Tương tư 3 (Lovesick 3) / Chờ em trong chiều nay (Awaiting You This Afternoon) - Mặc Thế Nhân (1970)

Chờ Em trong chiều nay, nắng hôn đường phố dài.
Awaiting you this afternoon, sunlight kisses the long road.
Người qua đôi từng đôi, lắng nghe buồn xua tới.
People pass in couples, feeling sadness pushing toward me.
Người vui sao là vui, nhởn nhơ cười nói nhiều.
They're happy why so happy, carefree, laughing and chattering
Lòng tôi sao tịch liêu, vắng em chiều hắt hiu.!

Why does my heart feel such solitude.! 

Tình vẫn chưa nhạt phai, mà vắng em chiều nay, thèm nắm đôi bàn tay, nắm tay chuyền ấm lòng, để không thấy cô liêu.

Love still hasn't yet faded, but with you gone this afternoon, I crave a pair of hands to warm my heart, so I don't feel lonely.

Mà sao lại thiếu

Yet why do I lack
Thiếu đôi tay mềm, hỡi chiều?!

Lack a pair of soft hands, I ask you, oh, afternoon?!

Chiều nay Anh còn đây, ngóng em từng phút giầy.

This afternoon I'm still here, looking out for you every passing moment.

Ngày mai Anh lại đi, biết đâu rồi xa mãi.

Tonight I again leave, don't know that I'll be far away always
Hẹn nhau sao lại quên. 

Our promise to each other, why have we forgotten

Vắng Em đường phố buồn.

Absent you on this sad street.
Hàng cây im ngủ say,

Rows of trees in silent slumber

Cớ sao mình đứng đây!?

For what reason am I standing here!?

nguồn: Mặc Thế Nhân, Tuyển tập 10 ca khúc tương tư ([Lai Thiếu]: [Tác giả], [1998?].

My November 14, 1998 meeting with the songwriter Mặc Thế Nhân was one of the highlights of my adventures as a researcher. His colleague Hoàng Trang set up a meeting for me and agreed to drive me to Lai Thiếu. We met in the morning and Hoàng Trang drove me on the back of his scooter on the 15 mile trip. It was in a driving rainstorm that quite drenched me. It was a great relief to finally reach Mặc Thế Nhân's house.

We had a very happy meeting. The songwriter answered my questions enthusiastically and provided me with informal computer printouts of some recent songbooks he created.

Nắng mưa là bệnh của trời

Tương tư là bệnh của tôi yêu nàng

Sunlight and rain are the heaven's ailments

Lovesickness is the ailment of my loving you

Mặc Thế Nhân placed this couplet by poet Nguyễn Bính on the cover of the Tương Tư collection of 10 songs. There is no better model for verses of heartache than Nguyễn Bính -- Mặc Thế Nhân's song "Tương tư 3" is faithful to the poet's theme.

Subtitled "Chờ em trong chiều nay" (Awaiting You This Afternoon), "Tương tư 3" opens with the beautiful image of a sun-kissed road really situating the setting. Lovesickness has symptoms and the song's narrator's symptoms are a longing for physical contact with his lover, for the future they had planned and an alienation from the everyday life surrounding him. Midst all of this activity there are still slumbering trees in rows along the road situating the forlorn narrator.

Khánh Ly introduced "Tương tư 3" on a 7" record on the Tình Ca Quê Hương record label. (Mặc Thế Nhân was one of the directors of that label).

It was presented several times on Saigon's television station between autumn 1970 and the spring 1971 by singers Xuân Sơn, Trúc Mai, Bạch Lan Hương, Giang Tử, Thảo Ly and Giao Linh.

I prefer this version by the Ban Mây Rừng (The Jungle Cloud Group) recorded on the Nhạc Sống 2 tape.
"Tương tư 3" was written with a tempo marking of "Slow" which usually suggests a relaxed almost classical performance style. The Ban Mây Rừng, the vocal duet of Thanh Tâm and Thanh Mai, recorded it to boléro rhythm which is much more to my taste. The Ban Mây Rừng made very few recordings. I'm only aware of them making one television performance, interestingly on a May 4, 1970 program led by Mặc Thế Nhân. Mây Rừng was the name that he gave his music school.

Mặc Thế Nhân's real name was Phan Công Thiệt. Mặc Thế Nhân is not a normal name - it translates as something like "in spite of mankind." He also employed several pseudonyms. As a teen he studied at the Trường Ca Vũ Nhạc Phổ Thông (The Popular School of Music and Dance), the predecessor of Saigon's Conservatory. His teachers included Thẩm Oánh (theory and solfege), Hùng Lân (theory and solfege), Nguyễn Cầu (piano), Nguyễn Quý Lãm (solfege) and Xuân Bình (mandolin) and Dung (piano). He performed with the Hoa Niên group and Xuân Bình's plucked string ensemble. 

He went to work as an accountant and a teacher, but like most men in Vietnam those days he joined the armed forces. He held the rank of Sergeant working for the Republic of Vietnam Navy's Psychological Warfare division. Many of his songs took sailors and the navy for their subject matter.

He also gave music lessons and wrote poetry and newspaper journalism. I never learned how he was employed after 1975. He continued to write songs from the 1980s onward.  He had a very artistic temperament and was a joy to meet.

To Jason with all my heart. VN, November 14th 98, Mặc Thế Nhân