So...I am a huge fan of Thai pop music. Thai people are connoisseurs of not just food but feeling. Thai is laden with brilliant adjectives that would each take a paragraph to explain in English. And there is a pop song for every romantic situation you can think of...and somehow, they never sound dorky - they actually make sense, because they explain how you feel in each situation. They sound horrible when I try to translate them - especially the majority of them. Somehow the Thai manages to be specific yet relate to the listener and not sound mundane.
English pop songs have a different quality to them. Somehow they all sound the same to me...but it is funny because my brother says after listening to Thai pop songs for awhile they all sound the same. Maybe it's just that he doesn't fully understand the language. But then, I understand English and after awhile they all sound the same to me. English is a great language...so easy to write - very simple alphabet - I'm a fan. But it is so logic-driven that when it comes to expressing love it is very limited. I had a conversation with a Thai friend once and she explained to me how many words there are for "love" in Thai. I really didn't realize that, even after living in Thailand for 13 years. :P But it makes sense, given that most every feeling in Thai is expressed via its effect on the heart. Happy = "heart good" and sad = "sad heart"...
Thai also has a lot of compound adjectives which are virtually inexpressible in English. I don't really get them that well actually. But they are usually both expressive and lyrical...just like Thai pop music.
I listen to lots of pop radio nowadays because it mainly helps me not to be left alone with my own thoughts so that I think too hard. Sometimes I do tire of the Thai stations nevertheless so I listen to Western stuff for variety...whatever music is on. I am enjoying this sort of modern jazz they turn on a lot on the Western stations. But anyhow, I heard this one line in an English pop song yesterday: "I really want to touch your hair/But every time I reach out/You don't seem to care" I thought this was lame expression and lame rhyme. Not that all English pop songs are like that but even the ones that sound good don't express that much...they're very generalized and not very specific - for example, "Right Here Waiting" by Richard Marx - I feel like some songs are trying to say things but what they're trying to say is beyond what English expresses...a lot of extrapolation is left to the listener. Which can be good too. I do have an English pop favorite - "When You Say Nothing At All" - I used to think it sounded really idiotic but nowadays I think it makes a lot of good sense. I forgot to say that mainly the English love songs don't do that well. The ones that express everyday situations are great - like "Bad Day" by Daniel Powter...
I know I'm doing a lot of generalizing and not giving very many examples. But I have been thinking about this for a long time and I tend to generalize in general but if I have been observing quantities of data for a long amount of time and still draw the same conclusion it's probably safe to say it's a plausible conclusion.
I thought I would give an example of an expressive Thai pop song - romantic - that I really like. This one is actually a little bit different from the others...it doesn't express a very specific situation but more talks about love itself. For all the feeling-drivenness of Thai, I thought this song did an excellent job of expressing both the logic of feeling and love. It happens to be translatable so it still makes sense and sounds nice...maybe because there is logic in it...
More Than Love (Mak kwa rak)
This person used to feel lonely
...Really forlorn
I searched for that love - where was it?
The world is just so big
And filled with people
But my heart got lonelier with every moment
Yet once I met you
I don't know what it is you give me
That same big world
Never makes me feel lonely
So long as I have you next to me
You are more than love
Because you're half my life
And I've spent my whole life looking for you
And I've waited for you for so long
And in the end I've found that you're everything
that completes my heart
From now on every breath I take is you
If you are love
Then it is a love that is wondrous beyond words
I'm so fortunate to have you next to me
Your life has filled what was lost in mine
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