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