# 乡间的歌谣 永远的依靠



## Thime

大家好!
The sentence 乡间的歌谣 永远的依靠 has been taken out from the song 稻香 by Jay Chou.

不要哭让萤火虫带着你逃跑
乡间的歌谣 永远的依靠
回家吧回到最初的美好
Here's the full lyrics, if that helps.

My attemp: _"Always count on the folk song of the countryside"._

I'm not sure I got the true meaning.
Thanks in advance for any suggestions.


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## retrogradedwithwind

It's very easy.
乡间的歌谣 is (my) 永远的依靠。

This is rather common structure in Chinese.


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## Thime

So, _"The folk song of the countryside is the eternal support"_ should be more correct.
Is it also ok if I replace "my" with "your"?


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## brofeelgood

This is a Jay Chou song. In other words, there's no coherence and zero continuity between the lines. His songs are usually nice to listen to, but utter nonsense when you try to string everything together.



Thime said:


> Is it also ok if I replace "my" with "your"?


Unnecessary, but sure, why not. There's no right or wrong here.


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## Thime

Thanks for your input, brofeelgood, but I don't agree about the impossibility of finding a translation.
Hope someone else can clarify my doubt.


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## brofeelgood

Don't get me wrong Thime. This doesn't pertain only to Jay's songs. It's pretty much the case for everything else out there.

"乡间的歌谣 | 永远的依靠"
"A song from the countryside | A thing one can lean on perpetually"

This is but one interpretation of the lyrics (mine). I'm not disputing there could be others out there that are equally valid and acceptable. My point is, it's futile to pin a definitive interpretation on anything from the song, unless the songwriter (Jay Chou himself) steps forward and explicitly states what he'd meant by those words.


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## Skatinginbc

> 对这个世界如果你有太多的抱怨...追不到的梦想换个梦不就得了...乡间的歌谣永远的依靠, 回家吧回到最初的美好


My interpretation:
这个世界 refers to "the world into which you are venturing out".
乡间 refers to "hometown, home village, the place where a person grew up".
歌谣 refers to "the tradition, the culture, the way of life that one grew accustomed to during childhood or formative years".
The basic idea of the lyrics: If you are frustrated with the outside world, you can always go back to your roots.


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## Thime

@brofeelgood , there's been a misunderstanding. I'm not looking for a definite translation. I know lyrics, as poetry, can be interpreted in more than one way.
I'm glad to receive different interpretations, but if you say "you can translate as you want 'cause lyrics doesn't make sense", it is of little help for me. 

@Skatinginbc , thanks a lot for sharing your version. It's more clear now.


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## Skatinginbc

Thime said:


> Is it also ok if I replace "my" with "your"?





brofeelgood said:


> there's no coherence and zero continuity between the lines...There's no right or wrong here.





brofeelgood said:


> My point is, it's futile to pin a definitive interpretation


Hi, Thime
I agree with Bro with regard to the interpretation of the implied possessive pronoun in question.  Imagine a self-talk dialogue in which there is a muddle of first- and second-person pronouns, all refering to the speaker himself.  The impression I got from the lyrics in terms of use of pronouns is exactly what Bro described: "incoherence", which suggests the possibility of self-talk.

鄉間的歌謠(是X's)永遠的依靠 ==> The implied possessive pronoun may be "one's" (or "a person's"), "your", or "my".  If the context is restricted to "不要哭，讓螢火蟲帶著你逃跑，鄉間的歌謠永遠的依靠", I would naturally assume that it means 是人 (one's) or 是你 (your)永遠的依靠.  But If we treat the lyrics as a whole and accept the possibility of self-talk, then 是人 or 是你 actually means 是我.


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## Thime

I noticed the strange use of 我 and 你 and I thought that Jay Chou wanted to craft a dialogue between him as a young boy (你) and him as an adult (我). I thought so, because I read that the lyrics is inspired to his childhood... and there's a contrast between the carefree youth and the disappointing adult life.


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## Skatinginbc

Perhaps,「我」 (instinctual self, true feelings 心) is talking to 「你」 (conscious self 腦)，persuading 「你」to follow the calling from the heart.


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## SuperXW

_"Folk song of the countryside; the eternal support"_ is good enough for me. I believe you know it is common that poetry or lyrics focuses depicting pieces of scenes, letting the readers collect, imagine, and connect them to form a whole story.
They don't have to give full information, or what's the beauty of that? Don't literature of other languages do this often too?
It doesn't matter whether it is "mine" or "yours" if the lyrics can find an echo in audience.
Even "the eternal support" can mean different things for different people.
乡间的歌谣是你永远的依靠
乡间的歌谣和永远的依靠
乡间的歌谣带你找到永远的依靠
...
I think they are all fine.

And we do often interchange 你/我 in talks. Usually to find sympathy, but sometimes can be overly subjective.
"I lost my dog last week. You feel sad when you lost your dog. That's why I'm not happy now."
"Folk songs of the countryside can be your soul's harbor." "Perhaps YOUR soul's harbor? I grew up in the city and listened to punk rock."


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## Thime

Thanks a lot, everybody!


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## retrogradedwithwind

SuperXW said:


> 乡间的歌谣是你永远的依靠
> 乡间的歌谣和永远的依靠
> 乡间的歌谣带你找到永远的依靠
> ...
> I think they are all fine.



I think 是、和 are the possible omitted words but 带你找到 is too long to be possible.


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## Skatinginbc

不要哭，讓螢火蟲帶著你逃跑，鄉間的歌謠和永遠的依靠，回家吧，回到最初的美好 ==> weak coherence or continuity between the lines.

Compare:
鄉間的歌謠 (concrete 實物) 和媽媽的菜餚 (concrete 實物) ==>「和」所聯結的兩物對稱, 同屬一類. Strong coherence.
鄉間的歌謠 (concrete 實物) 和永遠的依靠 (abstract 抽象) ==> 莫名其妙.  Weak coherence.

不要哭，讓螢火蟲帶著你逃跑，鄉間的歌謠是永遠的依靠，回家吧，回到最初的美好 ==> stronger coherence or continuity between the lines.


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## SuperXW

Skatinginbc said:


> 鄉間的歌謠 (concrete 實物) 和永遠的依靠 (abstract 抽象) ==> 莫名其妙.  Weak coherence.


用“实物”“抽象”来限制歌词中的意象才莫名其妙。谁说一定要实物对实物了？反例比比皆是。
只给出片段意象，由读者去感悟它们之间的联系，这是诗歌和很多文学作品的特点。这些联系绝不仅限于简单的关联词语和肤浅的逻辑关系。

*你们似乎执意要把歌词中的两个意象连成一句话，认为中间只是省略了一些连接词。我不赞同这样。*
歌词既然没有用谓语动词或连接词来构成完整句子，为的就是让听众自己体会当中联系。每个人有自己的理解，可以自由在脑海中组成一幅画面或一个故事，这才叫文艺作品。句句都是结构和逻辑清晰无疑义的句子那叫机器语言。

从理性和感性两方面去想，“乡间的歌谣”一定就是“永远的依靠”吗？或者说“永远的依靠”只包括“乡间的歌谣”吗？
“歌谣”没有实体，传不久远，更没有法律效力，肯定是“靠不住”的。但我们都能感受到这里面包含着暗喻或借代的手法，用以表达赤子之心和思乡之情，这是种不小的精神力量。
所以我个人宁愿把“永远的依靠”理解为包含更广泛的“家乡的人、物、景等”。基于这个理解，我觉得对这段歌词怎么解释也不为过。
比如：让萤火虫带着你逃跑，沿途你听到了乡间的歌谣，找到/意识到永远的依靠（是家），回家吧……


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## Skatinginbc

枯藤 (concrete)、老樹 (concrete)、和昏鴉 (concrete); 小橋 (concrete)、流水 (concrete)、和人家 (concrete); 古道 (concrete)、西風 (concrete)、和瘦馬 (concrete) ==> strong coherence (容易理解)

枯藤、老樹 、和悲涼 (abstract); 小橋、流水、和思鄉 (abstract); 古道、西風、和憔悴 (abstract) ==> weak coherence, 既「莫明其妙」 (難以明白其意思)，也「莫名其妙」(無法指出有什麼修辭巧妙的地方).

和 (conjunction) and 對稱 (parallelism) are cohesive devices.  The more parallel the elements linked by the coordinating conjunction are, the more coherent the sentence is.

我在討論「鄉間的歌謠和永遠的依靠」是不是恰當的詮釋 (是不是好的寫作技巧).  你上帖除了第一段的前三句 (i.e., 「用“实物”“抽象”来限制歌词中的意象才莫名其妙。谁说一定要实物对实物了？反例比比皆是」)，其餘和我討論的好像無關.


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## 枫十二

The mirror
It is one of my favourite dances. I remember clearly that when I saw that masterpiece of dancing, I immediately thought of 稻香.
The mirror tells a story about a frustrated man re-awakened by the younger himself, however, 稻香 describes more about what "the younger himself" consist of.
For me, there are a lot of scenes of "my" childhood in the rice field, 家，城堡，萤火虫，纸飞机，蜻蜓，蜜蜂，稻草人etc, which lie deep inside of myself, which are warm and powerful, which will always help me at the crucial time of my life. Those memories and feelings of my childhood form the 乡间的歌谣, they are 永远的依靠, they are so-called 稻香.


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