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Border Hotel-Song by Li Tai-Hsiang (lyrics from poetry) (邊界酒店-李泰祥)

I.    Lyrics (translated from Chinese)

The boundary of Autumn is demarcated in the same setting sun.
At the border, there quietly stand some yellow chrysanthemum.
And he comes a long way, drinking awake.
Outside the window is a foreign country. Wanting to step outside so badly.
Just a step to become the nostalgia. The beautiful nostalgia. Is at arm’s length.
Or it may not be a bad idea to be drunk.
Or just sing.
It will not only be standing. Like the daisy. Just leaning against the border and standing.

Lyrics written by Cheng Chou-Yu (鄭愁予)

秋天的疆土分界在同一個夕陽下
接壤處默立些黃菊花
而他打遠道來清醒著喝酒
窗外是異國 多想阿踏出去
一步即成鄉愁 那美麗的鄉愁 伸手可觸及
或者就飲醉了也好
或者將歌聲吐出
便不祇是立著 像那雛菊 祇憑邊界立著

Audio
Li Tai-Hsiang (李泰祥)


II.    About this Song

Exposition of the music:
Border Hotel was a poem by Cheng Chou-Yu. It describes stranger’s nostalgia in Autumn. Li Tai-Hsiang used musical instruments like Chinese flute and vertical flute to point up waves of desolation. And while is with vicissitudinary singing, nostalgia in the “Border Hotel” can be just interpreted well.


III.    Manuscript

Copied orchestra manuscript (page 1) of “Border Hotel in B minor” for bass (1982)    Handwritten orchestra manuscript of “Border Hotel in B minor” for Chinese flute (1982)

      

To view the story of Li Tai-Hsiang, please go to Li Tai-Hsiang, the Native Musician of Taiwan.
Text and images are provided by The Native Musician of Taiwan-Tai-Hsiang Li Digital Archive, National Chiao Tung University, Taiwan