Monday, April 7, 2014

7th Apr 2014 (左右無緣 – Gary Chaw)

The song that I chose for today is “左右無緣” by Gary Chaw. This song was a few years ago, but I only heard it for the first a few days ago on the radio. The title is a bit hard to translate, as it plays with words and also the word “” (or its long form from context “緣份”) doesn’t have a direct compatible word in English. There is an old Chinese saying “左右逢源”, meaning that everything goes on smoothly (the direct translation of the Chinese saying is “left and right would meet the source”. In here, the source referred to the source of water, hence it means that no matter where you go, you could easily find water.) The word “” (meaning source) and “” (meaning fate, destiny, elaborating more on this, it generally use in context whether two people are meant to meet and form a relationship, which doesn’t necessary need to a romance) pronounced the same in Cantonese. With the third word becoming “”, it basically flips the meaning of the Chinese saying. The closest translation that I can think of for the title in English is “No fate at all”.

The lyrics of the song are about love. The protagonist said that he suspected that he bumped into his ex-girlfriend, but sadly at the moment, the power of the light bulb was killed. He is worry that they might have meet up but the connection keeps cutting off, causing them not to be able to see each other even to their dead. He tried to search for clues in the city about her, but he didn’t find any. He can only blame that when he travelled around the city and hotels, but at a slower speed then she was. The crossing points were too far away and they are just looping around the city. Earlier for a few second or be late for a few seconds, how to judge early and late? Every time when he go forward, she turned right, they couldn’t meet up. They share the same small world and had fate. Perhaps they were only apart for six inches, but their lives are so far apart. Every section of their lives is differed by a few inches, so how could he still blame their lives? He guessed that he might have walked pass her in the city, or he might have been in the same train as she was, but there were too many people, so even if they have meet, they would missed each other. There were lot of people celebrating on the street during Christmas, he guessed that they might have been in the same crowd. He tried to see through each person in the crowd, but he still missed her, so maybe he looked at the wrong place. A short distance has turn into a long distance and they are running around in circle. The same shop, the same city, why does it differ so much. If he looked up and saw her, he saw the same background. But she is so far away, like looking at stars. When he turned right she moved forward and they were about to meet up. They are a mismatch and they are just floating in time. They are always distanced by six inches and this six inches is making his dreams so far away. Every sections in their lives, they differ by a few inches, this dragged they from fate further and further away. Hope you will like the song.


Related posts:
20th Apr 2015 (3-7-20-1 – Gary Chaw)

左右無緣 – Gary Chaw

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