translation by me
original Chinese version of the lyrics can be found here or in the post below this post
ah Wenshan, my next album will be released by the time you finish writing this... it's ok, let's take this slowly, I'll write this song myself
In my middle school years, the green of the terraced fields were the most beautiful I'd ever seen
Riding on its glory, I won in the photography contest; even then when I hadn't written any lyrics, I looked like a poet in the photos
On the bus to school, the sight of cows outside the window, chewing on the expanses of green gave the atmosphere an unspeakable feeling of freedom
Chorus:
hoi ya e ya .... oh, my beloved cow
hoi ya e ya .... oh, where have you gone
The little gully beside the noodle shop remembers our dreams of growing up, our childish years of green naivety, then skipping to the harvest gold days of our entrance into the world
The people's sweat mixes fulfillment and joyousness - these are the images that I treasure most within, these are the images I am most afraid of losing
Paintings I did based on these memories, they were my other prize-winners
What use is winning prizes for paintings based on memories? To encourage me to reminisce even more?
Hmph, how much I wish to tear those paintings up and exchange them for the images in my memories, to bring them back into reality
Replace the new hotels and their fancy western styles, restore the green terraces that disappeared so quietly
The oxen that once plowed the fields are now just mere shadows on the portraits hanging from the newly painted walls
Crowds of tourists sometimes allow their line of sight to venture beyond their windows but all they see is the hotel next door, the one that's even taller and grander
Chorus:
hoi ya e ya .... oh, my beloved cow
hoi ya e ya .... oh, where have you gone
Just because the land is suitable for many uses, is it right to use her so?
Selfish mankind, are you embarrassed at yourself, distressed with your behavior, will you ever tire of destroying nature?
For the sake of art, you say, you need to cut down a tree.. is this right?
For the sake of decor, you say, you say why does it concern me... Must we make it so that photographs of beauty that once was are the only thing we can pass down for later generations?
Sad and pitiful, the vast greenery that once represented our forests have all turned into images in documentaries, the abundance has been engulfed in smog and smoke
I cannot teach you, I am not your instructor, I am not your principal
and I can't just slap you on the face...... or shove an essay in your face and make you learn it
You all don't want to listen, you'd rather ignore me, I know, but I still must write on
You all may never realize
Under the microscope, mankind is more of a realist, more selfish
but These things are an art that are truly difficult to comprehend
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People are ignorant. The people as a whole can congregate and create their own voice, but when they do not know, they cannot take action. People are ignorant, and it takes someone to enlighten the people, and then they are not ignorant anymore, they are also enlightened.
Jay Chou is one of the most prominent, well-known, beloved, famous, rich, powerful, influential and far-reaching Asian artists/performers of this decade. His albums constantly top the charts and his name is revered throughout hundreds of millions of households in China and many areas of Asia. Indeed, he is oftentimes referred to as President Chou.
Unusual that he should write and sing about an issue as trivial as this? For, the top singers and artists of our society, the Britneys and Beyonces, the Avrils and Nickelbacks, the 50Cents and Kanyes... they don't sing about it. And they're just as equivalently widely-known as Jay Chou is in Asia. What do they sing about? They sing about their crushes that cheated on them, their mothers that are supposedly ripping them off, their long-lost loves, the gangsta next door that looked at a brutha awkwardly and subsequently got shot...
What about the very earth that you live on, that gives you life?
It's not cool enough, we don't care enough.
This, perhaps, reflects the overall mindset of American culture. The people as a general mass tend not to care about anything that the big/powerful/famous don't care about. But, hell, if Tom Cruise says it's important, it must be, and lo and behold, you'll have people swarming to the cause by the millions. But if Ryan bloody Seacrest doesn't tell you it is important, damn, by God, 95% of the dumb teenagers and 20somethings out there won't give half a puff about it. It doesn't exist to them. That selective ignorance, that in itself is a problem.
However, I wish not to flame on the ignorace of the general public. I'd like to point out the fact that Jay Chou, being the famous/powerful/rich musical celebrity that he is, does not neglect to mention and talk about things that important, such as the environment and why we should give a damn about it. Hell, he even made a music video for the song (watch it!!). And thus, people all across Asia, people that have far less access to information and such, now have access to a message, strongly composed and easily transmitted - about the environment and how it's important, how we should strive to protect it.
The message spreads through his music. When developing third world countries' governments are going all out to spur growth at any cost, his message spreads through the hearts of the people who actually live off (and on) the land. Similarly, the United States government and its many corrupt, shitfaced, corporate minion politicians are constantly doing everything they can to maximize profits at the cost of destroying the environment, which makes perfect sense to themselves because they didn't and don't have to pay for the trees and land and rivers. But in America, who is there to spread the message? The ones with real power to spread a message (millions of people buy albums, no one pays to hear politicians rant) just choose not to.
People are born ignorant. The ones at the top, the ones with the means and power to remedy ignorance should Do So. In America, Doing So has probably been calculated to bring in less profit or whatever, so for whatever reason, the top artists and singers and performers of our time do not Do So. They Don't. People are ignorant - that's why there are leaders to guide the people - but the greatest sadness comes when the leaders are ignorant too.
photo by lestwe4get on webshots.com, taken from album 'Yuanyang Rice Terrace Field' (check it out, there are lots of brilliant photos)
NOTE: Jay Chou usually only writes the music for his songs, his lyricist writes the lyrics. But his lyricist did not write this song, and on one of the relatively rare occasions where he has an opportunity to write his own lyrics, Jay Chou chose to write about nature and the environment...
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