This Friday I’m going to do something rather stupid: I’m going to sing on a stage for the first time in more than four years, in Chinese. It’s actually just outtakes for a talent contest at school, so it’s hardly important. Anyway, the song is Be Your Man (做你的男人) by Jeff Chang (张信哲) and to prepare I’ve annotated and translated the lyrics, which I might as well share. On a side note, Jeff Chang has a small but important role in the fairly popular film Ming Ming (明明), which also stars Zhou Xun (周迅). See it if you get a chance.
东京纽约每个地点 (Dōngjīng Niǔyuē měige dìdiǎn)
带你去坐幸福的地下铁 (dài nǐ qù zuò xìngfú de dìxià tiě)
散步逛街找电影院 (sànbù guàngjiē zhǎo diànyǐngyuàn)
累了我就帮你提高跟鞋 (lèi le wǒ jiù bāng nǐ tí gāogēnxié)
塞车停电哪怕下雪 (sāichē tíngdiàn nǎpà xiàxuě)
每天都要和你过情人节 (měitiān dōu yào hé nǐ guò qíngrénjié)
星光音乐一杯热咖啡 (xīngguāng yīnyuè yī bēi rè kāfēi)
只想给你所有浪漫情节 (zhǐ xiǎng gěi nǐ suǒyǒu làngmàn qíngjié)
Tokyo, New York, every single place.
Take you for a ride on the happy subway.
Go for a walk, windowshop, look for a cinema.
You’re tired, I carry your high heel shoes for you.
A traffic jam, a power out, it even starts to snow.
I want to spend valentines day with you every day.
Starlight, music, a cup of hot coffee.
I just want to give you an all romantic valentines day.
让我做你的男人 (ràng wǒ zuò nǐ de nánrén)
二十四个小时不睡觉 (èr shí sì gè xiǎoshí bù shuìjiào)
小心翼翼地保持 (xiǎoxīnyìyì de bǎochí)
这种热情不退烧 (zhè zhǒng rèqíng bù tuì shāo)
不管世界多纷扰 (bùguǎn shìjiè duō fēnrāo)
我们俩紧紧地拥抱 (wǒmen liǎ jǐnjǐn de yōngbào)
隐隐约约我感觉有微笑 (yǐnyǐnyuēyuē wǒ gǎnjué yǒu wēixiào)
藏在你嘴角 (cáng zài nǐ zuǐjiǎo)
Let me be your man.
I haven’t slept for twenty-four hours.
I carefully protect
this kind of non-stop passion.
No matter how much commotion in the world,
the two of us hug tightly.
I can faintly sense a smile
hidden in your lips.
做你的男人 (zuò nǐ de nánrén)
二十四个小时不睡觉 (èr shí sì gè xiǎoshí bù shuìjiào)
让胆小的你在黑夜中 (ràng dǎnxiǎo de nǐ zài hēiyè zhōng)
也会有个依靠 (yě huì yǒu gè yīkào)
就算有一天爱会变少 (jiù suàn yǒu yī tiān ài huì biàn shǎo)
人会变老 (rén huì biàn lǎo)
就算没告诉过你也知道 (jiùsuàn méi gàosu guò nǐ yě zhīdào)
下辈子还要和你遇到 (xià bèizi hái yào hé nǐ yùdào)
I’ll be your man.
I haven’t slept for twenty-four hours.
If you’re afraid in the dark night,
there will be someone there for you too.
Even though one day love becomes weaker,
and people grow older.
Even though I haven’t told you, you still know.
I’ll encounter you in my next life as well.
Previously translated lyrics:
哈哈，我高中的时候简直就是听张信哲的歌过来的，他声音真好
他声音是很好，不知道自己怎么能跟他比较。1999年，我、哥哥和父母来北京旅行。我买了一个CD带回瑞典去。那就是张信哲的《回来》，不过那个时候我听不懂歌词。7年以后又来了竟然发现他的歌依旧流行，方式也没有变……
Oops-det skulle jag vilja lyssna på- men jag hinner tyvärr inte komma på fredag..Lycka till ialla fall!
Jag kommer gärna -- go Fille go
Det är som sagt bara en liten provsjungning imorgon, om de inte får ont i öronen så är det riktiga evenemanget fredag nästa vecka...
Hej Philip,
I always feel zhangxingzhe’s voice are full of attractive power,are very wonderful,are pure.what do u think?
I also like to hear his song,always feel his voice full of pure,very attractive power.很有味道!
Hi Jenny. I actually discovered Jeff Chang (英语张信哲这样称呼) when I was in Beijing in 1999 and randomly bought a CD off the shelf. That was probably the first Chinese pop music I heard and I thought it was pretty OK. Coming back 7 years later I was surprised he was still popular, only this time with “Be Your Man”.
Anyway, my performance went nowhere, I discovered on stage that my voice really isn’t made for Chinese pop...
hehe,classcis will be forever.singing a song not only shows your performance but also expressing your feeling ,thoughts and even spirit,so you don’t feel you are not good singer on the stage.
by the way,feel you looks like a ever big star 费翔.
张信哲的音乐很不错，声音很美很干净,而且，他的发音很好哦,咬字也很清晰。这对你的中文学习应该会有点好处吧.
你的中文学得真好,作为一个英语专业的学生，我的英文水平和你的中文水平对比起来，真是汗颜,汗颜啊!
另外,我说的法语是French,不是law哦.你有没有想过要学法语?
我刚才回复的文字，逻辑不够严谨,我的意思其实是这样的:
你的中文学得真好,作为一个英语专业的学生，我的英文水平和你的中文水平对比起来，真是令我自己汗颜,汗颜啊!
另外,我之前提到的“法语”指的是French,不是law哦.你有没有想过要学法语?
是啊..我很想学,法语还是我在学校选修的第二外语呢,可惜我基本上没在有它的课堂出现过.不过,我打算自学它.呵呵.
有机会的话向你借鉴一下你学习中文的好经验,请不吝赐教哦.
不用再夸我了，我脸红了，哈哈。其实我早在初中、高中学过四年的法语，不过现在我已经全都忘掉了，真是白学了。现在要是试说几句法语我只能想出汉语：”Je m’apelle Philip, j’ai 22岁,我是Suede人.”是在没有用，我就放弃了。再说，我学过只是因为我们必须学一门外语，事实上我对法语根本没有兴趣，呵呵。你呢，你是不是想学法语？
哈哈,不过我更喜欢那首说谎,经典啊经典~~
阿哲最近又要出新专辑,是一张粤语唱片,你听了到主打歌没?
现在家里还没有网络，我慢点回复……我没有听说过张信哲有新的专辑，更没有听过它的主打歌，我马上去找……
第一主打歌叫,第二叫……专辑还没发，先以单曲的形式出来了
第一主打歌叫宁静雪，第二主打歌叫算
Hey Philip thanks for this post...i’ve been searching for the pin yin lyrics and the english translation all over the net. my gf would love to hear me sing this song to her...thanks man
Hi, phillip
I dropped by your blog by chance. It was a good translation from Chinese in to English. I am surprise that you like Viet Nam and married with a Viet Nam’s lady. I’m a chinese in Viet Nam too. Anyway , Jeff Chang is one of my favorite singers. The most popular song from him is “Love is like a tide”. His latest album is “escape”.