I first heard this song when my uncle gifted me an audio cassette of “Duet”. I was at Chennai at that time for my vacations & instantly fell in love with the soundtrack. Since then, this song has been a constant companion & almost features in all my playlist. Why is this song so special?
To all those who know me, they know that my Tamil is in a different tangent than the one normally spoken. So I always wondered, where can I get the word to word translation of this song in English? This morning, I discovered this blogpost by Vicky (God bless you brother for this). I want to reproduce the entire blogpost & help it reach a wider audience because this song deserves it.
This is the translation as done by Vicky.
Its been quite a while since I wrote my last post.Hectic life restricts natural flow of thoughts.Finally found time for something which i never want to give up.
This post is about one of the classics by our home grown genius ARR.We hear good music from good music directors.But the fact is that, good directors extract the best out of music directors such as K.Balachander,a.k.a,K.B.Song: En kadhale (Tamil)
Movie : Duet
Singer : S.P.Balasubramanium , a.k.a, SPB
Lyricist:VairamuthuSong Background :
The vocalist/singer & the saxophonist are in love with the same girl & try to express their emotions in their respective parts on how much she means to them & why she couldnt understand that.Song Lyrics with my interpretation:
En kadhale en kadhale ennai enna seyya pogirai
Oh my love, what are you going to do to me
naan oviyam endru therinthum nee yen kannirandai ketkirai
Knowing that I am an artist, why are you asking for my eyesThe song starts in a beautiful way when the lover calls for his love with a slow melancholy tone.This sets the mood of the song. The way the guy expresses the girl’s demand of sacrificing their love by comparing it to the eyes of an artist is splendid.
siluvaigal siragukal rendil enna thara pogirai
HolyCross or bird’s wing, which of those are you going to give me
killuvadhai killi vittu yen thalli nindru parkirai
After making this happen, how could you stay far and watch meThe guy wants to know if she could accept him or not.He emotes the feeling of in the mind of someone, who couldn’t understand how the girl could forget those beautiful moments & yet ask him to forget their love.
The slow beats & mild piano makes the perfect blend to the lyrics & music of the song. The saxophonist starts to play the amazing pipe instrument in the lengthy high note which then falls and again raises & reaches it peak. This is a way to express the pain & longing.It is similar to how people cry out aloud to let out their pain.Then comes the instant transition from peak to sudden dip ,followed by a beautiful wavy ending of the note. This is similar to bursting out into tears after crying & calming yourself.
Kadhaley… nee poo erindhal endha malaiyum konjam kuzhayum
My Love, if you threw a flower, any mountain would blush
kadhaley nee kal erindhal endha kadalum konjam kalangum
My Love, if you threw a stone, any sea would be disturbed
ini meelvadha illai veezhvada
Should I proceed or succumb ?
uyir vaazhvadha illai povadha
Should I live or die
amudenpadha visham enbadha
Are you a nector or poison
unnai amudha-visham-enbadha
Or are you mixture of bothThe next stanza starts on a mild longing sad tone, where the guy emotes his feeling of how much he loves her.He draws comparisons of how her beauty could disturb the mountains & seas.Then the voice is modulated to question whether he should live or die.The grace of this note could be observed by how SPB sings “Should i live” part with high tone (positive tone) & “Should i die” part with a sad tone(negative tone).Then the lover reaches a perplexed situation where he couldn’t describe her as sweet or poison, since she makes him swing between both extremes of happy & sad emotions.
The second instrumental part is when the thoughts of his lady love comes flooding into his mind.Its carries on in a beautiful manner & gradually fuses into a happy note on sight of his love.Then it merges back into the original tone which blends perfectly .
kadhale un kaaladiyil naan vizhundhu vizhundhu thozudhen
My love,I prayed fervently at your feet
kangalai nee moodi kondal naan kulungi kulungi azudhen
You wouldn’t open your eyes Hence I cried inconsolably
idhu maatrama thadu-maatrama
Is the change happening to me good or bad?
en nenjile pani mootama
is there accumulation of snow flakes in my heart?
nee thoziya illai edhiriya
Are you a friend? or a foe?
endru dhinamum porattama
Is that the conflict that is going on within me everyday?The song continues & the singer expresses how deeply he loved her & how he couldn’t control his tears due to her absence in his life.S.P.B sings this part brilliantly with complete feel & he emotes the actual feeling of crying while singing the lines.The singer couldn’t understand if her absence is good or bad.Everything is hazy& desperately wants to know if she is a friend or foe, if she could ever understand the reason for the current happenings.
The song ends with the same longing for the answer from his love,whether she would accept him or not.
The above masterpiece is so memorable & i tried my best to describe my interpretations.In all i felt the song has a perfect balance between lyrics & music.Hats off to Vairamuthu for his amazing lines & ARR for …Need i say that?
Thank you Vicky. 🙂
You can listen to this song
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XhVMjoBTuTI