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Friday, March 9, 2012

TVB series “The Hippocratic Crush” 《On Call 36小時》(2012): Theme Song Translation

“The Hippocratic Crush” is one of TVB’s newest series that is currently airing. There’s actually one more week to go before the series is over, so I’m going to save most of my commentary for afterwards, when I do the review of this series.

I will say though that I’m actually really enjoying this series, which is a bit of a surprise to me considering I wasn’t too interested in this series prior to it airing because I wasn’t too keen on the cast. After watching the first few episodes though, I couldn’t help but be impressed by the performances by some of the cast members (I’ll talk more about this in my review) – plus the script is pretty well put together for the most part (especially considering the various subplots in the series) and the storyline is quite engaging (though there are a few flaws that I’ll discuss more about later on in the review).

Anyway, for the purposes of this post, I’m going to focus primarily on the themesong for the series, which is called ‘Serial Drama’ (連續劇) and is sung by Joey Yung. I’m not a Joey fan by any means (and I’m still not a fan, despite how much I like this particular song), but I will admit that she did a good job performing this song – she definitely gave the perfect amount of emotion to the song to really bring out the essence of the song as it relates to the series. And definitely, the more I listen to the song, the more I feel that it suits the series extremely well (especially the lyrics).

Since I really enjoyed this song, I decided to go ahead and translate the lyrics into English. I must admit that this was quite a difficult task because some of the words used in the song sound best in Chinese and when translated into English, some of the ‘emotion’ and ‘feel’ is definitely lost. Also, some of the lyrics were a bit ‘deep’ and in essence, don’t sound good translated into English (with my translation, I sort of feel I didn’t do justice to some of the lyrics, but hey, I tried my best!).

One quick note…since I really liked the lyrics to this song, I did do a little bit of research on the person who wrote the lyrics -- Roy Lin (林日曦). When I found out who he was, it made a lot more sense to me why the lyrics were so ‘poetic’ and a little bit on the ‘difficult’ side to translate…Roy is one of the apprentice students of the HK music world’s most renown and talented lyricists – the ‘master’ of song-writing, Lam Jik (林夕) [those familiar with HK music will definitely know who he is]. Looking through the lyrics and listening to the song again, I can definitely sense the ‘Lam Jik influence’ in the song!

Below is the English translation of the song, along with a link to listen to the song from Youtube (note that I didn’t post the MV because I didn’t feel it was appropriate to do so due to copyright issues) . As is the case whenever I do song translations, the translation below is purely my own interpretation of the lyrics and so most likely will be different from other translations of the song that may be out there.

Lastly, if anyone has feedback regarding the theme song itself, please feel free to comment!

.---.

Link to song: 'Serial Drama'

Chinese lyrics credit to Roy Lin's Sina Blog

[Translated by: llwy12]
*** PLEASE CREDIT IF RE-POSTED!! THANK YOU! ***

連續劇
Serial Drama


電視劇《On Call 36小時》 主題曲
TV Series “The Hippocratic Crush” theme song

主唱: 容祖兒
Performed by: Joey Yung

作曲: 鄧智偉
Composed by: Tang Chi Wai

填詞: 林日曦
Lyrics by: Roy Lin

編曲: Johnny Yim
Music Arrangement by: Johnny Yim


開首的一篇是某某出生
The opening chapter starts with someone’s birth

媽媽給寶寶奉上這一生 頭一吻
A mother dedicates her entire life to her baby, a kiss on the forehead

開端之後或晴或暗
What follows this opening could be brightness or darkness

怎麼走就像連續劇也欠缺安穩
No matter how we move forward it’s like a serial drama, lacks steadiness


或者 於某集我可抬頭欣賞到你
Perhaps, in a certain episode I can lift my head and admire you

或者 一轉念便要失去你
Perhaps, upon second thought I’ll lose you

或者 轉折漸太多 遺忘怎擁抱你
Perhaps, the twists and turns gradually become too much and I forget how to embrace you

或者 擁緊偏已斷氣
Perhaps, as soon as we embrace tightly, the breathing has already stopped


情人們一呼一吸相愛到底 結局或同樣
Lovers, with each breath, love each other to the end, even if the ending turns out the same

仍想將你我這幕 演得更理想
Still want to perform this scene between us more ideally

能修補即管修補 不要再想 再一刻人便缺氧
Go ahead and fix what can be fixed, don’t hesitate anymore, one more moment and it will be lost

熟悉的歌曲 等與你合唱
A familiar song, I’m waiting to sing it with you

無人需要落寞的過場 前來鋪滿浪漫的過場
No one needs a lonely interlude, come forward to an interlude filled with romance


新一章怎可是你我分開
How can the new chapter be about our separation?

可否改寫得像你我當初還相愛
Can it be re-written like the beginning, when you and I were still in love?

只可惜上集難逆轉
Unfortunately, it’s too difficult to reverse the previous episode

傷感的下集仍然未播 我會修改
The next episode filled with sorrow has not aired yet, I will amend it


如果 當晚沒有分神來緊張佈置
If that night we hadn’t gotten distracted with nervously putting our feelings in order

如果 不必誤會再猜疑
If we did not misunderstand then suspect each other

如果 將對白說得平和 不加諷刺
If we had spoken our dialogue more placidly, without adding sarcasm

如果 真的可有下次
If there really could be a ‘next time’


情人們一呼一吸相愛到底 結局或同樣
Lovers, with each breath, love each other to the end, even if the ending turns out the same

仍然能拖緊彼此 走絕地雪霜
Still can hold on to each other tightly to walk through the dangerous snow and frost

如能重修好一雙 不要再想 再一刻人便缺氧
If able to reconstruct one pair, don’t hesitate anymore, one more moment and it will be lost

明知可一起 不要再獨唱
Knowing you can be together, don’t continue to sing solo


情人們一呼一吸相愛到底 結局或同樣
Lovers, with each breath, love each other to the end, even if the ending turns out the same

仍想將你我這幕 演得更理想
Still want to perform this scene between us more ideally

如能重修好一雙 不要再想 再一刻誰亦要退下場
If able to reconstruct one pair, don’t hesitate anymore, one more moment and everyone will need to leave the stage

多得你在場 多得我在場 天空也在場
Thankfully you are present, thankfully I am present, the sky is also present

演好這一章 呼吸太無常
Perform this chapter well, as breathing is too unstable

11 comments:

  1. Love the lyrics to this song. It really captures the them of "seizing the day" in telling the people you love how much they mean to you. Thanks for the english translation!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. @Anonymous: You're welcome! I love the lyrics too as well as the song -- both flow together beautifully and also fit the theme of the series (as well as the events that occur) almost perfectly! :0)

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  2. Love this song so much! I even play and sing this song on my piano ^^

    Visit:
    http://smay157.blogspot.com/2013/11/on-call-36-theme-song.html

    for Easy Piano playing using ABC notation ^^

    ReplyDelete
  3. I love the song and the series!!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hi ! Is it possible that u can write this into a singable english lyric ? OuO
    Btw the translation was awesome

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. @Anonymous: Thanks for the compliments on the translation...definitely makes the effort worth it.

      Sorry to disappoint you, but writing it into singable English lyrics is too big of a feat for me. As much as I love listening to songs and enjoy writing, I'm unfortunately not much of a song writer. Thanks for asking though! Perhaps in the future there will be someone with talent in this area who would be able to do it. :-)

      Delete
    2. I am in Canada. The national anthem, O Canada, has an English and French versions. They don't have the same meaning. That is because it is impossible to have an accurate translation that can be sung. It's one or the other. A very rough translation with things changed to fit the music or an accurate translation that does not fit the music.

      Delete
  5. Can you Please Please Please translate the Sequel theme song!!!! Been looking everywhere and I cant find English lyrics to THC 2 opening.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Can you Please Please Please translate the lyrics to THC 2?!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The Chinese lyrics and Chinese lyrics in Roman alphabet is here: https://regomodoslinux.blogspot.com/2018/11/juk-jaap-tvb-on-call-36-ii-lyric-joey.html

      The English translation is here.
      http://shintasword.blogspot.com/2014/07/sequel-joey-yung.html

      Delete
  7. Thanks for the translation. It means alot. Was thinking to hv a fan club or sth so that we cld share ur views on good creations.

    ReplyDelete