Learning a song now and then is an easy way to play with the language. We found out pretty quick that the lyrics to Chinese pop songs are just as… what’s the word… vapid? as the lyrics in most English pop songs. Except a lot of Chinese pop songs seem to involve more cutesy-ness and less prostitution. That means the lyrics are simple and safe, assuming that large doses of aural saccharine can’t hurt you.
We’ll post songs occasionally, and for each song I’ll put the music video so you can hear it, and post a download link to the lyrics and guitar chord sheets that I made to practice the song… in case you wanna sing along!
老鼠爱大米 / Mouse Loves Rice / lǎoshǔ ài dàmǐ
Our teachers tell us that this is maybe the cheesiest Chinese pop song ever. It’s famous, and has been redone in many different languages, but don’t go looking for the English version on Youtube because you’ll find it, and it’s horrible. Also, Chinese mice don’t eat cheese, they eat rice. Actually come to think of it, most Chinese people don’t eat cheese. Anyway, you can play the song while you look at the lyrics below:
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Lyrics & Guitar Chords
Download: LaoshuAiDami.pdf (lyrics & guitar chords with pinyin/English cheatsheet).
歌词 / gē cí / Lyrics (the English is a little overly literal):
我听见你的声音 / wǒ tīng jiàn nǐ de shēng yīn
I hear your voice
有种特别的感觉 / yǒu zhǒng tè bié de gǎn jué
Have a special kind of feeling
让我不断想 / ràng wǒ bù duàn xiǎng
Makes me constantly miss (you)
不敢再忘记你 / bù gǎn zài wàng jì nǐ
(I) don’t dare forget you again
我记得有一个人 / wǒ jì de yǒu yī gè rén
I remember there’s one person
永远留在我心中 / yǒng yuǎn liú zài wǒ xīn zhōng
(who) forever stays in my heart
哪怕只能够这样的想你 / nǎ pà zhǐ néng gòu zhè yang de xiǎng nǐ
Even still all (I’m) able to do is miss you like this
如果真的有一天 / rú guǒ zhēn de yǒu yī tiān
If really there’s a day
爱情理想会实现 / ài qíng lǐ xiǎng huì shí xiàn
(when) ideal romance is achieved
我会加倍努力好好对你 / Wǒ huì jiā bèi nǔ lì hǎo hǎo duì nǐ
I will doubly strive to be good to you
永远不改变 / yǒng yuǎn bù gǎi biàn
Forever not changing
不管路有多么远 / bù guǎn lù yǒu duō me yuǎn
No matter the road is however far
一定会让它实现 / yī dìng huì ràng tā shí xiàn
(I) will definitely make it happen
我会轻轻在你耳边 / wǒ huì qīng qīng zài nǐ ěr biān
I will softly beside your ear
对你说，对你说 / duì nǐ shuō, duì nǐ shuō
Say to you, say to you
Chorus:
我爱你，爱着你 / wǒ ài nǐ, ài zhe nǐ
I love you, loving you
就象老鼠爱大米 / jiù xiàng lǎo shǔ ài dà mǐ
Just like a mouse loves rice
不管有多少风雨 / bù guǎn yǒu duō shǎo fēng yǔ
No matter there is how much wind and rain
我都会依然陪着你 / wǒ dōu huì yī rán péi zhe nǐ
I will still as before be there with you
我想你，想着你 / wǒ xiǎng nǐ, xiǎng zhe nǐ
I miss you, missing you
不管有多么的苦 / bù guǎn yǒu duō me de kǔ
No matter it’s however bitter
只要能让你开心 / zhǐ yào néng ràng nǐ kāi xīn
So long as (I’m) able to make you feel happy
我什么都愿意 / wǒ shén me dōu yuàn yì
I’m willing to do anything
这样爱你 / zhè yang ài nǐ
This way love you
More help for your karaoke repertoire:
Canada:
China:
Taiwan:
The States:
Ecuador:
Brazil:
Haiti:
UK:
So let me get this straight: he prayed to become a mouse so that the tall guy could then find him and deliver him to the girl as a present? I had no idea the song was so…magical.
i don’t get it either. maybe they don’t care about the details so long as the love is tragic. i asked my teacher once why the most loved Chinese stories are tragedies, but she couldn’t explain it.
And precious few mice, Chinese or otherwise, eat cheese. On this point, the Chinese have a far stronger grip on reality than us Westerners.
Joel,did you translate the chinese lyrics into english??That is great.
How do you think of this chinese song,as your teacher said:it is the cheesiest Chinese pop song. Acctually,I can not understand this word,I do not know whether you enjoy this song or dislike it.
“Cheesy” is a hard adjective to translate. Sometimes people also say “corny” or “cliché.” Maybe “肉麻” or “陈腐”？ One of our teachers who lived for a year in the USA translates it 肉麻， but I don’t know how to translate it.
It’s not a very strong word. People could say, “I don’t like it, it’s too cheesy!” or “I know it’s kind of cheesy, but I still like it.”
We just sang it at karaoke (again) two nights ago!
Maybe 肉麻 is better,haha.
well,it seems you love this song very much.
When I was in my senior high school,I also loved this song very much,and it was hot during my classmates at that time.But to this moment,I don’t think there are still someone like this song.
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Became familiar with this song when we lived in China for a few years (Xinjiang). Today I was looking for the lyrics in Chinese with English translation. This is great! Yours is by far the best I found out there. What a bad English title this song has gotten, though, don’t you think? “As the Mouse Loves Rice” would sit much better with me. Oh well, too late to shift the momentum on that one.
[...] * Lyrics & Chords * Copy from here * [...]
So cute!
I think when translating, there are 2 directions, one is to be as accurate as possible in thought, the other should retain the flavour of the culture. both directions are useful, sometimes you can get both, but sometimes one or the other is better, you often need to lose a little to gain a little.
Pesonally, I like this song, The chinese not only got it right about mice and rice, but they got the compass right too
i am a mouse and i love ……. he knows it well by now