宝贝 – The *Ge Tai Singer
宝贝 has been in a singing mood lately. She hums to herself or launches into a gusto tune, whichever suits her at that point of time.
She was playing with her puzzle when she suddenly decided that the room was too quiet and she needed to jazz up the mood a little.
十八的姑娘一朵花呀 (English Translation: A lady at eighteen years blooms like a flower)
一朵花 (like a flower)
每个男人都想他呀 (Every man thinks of her)
都想他 (thinks of her)
姑娘长大不得了呀 (When she grows up, she will be incredible)
不得了 (incredible)
粉色的笑脸 (Pink smiling face)
粉色笑脸赛晚霞 (Pink smiling face like the colour of dusk)
啊 姑娘十八一朵花 (A lady at eighteen blooms like a flower)
一朵花 (like a flower)
Whaaat???!! Her “Every man thinks of her” stunned me…. This song is one of the oldies (aka my parent’s era). Although I don’t really know the lyrics of the entire song, but it certainly didn’t sound very right to me… In fact it sounded a little “r-rated” to me, considering that it’s from a 3 yr old.
Me : Who taught you this song??
宝贝： 婆婆. (Grandma)
Me: Are you sure you are singing it correctly?!
宝贝： Of course! (rolled her eyes at me. She ROLLED her eyes at moi?!!) Following which, she did another heart wrenching rendition of the song… with her head swaying from side to side.
Unconvinced, I googled the song… this is the correct version of the song. It certainly is very very different from the version she’s singing.
十八的姑娘一朵花 (A lady at eighteen blooms like a flower)
一朵花 (like a flower)
眉毛弯弯眼睛大 (arched eyebrows with large eyes)
眼睛大 (large eyes)
红红的嘴唇雪白牙 (with lips bright red and teeth snow white)
雪白牙 (teeth snow white)
粉色的笑脸 (Pink smiling face)
粉色笑脸赛晚霞 (Pink smiling face like the colour of dusk)
啊 姑娘十八一朵花 (A lady at eighteen blooms like a flower)
一朵花 (like a flower)
See! I knew it! My mom has been teaching 宝贝 “r-rated” songs!! What happened to nursery rhymes and children’s songs??? Sigh… Meanwhile 宝贝 is still singing in the foreground like a *”ge tai” singer. I hope the neighbours have their earplugs on.
*ge tai = 歌台. Typically during the 7th month, many ge tais performances are staged all over Singapore. “to entertain the spirits” The ge tai singers typically sing oldies, hokkien songs etc.
For the original version of the song, please click on this youtube…
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After running through the entire song, I realised that the lyrics were indeed correct!! It’s just that they belong to the next stanza. So she’s mixed and matched the lyrics from all 3 stanzas… =.=”