Mười đầu ngón tay (Ten Fingertips) - Trúc Phương (1966)

chậm vừa tha thiết

slow and earnest

Mười đầu ngón tay thương không thôi lúc tượng hình hài, đứng giữa trời vây quanh u hoài ngăn bão nổi, vượt u tối cơm quê hương nuôi trong gian nan đêm tuổi thành người.
Ten beloved fingertips irresistibly take physical form, standing in the prevailing weather, sad memories of rising storms, overtake the darkness, the motherland's rice nourishes during the hardened straights and formative nights

Mười đầu ngón tay ôi gieo neo đếm từng ngày dài, không nửa lời mang con dâng đời khi linh hồn nằm thoi thóp qua hai mươi năm, hai mươi năm máu đổ từng hồi.
Oh ten hard-worn fingertips count each long day, not half a word bearing your child welcomed into life when the soul is set at death's door after twenty years, twenty years of flowing blood through each cycle.

Rồi bước non dại đeo lên vai tình yêu theo dấu bôi phấn, thoa son cho nhân thế giận hờn, ôi tay đỏ sơn trên làn tóc đau buồn.
Then young, naive steps shoulders burdened by, love following a powdered trail, rouge for vindictive existence, oh hands painted crimson upon strands of pained, sad hair.

Mười đầu ngón tay ôm đêm thâu thép lạnh rợn người, đêm thương đời nên đêm ngậm ngùi.
Ten fingertips caressing the deep night, cold steel frightens people, evening pities life so evening feels sorrow.

Van nhân loại đừng gian dối xin yêu nhau thôi như trong nôi lúc mới chào đời.
I Implore mankind to cease its deceit, ask that we only love one another, like when we were in the cradle and greeting life.

nguồn: Trúc Phương, "Mười đầu ngón tay" (Saigon: Tác giả, 1966)

Trúc Phương was the great writer of Vietnamese bolero songs. His songs are rich in folk flavor and have direct, penetrating lyrics. He often wrote about love, the soldiers of the Republic of Vietnam and especially these two topics together - love of soldiers of the Republic of Vietnam.

"Mười đầu ngón tay" is a very atypical song. It's not a boléro and to me it sounds more like central region music than southern music. The melody opens hovering over major chords then reaches a point of minor key tension with the lyrics "quanh u hoài ngăn bão nổi, vượt u tối" (sad memories of rising storms, overtake the darkness).

A twenty year old Hoàng Oanh introduced the song in 1966. Y Vân orchestrated and recorded it for Việt Nam records. The tremolo string runs introduce the song's message clearly. It was written during a time of ubiquitous war, baby boy coming to life a world full of love, yet cast into a parallel world of death and blood. A girl from out of innocence must enter a world of powder and falseness. Trúc Phương wants everyone to return to that innocence.

There is a telling detail on the cover illustration of the song. A young man slashes with his sword, heroically withstanding fire all around. Images of warfare abounded throughout Vietnamese song and lore from the 1940s and even up to this time. Trúc Phương's song is not specifically anti-war -- it goes deeper than that. He questions society's willingness to accept the deceit of those who would promote war and death. 

The Republic of Vietnam allowed enough freedom for him to make this statement. It was not a popular statement. Only a couple of singers have recorded this song (Hoàng Oanh and Hương Lan) and the uploaded Youtube records have only a few views.