Dark hair in love songs

For a very long time, Vietnamese love songs have captivated many fans. Among the many enchanting love songs, there are some famous ones that subtly evoke images of women with long hair.

The dark hair of youth

The youthfulness of a person's life is clearly reflected in their hair. For composer Van Phung, a girl's hair is like a gentle stream, which he seeks out: "To find the swaying green willow / Or to find the stream of hair on her shoulders." That stream of hair is so gentle, nature can hardly compare (Stream of Hair).

The song "Spring Girl," with music by Tu Vu and lyrics by Nguyen Binh, beautifully and poetically depicts the youthful hair of a girl in her prime: "Eighteen springs pass through her hair."

In another very famous song by composer Hoang Thi Tho, "Old Roads, Old Paths," the green hair of a girl is subtly hinted at in the lyrics: "Old roads, old paths, there is my girl with green hair fluttering dreamily."

And here's another example: the hair of a seventeen-year-old girl that became the subject of the song "Purple Flowers of Yesteryear" by composer Huu Xuan: "She just turned seventeen / Her hair just reached her shoulders." Listening again to the love songs composed by musician Trịnh Công Sơn, listeners realize that our talented musician has incorporated many different images and feelings about the hair of women into his compositions: Calling the Four Seasons ("Oh! Your long hair in the mythical night"), Sad Stone Age ("A rose pinned to your cloud-like hair", "The sky still makes clouds, clouds drift aimlessly / Your flowing hair, drifting quickly, quickly"), Lulling us to sorrow ("Which hair is still green, giving us a little innocence"), Watching the autumns pass ("The autumn wind has arrived, the purple twilight spreads on the sidewalk / And the wind kisses your sworn hair, then autumn flies away"), Like a flying heron ("The wind will rejoice because your hair flies / letting the clouds sulk and fall asleep on your shoulders"), The fading autumn leaf ("Waking up in the evening, sitting and embracing your long hair"), What age is left for you ("What age wanders the city with cloud-like hair"), Glassy sunlight ("Bringing sunlight to let sadness into your hair")...

Composer Ngo Thuy Mien also wrote many songs about women's hair. The silky, flowing hair, a source of inspiration for poetry and music, appeared in the love song "Giang Ngoc": "Your five-fingered hands are still proud / Your hair still flows like clouds, your cheeks and lips are rosy," and in the love song "June Rain": "Your hair is so soft, I don't long for spring."

The girl's hair was once seen as lush, vibrant, beautiful, and smooth as green rice paddies. The song "Homeland Love" (Music: Dan Tho, Lyrics: Phan Lac Tuyen) contains these lines: "I return to the small village. She waits under the coconut tree's shade / The afternoon sun shines on her hair, a simple love for her homeland / Her village is poor, with white sand, her hair like green rice."

Time passes by with the hair.

According to the natural course of life, the dark, flowing hair of youth eventually changes color with age. Composer Tran Long An wrote simple, unpretentious yet deeply moving lyrics about his mother's fading hair in the song "Celebrating Mother's Birthday": "Then that spring, mother's white hair flies / Like wind, like clouds passing through my life / Like wind, like clouds passing through time." The hair of an aging mother is also depicted by composer Tuan Khanh in a spring song filled with joy and hope: "This spring we wish our elderly mother joy in her garden with more flowers / Joy in the vast fields, her white hair so beautiful" (The First Spring).

Composer Ngo Thuy Mien also wrote about the hair of a time when youth is gone: "One day, the once green hair will turn gray" (The Last Love Song). In the song "Dust of Distant Love," composer Trinh Cong Son also wrote lyrics reflecting on human life: "How many years have I lived as a human being? / Suddenly, one afternoon, my hair turned white like lime."

Love stories that linger on

Perhaps, because hair is so intimately connected to human life, stories about hair and the love hidden behind it remain ever so enchanting.

Composer Pham The My wrote the love song "Cloudy Hair" with beautiful, romantic lyrics and a smooth melody, evoking many emotions: "Oh, cloudy hair, flowing gently, lulls melancholy / Threads of love, carried away by the wind / Oh, cloudy hair, so fragrant and intoxicating / Our love, evergreen like cloudy hair, never grows old." In "First Love Song," composer Vu Thanh An also wrote about words of love, hoping that love would come to those in their youthful prime: "If we love each other, let it be in those innocent days / When our eyes haven't faded, when our hair hasn't changed."

There are sad love stories of people passing through each other's lives, with rain leaving behind memories and belated pain: "I remember an autumn with clouds covering the path / A sad rain, my hair tangled, my lips wet" (Belated Pain - Ngo Thuy Mien).

Here, the lover's hair flows down into the heart of the young man, in the early days of their love, the budding romance still shy and tender: "Your hair cascades down your small shoulders / What waterfall flows through my heart?" (Golden Butterfly Tree - music: Nguyen Ngoc Thien, lyrics: Nguyen Thai Duong).

The stranger, unable to forget the misty mountain town, from the soft hair of the girl: "Thank you, city where you are / Thank you for your soft hair" (Something to Remember - music: Pham Duy - lyrics: Vu Huu Dinh).

Hanoi, with its streets, rows of trees, fragrant flowers, lovers waiting for each other in the rain, and countless memories that stir the heart: "Oh, my dear, Hanoi streets/... The deserted road murmurs with a light rain/ Someone is waiting for someone, hair flowing over soft shoulders" (Oh, my dear! Hanoi streets - music: Phu Quang, lyrics: Phan Vu).

Like many other songs, where hair takes on various forms, changing over time, under the very personal perceptions of the musicians and poets.

Hair once flowing like clouds, then turns gray. Maintaining unwavering love, even as time flies by, remains the wish of many. Hidden within love songs, hair, however it may be today, can still tell the stories of love shared by those who once experienced their youthful days.

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