EN PARTANT - DEPARTING

EN PARTANT - DEPARTING
KENNETH E. HALL        SEPTEMBER 4, 2018       HOUSTON, TX

Cùng viễn du trong tưởng tượng

Isn't it remarkable how a single song can have such an emotion effect on us all?

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It was 1976 - Things were really looking up for me and for my little family. My wife had just given birth to what would be our first of three wonderful children. I had a new job which actually paid me a living wage, and I got a company car to boot. My world was turning quite nicely. However, a world away, in Southeast Asia, little did I know that a human drama was being played out at that very moment.

My job took me to retail outlets - supermarkets, drug stores, drugstores and the like. I had just been assigned to work the New Orleans East area, and there, in one small corner of that sprawling suburb, I visited a different world. In one tiny enclave were several small shops - no bigger than convenience stores, huddled together as if for protection. The signs overhead boasted their wares in Vietnamese!

Out of curiosity more than anything, I decided to visit one of these stores, a grocery store.  Inside were pungent smells of roots, herbs, vegetables, etc. which came from exotic places such as Thailand, Malaysia, and Singapore.

On the PA system, modern Vietnamese music played, from cassettes brought over by those who came over relatively recently. One's nose, eyes, and ears were simultaneously treated to totally new sensations, and as I tried salty/sour Vietnamese dried prunes, my taste buds likewise had their introduction to new tastes!
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Before leaving, I bought a few porcelain rice bowls, a couple of cans of longans, some more delicious dried/sour prunes, and a few cassettes all labeled "Nhạc Trẻ" - (young songs.)

I put these items into my car and drove home - I was done for the day. I put the news on, and as I drove, the commentator was discussing a tragedy that was unfolding in Southeast Asia. He described a tragic scene of tens of thousands of people - fleeing the onslaught of the Communists as they marched "victoriously" into the cities and villages of Viet Nam. They were taking revenge upon the hapless people there - summarily executing many, and imprisoning so many more.  As he spoke, in my mind, I was transported there, watching the human nightmare as people desperately struggled to flee what had had been their homes, making their getaway on fishing boats and the like, hoping to seek refuge and perhaps a new life far away from everything they had known in their native land.
Then the news broadcast was over and I decided to return to listening to one of my newly-acquired tapes. Instead of familiar western songs sung in Vietnamese, such as "Bang-Bang!" a quiet, soft voice sang a song in French! Wow! At LAST something I can UNDERSTAND!
The words came out of the car speakers, and I understood every word - and was shocked at what I heard:

En partant sur un bateau imaginaire
En partant
Toi capitaine et moi marin
Seuls au monde
Nous avons laissé tous nos amis sur le rivage
En partant ce matin

En partant pour un voyage sans escale
En partant
Avec nos rêves pour océan
Nous voyons nos vertes prairies disparaître
Doucement
Loin de nous loin du temps

Et farewell, adieu, so long, vaya con dios
Que le ciel nous donne ce que nous cherchons
Hier encore, le vin était bien plus doux que du miel
Dieu que ce temps, que ce temps était bon

En partant sur un bateau imaginaire
En marchant sur un vieux chemin de poussières
Chaque instant qu`il nous sera donné de vivre
Nous en ferons une légende pour nos enfants

Et farewell, adieu, so long, vaya con dios

Que le ciel nous donne ce que nous cherchons
Hier encore le vin était bien plus doux que du miel
Dieu que ce temps, que ce temps était bon
Dieu que ce temps, que ce temps était bon

My translation from the French:

Leaving home, on an imaginary boat
Leaving home

You, Captain and I the sailor,

Alone in the world,

We have left all our friends on the shore

Leaving home this morning.

Leaving home, on a never-ending voyage 

Leaving home,

With our dreams upon the sea
We watch our green prairies disappear 

Sweetly,

Far away from us; faraway in time.

And so-long, adieu, farewell, vaya con Dios,

May Heaven grant that which we seek

Even yesterday, our wine was much sweeter than honey,

God, those times were good - those times were good!

Leaving home, on an imaginary boat

Walking down an old, dusty road,

Every moment that we will be given to live

We'll make of it a legend for our children!

And so-long, adieu, farewell, vaya con Dios,

May Heaven grant that which we seek

Even yesterday, our wine was much sweeter than honey,

God, those times were good - those times were good!

If you read these words not as a song of romance but as one of fleeing one's land to seek refuge elsewhere, the song is so poignant, and so it is with me every time I listen to it. The boats those people took were definitely NOT "imaginary"! What must they have felt sailing away from their native land and leaving their family and friends behind on the shore, and watch their familiar  green prairies disappear into the distance and into time??

About this song: 

songwriters:Tom Paxton / Eddy Marnay I have researched this song at first to no avail. I only found the "original" French version, sung by Nana Mouskouri:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZoHNVdq2YA

Then I found this site:
https://dotchuoinon.com/2017/01/03/nhac-ngoai-quoc-loi-viet-nhac-phap-xua-vien-du-trong-tuong-tuong-en-partant-eddy-marnay-tom-paxton-pham-duy/

http://www.nanamouskouri.de/outward.htm has an English version of the lyrics, but I do not know if it is the original.

This is Nana Mouskouri's ENGLISH version! :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRpnVnef79k

The translation into English on this Blog page was done by myself.  

Here is the bilingual French / Vietnamese version:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OeJu2_zVe3k
Cùng viễn du trong tưởng tượng - Along the way in imagination


Ca sĩ NGỌC LAN - singer NGỌC LAN
Nhạc Pháp - Lời Việt Phạm Duy
French Version author unknown - Vietnamese words by Phạm Duy