Iravukkum Pagalukkum - Enga Oor Raja

I was listening to some radio programs by Yaazh Sudhakar when I came across some of these old gems. This movie itself was a very entertaining Sivaji movie as I remember it, loaded with fabulous tunes...

Beautiful and simple lyrics. The first stanza reads roughly... "Happiness in half opening the eyes to look at you; so is it when I stroke your hair while half asleep". The next sentence will gets lost in translation and finally the obvious one for lovers "Mornings mean sadness while nights are what happiness is all about". Notice how each of the line ends in "Inbam" which turns out to be something called aahti iyaippu (high funda tamil poem thingy). I thought it would be ethukai or monai. Here is an excellent explanatory text on this stuff - A Reference Grammer of Classical Tamil Poetry by V. S. Rajam

I am not sure about what the first line of the second line refers to something along the line of getting confused about the other persons clothing caused by the intoxication of love. "Oh, it is so cold" that they both say and tightly hug each other. "The poets tend to romanticize by saying that the lovers chuckle at the little bruises in the lovers' bodies, but really they only referred to part of the story because there is a lot to be seen in the bed"...

A lovely tune... http://www.dishant.com/album/Engal-Thanga-Raja.html has this. Listen to this and a few other songs from the movie.

Naan Varainthu Vaitha Oviyam - Jeyamkondan

Beautiful melody. The movie was actually an OK movie and I like Bhavana. There is some childish charm about her.

This is all about how bright the life becomes for someone in love, I guess... (Can't they sing about something else?)

"The sun that I drew is lighting up. The path that I just crossed is flowering. The crows that I shooed away became peacocks. The rain drops that soaked my hair became Amirtham (nectar). And, the breath that I left out became music". Very nice and different twist.

"The rods in the window turned into silver because of your touch" No clue as to what the next line is. I am pretty mad that they bring people from all over to sing in Tamil and you can hardly make out what they sing! Madhusree's pronounciation has a lot to desire. And they make fun of Tamils singing Hindi!

"Looking at the way your smile flowers, my shoulders become wings... My days dissolve like sugar when my tongue utters your name" What a beautiful pair of lines... Nothing in the next stanza is lyrically catchy, so I will leave it as is.

Vanna nilave vanna nilave. - ninaithen vanthai

Hariharan, as always, is brilliant in the way he sings this song...

I have no clue why they refer to the moon as a colorful object, but they do in the tamil songs. "Is it the colorful moon that is arriving? Is it true that I am beginning to feel your smell?"

"I see the light of 100 moons in your eyes and see a crore doves in my heart", referring to their flight...

"You are hugging me in my dream just the same way that my eyes can't understand the wind around me". "You, a flower, who is disturbing my sleep in the middle, can you tell me your address please?"
"The full moon that you are, but you seem to reveal your face only little at a time... My soul won't leave this earth without knowing your name" (I know that I am taking liberty translating that line, which may as well read "My sould won't leave this earth without telling you my name").

"In the forest of your long hair I have gotten lost... How do I find my way?"

"As the rain cloud, I arrive at your door. I'll fall on you as the rain and my inner self will be drenched as a result". Again, I will pass the rest of the translation... Just listen to the song and enjoy it.

http://www.raaga.com/channels/tamil/moviedetail.asp?mid=T0000388

Mottugale Mottugale - Roja Kootam

Srikanth and Bhoomika Chawla sing this song in the movie. Pretty nice melody.

In the first stanza, the man and the woman are each talking to the buds of flowers asking that they wait until the morning to flower. The sound of flowering will wake up the lover, so the request. They each say that if the sleep of their lover is disturbed by the sound of flowering, their heart won't take it. It is very imaginative...

I am not that clear about what is going on in the next stanza frankly. "If you give me a flower, I will wear it in my chest. I will collect all the dried flowers in my Bank Locker". So far so good. Then, "I found your garden and arrived at night and left the Rose and stole the thorn instead. You say Yes and I will flower in your shirt". I am really sorry, this is al above my understanding. I know there is something here, I just don't get it.

I won't bother with the second stanza, because I have the same problem...

Chiththirayil Enna Varum - Sivappathikaram

Fabulous Tune and picturization. I love Mamta Mohandas and especially the green sari she is wearing at the beginning of the song. Enough drooling...

What I really like about this song is very disconnected sentences on the same old theme of lovers talking about the influence of one on the other.

"In April what do you get? A lot of sweat because of the heat"

"In your sleep what do you get? a lot of bad dreams" Presumably the "bad" here can be interpreted in ways it suits the reader.

"She passes by me just like steam - sort of touching, but not really"... "The sari is as good as the yarn that is used to make it. The son is as good as his mother is"... That is a good line.

"Your looks are pulling me upwards like the string on a pulley in a well; Sweet talks are pulling me down like the hunchback". Pretty good stuff here. Some of the other things like "Maavilakku" translations will get lost because they are so specific to Tamil. And I am totally lost in trying to understand the last two lines.... Enjoy.

Pesugiren Pesugiren - Saththam Podathey

One of those typical Yuvan Shankar Raja Tunes... very catchy. And Neha Bhasin has done a fantastic job singing it. I don't think she is a tamilian, but you wouldn't be able to tell the way the words are pronounced. This is a really nice movie also. I recommend that you see it. We are a big favorite of Prithiviraj.

The lyrics are so simple, yet so powerful. I think this is sort of talking indirectly to a guy who may be agonizing over his lover and whether to continue the relationship.

The woman who is singing is saying "I am speaking your heart... When there is a hurricane (in your heart), I will extend flowers (to make you feel calm)". "No matter what you lose, don't lose your heart... It is as restless as the waves of ocean, is it because it is the heart?"

These are simply so well done... "There are no trees for those migratory birds crossing oceans to rest. But they don't bother and cross continents." I sort of get the next line "By adding a few more dots to the full stop, you can convert the end to be a new start". "Just as there are no mountains without curves, there is no heart without heartbreaks".

I will not bother with the second stanza because the simple beauty of the lyrics is getting lost in translation because of the indirect and apparently disconencted statements about the topic being discussed... You can hear this at Music India Online by clicking here.

You can alse enjoy upto the first stanza at Youtube:

Vangayya Vangikkayya - Adaikkalam

I love the tune and besides, one of my favorite singer and friend Anuradha (or Anooradha or whatever else it is for today) Sriram has sung this. I had a real hard time unraveling the lyrics, so there is likely to be some mistakes here and I simply gave up on the second caranam.

Frankly because of lack of clarity to the singing, the first stanza last line is meaningless to me.

I felt that the first caranam is sort of all over... "If Kaveri overflows, then Kollidam is where the overflow drains" OK... then the woman says "If sexual feelings overflow, then women are where the excess drains"... This is really crossing the lines I think... But who is to ask?

Anyways, I have it here because some of these lines are a little bit catchy and the tune is fantastic... Not much to say.

Muthal Muthal Parthen - Priyasakhi

Very melodious song. The lyrics here is for the version that the woman (Chitra) sings. There is a predictable version by the man, which is essentially a line by line response to this.

This is really not a run of the mill "romantic" tamil song, that is why I liked the lyrics. "As soon as I saw you, I lost it" is the routine line. However, "Soon thereafter I felt a new conflict within me, is that what the world calls love?" "I want you to breathe the same air that I breathe but with love" are good variations.

"Tie 108 stars together to make an anklet and tie it in my ankle" ; "I ask you for a pair of shoes made of peacock feathers and a clock that never runs during the night"; "You should not breathe without my permission; however, you should touch me all over without asking my permission" - Obviously one can guess why she is looking for a clock that does not work at night. That must be because these are young, energetic and new lovers ;))

These lines I really love - "If you happen to get ready to go to work at the same time that I am feeling full of passion, I will tie you with a single strand of my hair and you shall not leave"; "I will cook you little little kisses"; "Let us ask for a mattress to be made with the froth from oil and let us have passionate activities until I say no to it" Obviously a lot got lost in translation and I am not the best translator that there is!!!

I have not been able to find a video version of the song and the audio links are all garbage, requiring you to get an account and log in. If anyone out there finds a useful link for the song, please post it. Thanks to Mathu, now you can watch the beautiful song.... though I am not a big fan of Sadha's face ;)

Malargale Malargale - Love Birds

What a great song!!! AR Rahman Rocks. The picturization is fantastic and I love Prabhu Deva. The only thing that Nagma brings to the table are her assets. What a waste!!! Can't they find someone who knows to act naturally?

Anyways... The lyrics is awesome... "If I hide in your chest, it is possible for the cupid to kill me with his arrow, so let me hide under your long hair" She asks "Do you want to make my long hair to be the bedroom for you, my lover; Is it fair that the flowers that usually adorn my hair forget to do so?" The implication being that by making it a bedroom the flowers don't want anything to do with her hair anymore ;)

The usual "My oxygen is in your breath and your words are in my speech" is woven very nicely in the first charanam. "If the flowers had tongues and the breeze had mouth, they will all be saying Love!". I remember feeling this way when I was young, every moment of my life and every thing that I saw connected me to my teenage love (now, my wife of 26 years).

"If the moon knew Tamil and the waves knew language they will be writing poems on us and toss us up in the air". "Our lives are as integrated and intertwined as the skies and the blue color". So beautiful.. Every time I look up in the blue skies, I will remember this romanticism. Oh, I just cannot stop listening to this...

Uruguthe Maruguthe - Veyil

Beautiful tune... The music director for this song is GV Prakash Kumar, son of Reihana who is A. R. Rahman's sister. Shankar Mahadevan is brilliant as usual and Shreya Ghoshal has matched him well.

The use of Ambuli instead of the usual Nila is a good change. When I looked at "karutha machchaan" I was a little perturbed because I knew that Bharath was in this movie and I would not consider him dark. It turns out that he is not in this song. And it is indeed a karutha machchaan...

I really enjoyed the lines where he first does a dry run of him living together with his lover in his mind and now he wants to make it a reality.

Also the lines "Can I write and give to you that my blood is all yours?" is pretty good. If it could have been written in a way that he uses his blood to write it, it would have been cool.

This is one which I like a lot for the melody than the lyrics.

Kannalane - Bombay

One of my all time favorites. What a beautiful song, great music, fabulous picturization and fantastic acting!

Every line is just beautiful... Fully well knowing that I will not do justice to translate this, I attempt...
"I don't know your name nor do you know mine; yet we have exchanged our hearts".

"My heart goes beserk when your eyesight fell on me; when my cover fell your eyes caught a glimpse of my moonlike face; then my blood boils just like the bubble in boiling water; my mind flutters like a single leaf trying to fight the winds of a storm; what is a drop of snow to do when the bamboo fields catch fire? the young woman became the bamboo field..."

"I learned the speed of a lightening look from you; I learned the yearning of a woman from me; I have forgotten myself altogether and I am no longer here on this earth; if I were to lose you, it is like no flower having nectar; is this a dream? I pinched myself to learn the truth; I looked at you and forgot my mother tongue"

Obviously forgetting one's mother tongue is used as a way to express that "I have lost my words"... Really, What a song!!! With some sufi like mix in the middle, the dance, the facial expressions... Enjoy!!!

Nilaavile Nilaavile - Aaha Ethanai Azhagu

What a contrast in lyrics between the previous song and this. The tune is what caught me first. It is frankly very annoying when they get north indians to sing tamil songs and they don't even try to make it sound half decent. It took me a while to listen and decipher the words by Udit Narayan and Sujatha Bhattacharya. So it is quite possible you will find some mistakes...

I love some of these sentences - thodaamale thodaamale en kangal unnai meynthathu... Haven't we done it all at some points in our lives?

"I like to be awake for you; I love to sleep with you; I love to see the cloths you bought for me to be all wrinkled" These are pretty good lyrics, trying to talk about the same old same old, but in a much more polished way than what you see these days.

I am really in love with the Google transliteration stuff I mentioned earlier. It is simply Awesome!!!

Mayakkum Maalai - Kulebagavali

Frankly, I have been pretty frustrated that I have not been able to find time to write more here, but since I switched to Vista, it has been next to impossible to get back to the environment I had for typing these up. My favorite Google now offers a fabulous transliteration service for Tamil
I highly encourage you to try it out. It does not get any better or easier than this.

Anyway, in one of those rare moments, I began listening to some of the old classics and here is one that is asking the "seducing evening" to leave soon and asking the "sweet night" to come fast...

Rather simple, but pretty rich in the old style tamil writing. The sprinkling of rose water is compared to light snow/dew; the green grass is laying the mat; the moon provides milk and honey and the singing breeze is the lullaby...

I don't really know what a punnai malar is, but I assume it is something sexy ;) You can view this beautiful song by Jikki and AM Raja in YouTube.

Thoduven Thoduven - Deepavali

This is another song from Deepavali, brilliant song, especially the charanam part. You can view it on YouTube. Again, beautiful picturization. And I love the lyrics... Especially the part "Are you the color from the seven shades?" "Are you the dream that is stuck in my eyes?" "Are you the dew on the flower?" just brilliant...

Kadhal Vaithu - Deepavali

Frankly, I like this song because of the tune and because
I liked the movie not necessarily for its lyrics... I have a weak spot for love stories, so it was natural for me to like this. The high funda fights were a total waste. But the mental lapse causing confusion sounds plausible and I liked both Ravi and Bhavana - they acted well.

Yuvan Shankar Raja has done an excellent job in the movie. Almost all the songs were big hit. The picturaization of the songs is also excellent.

You can both listen and see the song in YouTube. You got to see the clip to make sense of some of the things in the lyrics, especially the last stanza.

The line about how he did not believe the stories about Devathai (Goddess) until he saw her is well written, though we have heard this type of stuff many times over.