In restoring the music I took two different approaches. The first was to keep the original tune but add to the verses. The second was to write entirely new verses. Now we sing LÝ CÂY ÐA, QUA CẦU GIÓ BAY with three different verses (in four-foot lines) and with harmony ađed.
SONG OF THE BANYAN TREE
Up the slope we climb
Under the banyan tree we sit
How come we are meeting here
At the full moon festival
. . . . . .
We have split the bamboo
To make a conical hat
How come you're wearing that hat
At the full moon festival
. . . . . .
Brown cloth we have made
Into a vest with five flaps
How come you're wearing that vest
At the full moon festival.
QUA CẦU GIÓ BAY
THE WIND ON THE BRIDGE
Falling in love we take off each other's shirt
Then we lied to mother
That the wind blew it away
When we were crossing the bridge
. . . . . .
Falling in love we take off each other's apron
Then we lied to mother
That the wind blew it away
When we were crossing the bridge
. . . . . .
Falling in love we take off each other's ring
Then we lied to mother
That we dropped it
When we were crossing the bridge
PRETTY BAMBOO
Pretty bamboo tree, growing by the pond
Young lady, you look pretty wherever you stand
Pretty bamboo tree, growing by the temple
Young lady, you are so pretty standing there by yourself
Pretty bamboo tree, in the cold wind and the rain
Young lady, I love you whatever you hold in your heart
Pretty bamboo tree, growing by the pagoda
Young lady, if you don't love me I'll get a magic potion
Pretty bamboo tree, by the high rise building
Young lady, how lovely you are just standing there!
SPIN A THREAD, THREAD A NEEDLE
In an idle moment I spin a thread and I thread a needle
To make a fine pair of trousers and send it to you
Storks put on their white suits
Eat a good meal, take a cool bath, and leave for the forest
Let us go split some ''lim'' wood in the forest
To make sure that a marriage will take place
A chinese fan has twenty four ribs made of bone
If you are holding a paper fan, think of somebody
Let me tell you about the crab
Eight legs, two eyes, a carapace, two pincers.
SONG OF THE KHUYÊN BIRD
The khuyên bird is used to the longans
The fish is used to the bowl
Husband and wife are used to each other's smell
The khuyên bird sucks the sunflower's nectar
I can wait three years, let alone just one
The khuyên bird comes down from the mountain to search for food
Seeing you working so hard I cannot rest.
COVER THE ROSE
You must cover the rose bush
Shield it from the sun and the rain, if you want it to bloom
Picking some leaves to cover the rose bush
I think of you and forget the distances
I take off my hat to cover the rose
I pick a pretty flower to give to the even prettier girl.
HÁI HOA was originally a hát thờ tune with a single verse, I added three more:
PICKING FLOWERS
Dear companions
Picking flowers is not easy
You must throw away
Any that's starting to fade
No use keeping those
They'll just fade away
From far away comes a breeze
So bright the flower
Smelling the new fragrance
I don't want to pick the flower
From far away comes a breeze
The flower smiles
Pretty butterflies
Caress the flowers
Flowers that get lovesick
Get old quickly
The butterflies only plays
The flower suffers
Playful and pitiless
Children pick the flowers
Virgin flowers
Loveless flowers
Stop laying waste
To the fairy garden
NƯỚC CHẨY BON BON was also restored, with three new verses of mine added to the traditional one:
TUMBLING WATER
Water is tumbling
A monkey carrying her baby
Picks fruit on the mountain.
I feel for you
Orphaned girl
Poor young lady
I feel for you
Orphaned girl.
A drizzle is falling.
In the cavern
A spider weaves a confused web.
I feel for him
Who has lost his way
O my love
I feel for you
Who have lost your way.
The wind is howling
A crow is complaining
Through the night.
I pity you
Who are full of hatred
I pity you
Who are full of hatred.
In the afternoon sun
The loveless cricket
Has gone silent
I pity you
Who are wasting your youth
My arms are open
Come back to me
Folk Songs Of The Mountains
Croquis by Văn Cao
HARVEST DAY
(Thái folk song)
O birds, free flying birds
Come here and see
The golden harvest on the hillsides
A maiden is carrying home
My fragrant ripened rice.
The sun is rising on harvest day
O bird, come here
Look at the mountain's harvest
Ripening on the yard
The pole house doors are wide open
To welcome the traveller.
A smoke is rising
A gentle sun is shining
The wind and the birds
Are tasting the rice harvest
Highlanders and lowlanders
Let's pledge to be brothers
I also restored and modernized some folk songs of the Highland tribes.
CYMBALS, DRUMS, GONGS
(Jarai song)
Cymbals, drums and gongs welcome the worker
To the hillside gardens and to the fields.
O forest! O mountain!
O cascades! O springs! O forests! O mountains!
Tang tính tình, bamboo harps, bamboo strings
Accompany you to the field
O fields! O earth!
O rice! O fields! O earth!
We shall not burn the forest, it will hurt the foliage
It will hurt the knia trees
O beloved forest!
O precious wood! beloved forest!
From morning till night the birds accompany you
In building your hamlet and your village
O rice! O water!
O new shirt! O rice! O water!
The wild animals stay awake
To see you rejoice
O Vietnam, my country!
Prosperous life! Vietnam my country!
Prosperous life! Vietnam my country!
MỘT MẸ TRĂM CON
ONE MOTHER, A HUNDRED CHILDREN
(Jarai song)
We are all from the same parents
As was told in the old tale
When the world was deep in a mist
Mother gave birth to one hundred eggs
One hundred children from the same blood
Fifty crossed the mountains
Cleared the jungle to plant hillside gardens
To form mountain villages, to build pole houses
Fifty went down along the Trường Sơn range
Spreading North and South
Forming a country, making new ricefields.
Today as clouds meet the forest and leaves meet the mountain
We come here to meet, hands clasping hands
Highlanders and lowlanders share a song
As brothers of the same country
As clansmen of the same bloodline
Sound the cymbals, beat the gongs!
The music echo through the thatched roofs into the forest
Startling Hua the monkey
And the jungle devils, and the wild deers.
HÁT ÐÔI
COURTING SONG
(Takua songs)
Pretty girl
Like a love bloom
You are weaving by yourself
Your full breasts are trembling.
Young man
Strong as an elephant
You are felling trees and digging the forest
To make a large field.
Gentle girl
As gentle as the rice plants on the hills
You are pounding the rice
Your waist is so slender.
Young man
Fast as an eagle
You chase the tiger into the forest
And break the young buffalo's horns
Smiling girl
With rice cakes in your pannier
You are digging a trench
In the forest full of thorn.
Dear girl
For all the world you work
To keep the fragrant rice
The corn and the potatoes.
Young man
Carrying a rifle, walking in the forest
You defend the fields
You defend the village.
Young man
You contribute your strength
To build the hamlet
And serve the people.
We the people of Vietnam
Are building for the long run
Our cooking pots are filled with rice
Our wine full of flavour.
We the people of Vietnam
Are enjoying life
Our harps echo in the sky
Our gong resounds over the ocean.
VỀ ÐỒNG BẰNG
COME BACK TO THE PLAINS
(Hre songs)
Remember those day
Under the rocky wall
In the gloomy abyss
Remember those day
Under the foliage
In the dark huts
Our life was poor and bleak
Full of danger
Bandits occupied the village
Husbands and wives suffered.
Remember those days
They made us do forced labor
Remember those days
They forced us to give them food
Remember those days
When our hamlet was full of suffering
So much suffering!
Then one day
We decided to escape from the hardship
Then one day
We decided to leave our hamlet in the old forest
In the forest
The bandits came to pillage
We headed for the lowlands
Towards the nationalists
Where we made many friends.
Remember that day
When we decided to join our brothers
Remember that day
When we resolved to look for security
Remember that day
When we sang happily in our hamlet.
A wall we built, a trench we dug
To protect our new hamlet
Inside we live happily
Everyone finds a weapon
To stop the eternal ennemy.
We have many garden terraces
New fields, fast growing rice
By the singing waterfalls
The birds from the old forests
Have left the rocky walls
To come to their old friends.
XUÂN TRÊN BUÔN
SPRING IN THE MOUNTAIN HAMLET
(Rhade song)
Spring has come to our hamlet
The people's hearts welcome spring
A young man joyfully walks
Towards the hillside fields to visit the rice crop.
A young highland girl
Sings while washing her hair by the stream.
A boy is tending the cattle
While flying a kite with its melodious pipe.
Delicious food is cooking on the fire
The wine smells good.
Surrounded by children and grandchildren
An old man lights up a pipe
And tells old tales of the Highlands.
MẸ GỌI CON
MOTHER'S CALL
On the hillside the fawns are dreaming
As they share tasty sweet potatoes.
In the forest young birds are laughing.
In the untended garden an old woman walks in a daze
Downhearted because her son is not in the fields.
In the sunset she drags her shadow
Walking back to the silent hamlet.
He has followed the terrorists
To kill his countrymen.
She is sad for her son who lives in the dark
And implores to God to bring him back.
Listen to old mother, my child!
Come home quickly!
Come back to the furrows, to the vegetable garden, to the potato patch
Come back to build everlasting freedom.
ANH MAU VỀ
COME BACK QUICKLY
You lived in the hamlet
You had a peaceful life
You lived a happy life
Enjoying a country's love
Like young birds nestling
In the love of Vietnam.
Then one dark night
You heard the call of hatred
Like an owl's voice
Luring you away
From home, family, brothers and sisters.
Now you live in the jungle
Like a lost deer
Like a wild panther.
Sometimes you come back
To destroy our fields
Then the villagers chase you away
Into the wild forest.
Such a perilous life
Such a lonely life
You will die in the deep forest
You will die in the high mountains
Without loving embraces
Far from your parents
No grave will be dug for you.
Come back, you must come back now
To the old bamboo grove
To the flowers of the four seasons
To drink wine and happily banter
The whole clan will celebrate your freedom.
The blue water
The romantic brook
The misty night
Are waiting for you
Waiting for your footsteps
In the moonlight
On the village track...
One Another Folk Song
PLEASE COME HOME
Come home o my brother
Come! Listen to the voice of the homeland.
Listen to the call of loved ones.
Come home o my brother
Come! The cheerful village
Is waiting for the sound of your footsteps.
Come home o my brother
Come! Together we'll build the future.
The nation is waiting for your hands
Come home o my brother
Come home to fight
Or to leave in peace by the ricefields.
Come home o my brother
Come home o my brother
How can you follow the bandits.
Come home o my brother
Come home o my brother
Come home o my brother
Come! Listen to the longing
The yearnings of friends and relatives.
Come home o my brother
Come! Your beloved
Is yearning for your return.
Come home o my brother
Come, come, though it may be dark
Tomorrow the sun will rise on the fields.
Come home o my brother
Come home o my brother
How can you follow the bandits
Come home o my brother
Come, oh please come home!
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