Few things stir up high school nostalgia for me quicker than Thom Yorke going on about how un-special he is. Even now, Pablo Honey is a regular shuffle on my iPod (and still my favourite Radiohead album). Throw in the fact that I’ve been trying to re-dedicate myself to learning Chinese lately, and I was quite chuffed to stumble across this Chinese cover of Creep by Dawen:
(h/t to Aaron Posehn for sharing the video)
Chinese lyrics:
Dawen’s subtitles in the video are all in traditional characters, and considering my simplified hanzi is lackluster on a good day, apologies if I’ve flubbed things converting it all to simplified below:
| 汉字 |
Pīnyīn |
English |
你以前来的时候
我不能面对你
你像一个天使
你的脸让我哭
在这个美丽的世界*
你漂来漂去**
你真的好特别
我没什么特别 |
Nǐ yǐqián lái de shíhou
Wǒ bùnéng miàn duì nǐ
Nǐ xiàng yīgè tiānshǐ
Nǐ de liǎn ràng wǒ kū
Zài zhège měilì de shìjiè*
Nǐ piào lái piào qù**
Nǐ zhēn de hǎo tèbié
Wǒ méishénme tèbié |
When you were here before
Couldn’t look you in the eye
You’re just like an angel
Your skin makes me cry
You float like a feather
In a beautiful world
I wish I was special
You’re so fucking special |
我好奇怪
有点变态
我干吗在这里?
我不应该在这里 |
Wǒ hào qíguài
Yǒudiǎn biàntài
Wǒ gànma zài zhèlǐ?
Wǒ bù yìng gāi zài zhèlǐ |
But I’m a creep
I’m a weirdo
What the hell am I doing here?
I don’t belong here |
我不在意受伤
我要控制权
我要完美的身材
我要完美的灵魂
我希望你想我
当我不在家
你真的好特别
我没什么特别 |
Wǒ bù zàiyì shòushāng
Wǒ yào kòngzhì quán
Wǒ yào wánměi de shēncái
Wǒ yào wánměi de línghún
Wǒ xīwàng nǐ xiǎng wǒ
Dāng wǒ bù zàijiā
Nǐ zhēn de hǎo tèbié
Wǒ méishénme tèbié |
I don’t care if it hurts
I want to have control
I want a perfect body
I want a perfect soul
I want you to notice when I’m not around
You’re so fucking special
I wish I was special |
我好奇怪
有点变态
我干吗在这里?
我不应该在这里 |
Wǒ hào qíguài
Yǒudiǎn biàntài
Wǒ gànma zài zhèlǐ?
Wǒ bù yìng gāi zài zhèlǐ |
But I’m a creep
I’m a weirdo
What the hell I’m doing here?
I don’t belong here |
她 – 要离门，她要逃跑
她正在
逃跑，跑
跑。。。
逃跑。。。 |
Tā – yào lí mén, tā yào táopǎo
Tā zhèngzài
Táopǎo, pǎo
Pǎo…
Táopǎo… |
She’s running out the door
She’s running out
She runs
Runs
Runs |
随你高兴
随你的要球
你真的好特别
我没什么特别 |
Suí nǐ gāoxìng
Suí nǐ de yāo qiú
Nǐ zhēn de hǎo tèbié
Wǒ méishénme tèbié |
Whatever makes you happy
Whatever you want
You’re so fucking special
I wish I was special |
我好奇怪
有点变态
我干吗在这里?
我不应该在这里
我不应该在这里 |
Wǒ hào qíguài
Yǒudiǎn biàntài
Wǒ gànma zài zhèlǐ
Wǒ bù yìng gāi zài zhèlǐ?
Wǒ bù yìng gāi zài zhèlǐ |
But I’m a creep
I’m a weirdo
What the hell am I doing here?
I don’t belong here
I don’t belong here |
* – Dawen switches the phrasing and wording here so that it’s more “in a beautiful world / you float around”. He also reverses the “I wish I was/you are so special” lines — not sure why.
** – The 漂 used is for floating in water. The original, I assume would actually be 飘, as I think the feather would be floating in air. I could be wrong though. Interesting to note that one has 三点水 as it’s left-side radical, and the other 风 as it’s right-side radical — sort of denoting “water” and “air”.
