Lyrics: A Love Letter to Filmmakers 給電影人的情書

A collaboration between the Hong Kong filmmaker Alex Law, Taiwanese singer-songwriter Jonathan Lee, and singer Tsai Chin, this song was released in the year 2008 for the centenary anniversary of Chinese language cinema, and probably as a tribute to the Taiwanese film auteur Edward Yang, who was Tsai’s ex-husband and passed away a year ago.
With my translation of the lyrics, wish a happy birthday to Edward Yang on the other side of the sea, where “the sun and sky come down to mingle with each other.” (from Yang’s favourite poem, A Parable of Immortality by Henry Van Dyke)

給電影人的情書
A Love Letter to Filmmakers
詞：羅啟銳  Lyricist: Alex Law Kai-yui
曲：李宗盛  Composer: Jonathan Lee Chung-shan
唱：蔡琴  Vocal: Tsai Chin

多少人愛你遺留銀幕的風采
多少人愛你遺世獨立的姿態
你永遠的童真 赤子的心態
孤芳自賞的無奈
How many loved your spark scribed on screen
And loved your figure, standing aloof from the world
And you ever an innocent child at heart
In love with the reflection in water- no choice but retreat

誰明白你細心隱藏的悲哀
誰瞭解你褪色臉上的緬懷
你天衣無縫的瀟灑 心底的害怕
慢慢滲出了蒼白
But who understood your sadness, carefully hidden
Or saw your face, fading in remembrance
Or behind that careless mask, seamlessly worn by you
Pale fear, from the bottom of your heart sweating by bit

你苦苦地追求永恆
生活卻顛簸 無常 遺憾
你傻傻地追求完美
卻一直給誤會 給傷害 給放棄 給責備
So hard- you were always chasing the eternal
But in life got bumps, impermanence, and regrets
How naive, you were looking for the perfect
But always got misunderstood, hurt, abandoned, and blame

何悲 何愛 何必去愁與苦
何必笑罵恨與愛
人間不過是你寄身之處
銀河裏才是你靈魂的徜徉地
Why the sorrow, why the passion? Why bother to be worried, and bitter?
No need to laugh or swear, about love and hate
For this earthly world is only one among your many stays
And your soul is destined to soar in the galaxy

人間不過是你無形的夢
偶然留下的夢 塵世夢
以身外身 做銀亮色的夢
以身外身 做夢中夢
For the world is nothing but a formless dream of yours
A dream happen to remain in red dust
There is a life beyond this life, dreaming in bright silver
A life beyond this life, dreaming within the dream