I ended my last post stating that the album Tiếng Hát Chế Linh 1 (1972) is a masterpiece of Vietnamese bolero. Not only there isn’t a single bad song, but also outstanding are at least three-quarters of the songs, including all six that Chế Linh wrote or co-wrote under the name Tú Nhi. Let me tackle one more tune from this album, partially because of the song itself and partially because of a recording by Trường Vũ that may have surpassed Chế Linh’s original recording.

Đoạn tái bút [Postscript] is similar to Bài ca kỷ niệm [Song of memories] in that it was written by Chế Linh and Bằng Giang. Its beat and rhythm are also rumba. The melody, too, moves steadily through the verses. In fact, identical are the counts of syllables (which is ten) in the first two lines of each verse in both songs. One difference is that the chorus of Đoạn tái bút begins with low notes while the chorus of Bài ca kỷ niệm goes high at first. But the similarities outweigh the differences. Both songs have been recorded by men and women, many times as duets. In all likelihood, they have been among popular karaoke songs for bolero fans.

How about the contents of the lyrics? Cho vừa lòng em articulates the most intensely anguished feeling. Bài ca kỷ niệm is equally painful but also a touch more ambiguous on the feeling. In comparison to them, the pain in Đoạn tái bút still hurts but the speaker is more accepting, almost as if saying, “Too bad that it didn’t work out between us.”

Acceptance doesn’t come easy, which, I think, is a beauty about the lyrics. As it is often the case with this type of music, the song begins with a clear acknowledgement of breaking up then some. There is well-wishing to the woman on the part of the speaker. But is the wish completely genuine? Or is it passive aggressive? There’s also a statement about dealing with love lost on his own. Is he courageously facing up to harsh reality? Or is it self-pitying? Blurry are the lines on both.

Ta xa rồi em nhé, đường em, em cứ vui,
Đừng về bên gác trọ, để mặc tôi với đời
Em đi thật xa, quên hết chuyện ngày qua
Ở đây dù mưa gió, một mình tôi sẽ đi qua

We are far apart, be happy on your way,
Don’t stop by my apartment, let me go on,
You should move far away to forget the past,
It is stormy here, but I’ll alone feel it.

The second verse continues the mix of acknowledgement (goodbye to love) and dealing with it (drinking and trying to forget).

Tôi đi tìm bôi xóa tình em trong mắt tôi
Lời nào hai đứa nguyền, và tìm quên kỷ niệm,
Men cay từng đêm, cũng chỉ đầy đọa thêm,
Tình nhân, tình nhân hỡi! Từ xin giã nhân tình.

I seek to erase your love in my eyes,
The vows we had made, and to forget memories of us.
The taste of alcohol at night only imprisons me,
Lover, oh lover! Goodbye to love.

The chorus traverses both past and present. The first two lines give an explanation for having fallen in love, and the last two lines the pain of love lost. There are several clues that it was his first love: I thought you were innocent, I vowed to worship, I had no idea, etc.

Tôi, tôi ngỡ em còn thơ, nên lòng tôi ước mơ
Nên thầm yêu tha thiết, và nguyện sẽ tôn thờ,
Đâu ngờ nhọc nhằn trong tình yêu,
Giờ đây xót xa nhiều.

I thought you were innocent and I dreamed,
My love grew quietly, and my vow to worship this love,
I had no idea that love would be so grueling and hard,
It’s left me with much pain and anguish.

The chorus leads to the resolution of a kind in the final verse. If his feelings had been very mixed in the first two verses, the last verse suggests that he has come to terms with the break-up. In comparison to the ambiguity at the beginning, he sounds genuine that he isn’t upset at her at all. Having gone over some introspection, he now replaces self-pity and passive aggressiveness with resignation and acceptance.

Cơn mưa nào không dứt, buồn riêng ai chẳng phai,
Lời nào không chuốt chải, tình nào luôn thắm hoài,
Tôi không giận em, nhưng tiếc buồn tơ duyên,
Tầm tay nào tôi với, tình ta cách xa rồi!

What rain wouldn’t stop? What sorrow wouldn’t fade away?
What words wouldn’t smoothen? What love would endure?
I am not angry at you, only regret the sadness of our fate,
How far could my arm reach you? Our love is already far apart.

Let’s turn to the aforementioned Trường Vũ recording from 2019, whose video has since racked up some fifteen million views. He must have performed this song many times in his career, and like a pro he carries the lyrics cleanly and movingly. Outstanding is the tone of his enunciation of some syllables. An example is nên thầm yêu tha thiết, which he enunciates thiếc at 1:37. (This pronunciation is similar to Thanh Thúy in her records before 1975.) Or lời nào không chuốt chẩy at 2:05. Or at 1:51, when his voice beautifully cracks at xót xa nhiều.

This is the best vocal performance of this song since Chế Linh’s original recording. Because Chế Linh once took Trường Vũ under his wing and helped with the younger man’s training, it could be said that the student has surpassed the teacher, at least in this recording. It’s a most interesting coincidence, too, that neither is ethnic Vietnamese. For Chế Linh is ethnic Cham and Trường Vũ is ethnic Chinese.

Like the Trường Vũ video, the following video by Ngọc Diêu comes from Vietnam and March 2019. It has also racked up over ten million views. In comparison to the more seasoned singer, though, the younger Ngọc Diệu has a solid voice but it sounds a touch too youthful for the introspective contents. Her voice has its moments, but I don’t find it conveying enough the introspection and resignation. In addition, the instrumental arrangement of the recording isn’t shabby at all, but it doesn’t reach the fullness as the instrumentation of the video above.

Somewhat better are the vocals of Phương Anh in this studio recording, but the instrumentation is sparser.

Check out the following performances if you’d like a slower pace of vocalizing similar to Chế Linh’s recording. Quang Lập, however, sings alternative lyrics to this tune. I’m not sure when they were written, but recordings and videos with these lyrics are typically marked by the name Đoạn khúc cuối 2 to distinguish them from the original lyrics.

Chế Linh and Trường Vũ three years ago.