梯田 [Titian] [English translation]

Wenshan 1, by the time you’ve finished writing

I’ll have already released the album

No worries, take your time

I’ll do this song myself

Going back to those middle school days

My hometown’s patch, patch, patch of terraced field

Is the most beautiful green I’ve ever seen

And thus it let me win “Best Picture”

The me in the photo was baffled and

Unable to write like a poet

The me who was riding the bus to school

And watching the cows eat grass from the window

Was inexplicably carefree and unrestrained

hoi ya e ya that Luwan na e na ya hei

Oh, my dear cows

hoi ya e ya that Luwan na e na ya hei

Oh, where have you run off to?

The gutter opposite the shop

Gushing out our dreams of growing older

As we dodged innocence and jumped into the harvest season

Our sweat mixing with satisfaction and laughter

Is the photo, photo I’ve most regretted parting with

And is another one of my works

The picture I relied on memories to make an oil painting of

What’s the point of having an award for that?

I urge you to take yourself back

Hmph, what I really want to do is to tear it up in exchange for nature

Why can’t I see the terraced fields?

There are a lot more hotels

Living and watching Western films inside

The water buffaloes have merely become pictures

Hanging on the walls

A symbol of the rich getting ever richer

Groups of foreigners want to look outside the windows at the scenery

But they can only see hotels with more storys than yours

hoi ya e ya that Luwan na e na ya hei

Oh, my dear cows

hoi ya e ya that Luwan na e na ya hei

Oh, where have you run off to?

Taking advantage of the local conditions

Is that right or wrong?

Is humanity in a tight corner?

Wrecking the natural wildlife

Is that hard work?

You say it’s because of the craft

That the trees are cut down

Hmph, is this right or wrong?

You say it’s for decoration

Ask me what my issue is

Can we only use video recordings?

To give the next generation, the next generation a wake up call?

Pitiful, lamentable the green forest has already been made into a documentary

That smell of green is gone You can only enjoy the heavy pollution

I can’t teach you guys

I’m not your teacher

I’m not your principal

Nor can I give you a slap, slap, slap, slap

Speech, speech, speech, lengthy speech

You’ll absolutely refuse to listen

I know this but I can help it

I have to write

You guys may never realize

We, the ones under a microscope

Will become even more selfish

This kind of art is truly hard to comprehend

1. Fang Wenshan (方文山), also known as Vincent Fang, is a person who sometimes writes the lyrics for songs that Jay composes.