Lyrics Analysis— 聽媽媽的話Listen to Mom(Tīng māmā de huà)_sung by Jay Chou周杰倫

聽媽媽的話

小朋友 你是否有很多問號(?)

Xiǎo péngyǒu nǐ shìfǒu yǒu hěnduō wènhào

Kid! Do you have a lot of question marks?

是否 shìfǒu whether or not

為什麼 別人在那看漫畫 

Wèishéme biérén zài nà kàn mànhuà

Why are other people reading comics there?

我卻在學畫畫 對著鋼琴說話

Wǒ què zài xué huà huà duìzhe gāngqín shuōhuà

I’m learning to draw instead and speak to the piano

卻 què  however 

別人在玩遊戲 我卻靠在牆壁背我的ABC

Biérén zài wán yóuxì wǒ què kào zài qiángbì bèi wǒ de ABC

Others are playing games and I’m leaning against the wall, memorizing ABC(English alphabets)

我說我要一個大大的飛機 但卻得到一台舊舊錄音機

Wǒ shuō wǒ yào yīgè dàdà de fēijī dàn què dédào yī tái jiù jiù lùyīnjī

I said I wanted a big airplane but got an old tape recorder

舊舊的 very old

為什麼要聽媽媽的話? 長大後你就會開始懂了這段話

Wèishéme yào tīng māmā dehuà zhǎngdà hòu nǐ jiù huì kāishǐ dǒngle zhè duàn huà

Why listen to your mom, you’ll start to understand when you grow up

長大後我開始明白

Zhǎngdà hòu wǒ kāishǐ míngbái

As I grew up, I began to understand

明白Míngbái = 懂 dǒng= 了解liǎojiě understand

為什麼我跑得比別人快 飛得比別人高

Wèi shéme wǒ pǎo dé bǐ biérén kuài, fēi dé bǐ biérén gāo

Why do I run faster than others and fly higher than others

將來大家看的,都是我畫的漫畫 

Jiānglái dàjiā kàn de dōu shì wǒ huà de mànhuà

In the future, everyone will read comics drawn by me

大家 dàjiā  everyone 皆さん

大家唱的,都是我寫的歌

Dàjiā chàng de dōu shì wǒ xiě de gē

Everyone sings songs I wrote

媽媽的辛苦不讓你看見 

Māmā de xīnkǔ bù ràng nǐ kàn jiàn

Mom’s hard work won’t let you see

辛苦 xīnkǔ  辛さ(unpleasantness)

溫暖的食譜在她心裡面

Wēnnuǎn de shípǔ zài tā xīn lǐmiàn

Warm recipes are in her heart

有空就多多握握她的手 

Yǒu kòng jiù duōduō wò wò tā de shǒu

Hold her hand more whenever you have time

把手牽著一起夢遊

Bǎshǒu qiānzhe yīqǐ mèngyóu

sleepwalking holding hands

夢遊 mèngyóu dream walk몽유병

牽 = 握 qiān = wò 붙잡다 hold onto

聽媽媽的話            別讓她受傷 

Tīng māmā dehuà bié ràng tā shòushāng

Listen to mom and don’t let her get hurt

想快快長大                    才能保護她

Xiǎng kuài kuài zhǎngdà cái néng bǎohù tā

I want to grow up quickly to protect her

才 cái  as soon as, すぐ

美麗的白髮     幸福中發芽 

Měilì de bái fà xìngfú zhōng fāyá

Beautiful white hair, sprouting in happiness(幸せ)

天使的魔法         溫暖中慈祥

Tiānshǐ de mófǎ wēnnuǎn zhōng cíxiáng

Angel’s magic, kindness inside the warmth

在你的未來 音樂是你的王牌 拿王牌談個戀愛

Zài nǐ de wèilái yīnyuè shì nǐ de wángpái ná wángpái tán gè liàn’ài

In your future, music is your Ace card, take your Ace card and fall in love

唉!我不想把你教壞 還是聽媽媽的話吧 晚點再戀愛吧

Āi! Wǒ bùxiǎng bǎ nǐ jiào huài háishì tīng māmā dehuà ba wǎndiǎn zài liàn’ài ba

aigo! I don’t want to teach you bad, rather than that,  listen to mother and fall in love later

再 zài to resume

我知道你未來的路     但媽比我更清楚

Wǒ zhīdào nǐ wèilái de lù  dàn mā bǐ wǒ gèng qīngchǔ

I know your future’s path, but mom knows more clearly than me

你會開始學,其他同學在書包寫東寫西

Nǐ huì kāishǐ xué, qítā tóngxué zài shūbāo xiě dōng xiě xī

You will start to learn, other students who are writing something(or graffiti) in their schoolbags

____

但我建議最好寫:              媽媽我會用功讀書

Dàn wǒ jiànyì zuì hǎo xiě māmā wǒ huì yònggōng dúshū

But I suggest you had better write:mother I will study hard

建議 jiànyì   suggest 

如果要去韓國讀書,我建議去釜山比較好

用功讀書 怎麼會從我嘴巴說出

Yònggōng dúshū zěnme huì cóng wǒ zuǐbā shuō chū

Study hard, how come will it come out of my mouth

不想你輸 所以要叫你用功讀書

Bùxiǎng nǐ shū suǒyǐ yào jiào nǐ yònggōng dúshū

I do not want you to lose, so I ask you to study hard

負けたくないので 一生懸命勉強してほしい

지기 싫어서 열심히 공부했으면 좋겠어

怕你明天睡過頭,所以要叫你早點睡

Pà nǐ míngtiān shuì guòtóu  ,Suǒyǐ yào jiào nǐ zǎodiǎn shuì

So I want to ask you to sleep a little bit earlier

睡過頭 shuì guòtóu oversleep

早睡 sleep early

早點睡 Zǎodiǎn shuì sleep earlier

怕 Pà afraid; scared: 

媽媽織給你的毛衣          你要好好的收著

Māmā zhī gěi nǐ de máoyī      nǐ yào hǎohǎo de shōuzhe

お母さんが編んであげたswether  조심스럽게 (선반)에 보관해야합니다

For the sweater that the mother weaved to you, you need to keep it well

因為母親節到時 我要告訴她:我還留著

Yīnwèi mǔqīn jié dào shí wǒ yào gàosù tā: Wǒ hái liúzhe

Because when mother’s day comes, I’m going to|want to tell her: I still keep it

時=的時候  の時

告訴 Gàosù to tell 

留著 liúzhe keeping 保つ

對了 我會遇到周潤發

Duìle wǒ huì yù dào zhōurùnfā

Oh right, I will meet Chow Yun Fat

對了  Duìle by the way

周潤發  zhōurùnfā Chow Yun Fat, HK actor

遇到  yù dào meet

所以你可以跟同學炫耀:賭神未來是你爸爸

Suǒyǐ nǐ kěyǐ gēn tóngxué xuànyào: Dǔ shén wèilái shì nǐ bàba

So you can show off to your classmates: God of Gamblers is your father in the future

賭 Dǔ  to bet 걸다 賭ける

神: shén  god

賭神: god of gambler

我找不到童年寫的情書 

Wǒ zhǎo bù dào tóngnián xiě de qíngshū

I can’t find love letters that I wrote in the childhood

어린 시절의 쓴 러브레터를 찾을 수 없어요

童年 tóngnián childhood 어린 시절

你寫完(finish)不要送人

Nǐ xiě wán bùyào sòng rén

Don’t give it away after you write it

不要  bùyào  Don’t: ないでください

你會開始喜歡流行歌 

Nǐ huì kāishǐ xǐhuān shàng liúxíng gē

From the time point, you start to like/love pop songs

因為張學友開始準備唱<吻別>

Yīnwèi zhāngxuéyǒu kāishǐ zhǔnbèi chàng wěnbié

Because Jacky Cheung is about to sing a kiss goodbye

張學友 Jacky Cheung Hok Yau Zhāngxuéyǒu HK singer and actor

Jay Chou ( 周杰倫, Chōu Jiélún) is a Taiwanese singer, songwriter, record producer, actor, and television personality. Chou is one of the best-selling artists in the Mandarin-speaking countries and is known for his work with lyricist Vincent Fang(方文山), with whom he has frequently collaborated on his music.
In 2000, Chou released his debut studio album, Jay (2000), under the record company Alfa Music(阿爾發音樂). Chou rose to fame with the release of his second studio album, Fantasy (范特西) (2001), which combined Western and Eastern music styles. The album won five Golden Melody Awards, including Album of the Year. He has since further released twelve more studio albums, spawning a string of hit singles and gaining significant prominence in Asian communities such as Taiwan, Hong Kong SAR, China, Malaysia, and Singapore. Chou has embarked on six world tours, performing in cities around the world to more than 10 million spectators as of 2019.

Chou leads a new trend of music which combines western musical elements and Chinese literature terms. Because of this unique combination, he makes distinction between himself and other musicians by leading a “Zhongguo feng” in Asian music history. The success of his Western-Chinese musical combination is built on his marketing strategies and the musical elements involved in his works.

The traditional Chinese cultural elements involved in Chou’s music contribute to his status in Asian popular music culture. The blowing “Chinese style” (中國風) in his music leads a new trend of Chinese pop music that involves a vast amount of traditional Chinese components, rather than simply following Western music format. Chou’s Zhongguo feng is highlighted in his lyrics and the use of traditional musical instruments in his music. Lyricist Vincent Fang has worked with Jay Chou since 2000. Fang’s work is featured by addressing Chinese traditional elements, such as poetry and Confucianism. His representative work “Chrysanthemum Terrace” (Chinese: 菊花台; pinyin: juhua tai), released in 2006, shows a vast amount of cultural elements. In this work, Fang puts images which indicate certain traditional ideas to build an ancient monarchy setting. He uses chrysanthemum as a metaphor of love. In the line “Chrysanthemums broken, scattered across the floor, your smile has faded” (Chinese: 菊花殘 滿地傷 你的笑容已泛黃), as well with “Blue and White Porcelain” (Chinese: 青花瓷) and “Orchid Pavilion” (Chinese: 蘭亭序).

Chou performs in a rhythm and blues style, but within this western form, he has inserted Chinese melodies, themes, and rhythms. Chou also uses traditional musical instruments, combining traditional Chinese elements of music with Western pop music

Photo source: Wikipedia

Leave a comment