yn 或是gin（大吟釀），/今/ 音失去聲母變成［im］。「暗」可能也是「晩」的訛化，但是尚可接受。 陳 存 敬請
Sorry. [im] [ym] should be [ing] for 英 sound. I really dislike using 借音for total distortion of the meaning. Loss of the initial or the final of an ancient pronounce is quite common , for example [kong] 《說文解字》for 黃 can be [ko] for Japanese and [ng] for Taiwanese.