Huyền thoại chiều mưa (Legend of a Rainy Afternoon) - Nguyễn Vũ (1967)

boléro

1:
Một chiều cuối tuần, mưa bay lất phất và mây trắng giăng giăng.

A rainy weekend afternoon, sprinkling rain and white clouds gathering. 
Em đến thăm anh về vì mưa mãi nên không kịp về.

You came to visit me, because of incessant rain and there was no way go back home on time.
Bên em anh lặng nhìn màu trời nhòa đáy mắt mộng mơ.

By your side, I quietly regarded the pale sky in the depths of your dreamy eyes.
Sợ người yêu khóc khe khẽ bên tai, anh kể chuyện ngày xưa

Fearing my lover might softly cry in my ear, I told a story from long ago.

Chuyện xưa kể rằng: Trên tiên giới ấy ngày vui kết hoa đăng.

According to the old story: Above in that fairyland, happy days with flowered lanterns
Thiên Quốc đang vui, một nàng tiên lỡ làm rơi ly ngọc ngà.

The Heavenly Kingdom was happy, a fairy accidently dropped a jade goblet

Ðang say nên Trời bèn đọa đày nàng tiên xuống trần gian.

She was drunk, the Heavens banished the fairy to this mortal world.
Làm người dương thế không biết bao lâu mới được quay về trời.
As a person in this world, she did not know when she could return to heaven.

ÐK:
Em ơi! Nàng tiên ấy xuống dương trần một chiều mây bay thật nhiều.

My dear! The fairy came to the mortal word during an afternoon of whisking clouds. 
Và vì thương đời lính, thương kiếp sống phong sương nên dù răng một hôm,

And pitying the soldier's life, the exposed to the elements so that even when one day
Thiên sứ người sai gom mây hồng làm xe đưa tiên về.

Even when the angel directed the clouds to grow rosy to make a carriage for the fairy to return.
Tiên nói dối: "Tiên còn đang giận trời và tiên không về đâu!"

The fairy lied: "I'm angry with heaven and I'm not going back!"

Nàng tiên giáng trần không đôi cánh trắng và đang ngắm mây rơi đứng bên anh thầm cầu mưa mãi cho tiên đừng về.

The fairy who came down from heaven without her white wings watched the falling cloud, by his side she whispered for it keep raining so that she'll not have to go back.
Em ơi! Lỡ mà trời gọi về thì tiên nữ về không?

My dear! If the heavens call you back will you go?
Mỉm cười em nói: "Tiên thích dương gian với một chiều mưa thật nhiều."

Smiling she said: "This fairy likes the mortal world with rainy afternoons very much."

nguồn: "Huyền thoại chưa mưa" (Saigon: Nhạc Quê Hương, 1967).

I met Nguyễn Vũ in 1995. Unfortunately, that was at the beginning of my research and I did know what questions to ask and gained very little information. I nevertheless, always create a small tribute to all the songwriters who have spoken to me.

Nguyễn Vũ passed away nearly a week ago on September 24, 2025.

This song was written following the bolero rhythm, the most representative rhythm during the Republic of Vietnam era. Hoàng Oanh first recorded it in 1967 on a 7 inch record for the Sơn Ca label. The song can also be classified as "nhạc lính" or soldier music since it does concern a soldier. He must have gotten leave to return to visit his sweetheart. Their time together would have come to end except rainfull detained her return home. While she is contemplating their renewed separation, he lightens the mood by casting her as a fairy who was punished and came to earth. Loving him and supporting his hard life as a soldier she opted to stay in the human realm.

The war almost seems absent from the song, overtaken by interest in the "legend" he spun. Perhaps this is why this is one of the rare soldier songs from the Republic of Vietnam to pass censorship and given permission for performance on September 24, 2015, a little over 10 years ago, and 40 years after the unification of Vietnam. Here is a second duet performance with Thanh Lan and Anh Khoa. Here a backbeat is added to the bolero tempo.