Loading ...Trịnh Công Sơn is my most favorite Vietnamese composer – songwriter. The first thing I love about his songs is the lyrics, but for some songs like “Diễm xưa”, “Hạ trắng”, “Đóa hoa vô thường”, “Mưa hồng”… the music is admirable for me too.
“Diễm xưa” is one of the most famous songs by Trịnh Cộng Sơn. For many Vietnamese, it is the mother of all love songs, bring us the exquisite misery of being in love. The original title “Diễm xưa” can be understood by different ways: “Bygone Diễm” (with “Diễm” is a Vietnamese name for girls, some articles said the girl named “Diễm” is Trịnh Công Sơn’s love-interesting), “Old Charm” (“diễm” means “beautiful” / “charm”), “Old Flame” (some people thinks “diễm” meaning is “flame”). The song also has a Japanese version, “Utsukushii Mukashi”, sung by Yoshimi Tendo (this song is the main theme song of NHK drama “Saigon, came from his wife and daughter” – 1978, and also incorporated into the Vietnamese culture courses of Kwansei Gakuin University).
I think Trịnh Công Sơn’s lyrics are really difficult to translate from Vietnamese to English. They usually have many symbolism and metaphors that only the writer himself can truly understand. The lyrics are so beautiful in Vietnamese, not just the meaning, but also the way they sound, the way Trịnh Công Sơn arranges the words.