Chinese cover of Radiohead’s Creep

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 táopÇŽo
Tā zhèngzài
Táopǎo, pǎo
PÇŽo…
TáopÇŽo…
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”.

2 Responses

  1. I once saw a way better version of this at Noah’s Ark bar in Dalian. This version is ok, but a little bit too polished and without any edge. Like Creep for a hotel lobby.

    On an unrelated note, I really like the lyrics table you made.

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