Following World War II, the US government invested heavily in “area studies” in an effort to gain knowledge about the world which it was seeking to dominate. Southeast Asia was one of the “areas” that the US government wanted information about, and a massive amount of scholarship on that region was produced over the course of several decades.
That body of knowledge, however, contained massive gaps. One of the biggest gaps concerned knowledge about popular music. It is simply impossible to really get a sense of another society if one doesn’t attempt to understand the popular music of that society, but in the (Western) academic world, popular music gets relegated to the (unfortunately peripheral) discipline of ethnomusicology.
This is a shame, because popular music is simply too important to ignore.
I was thinking about this while watching the above video. This video is a recent “re-enactment/interpretation” of one of the most famous songs by one of Thailand’s most famous singers.
In the 1960s, there was probably no performer in Thailand who was more famous/popular than Suraphol Sombatcharoen (สุรพล สมบัติเจริญ).
Tragically shot to death in 1968, Suraphol Sombatcharoen’s last song was about the end of his marriage and was called “The 16 Years of Our Past” (สิบหกปีแห่งความหลัง). This is the song that the above video “re-creates.”
Here are the lyrics. I have adapted them from this English version. I’m not entirely happy with what I have here, so if anyone has suggestions, please contribute.
สิบหกปี แห่งความหลัง
For the 16 years of our past,
ทั้งรักทั้งชังทั้งหวานและขมขื่น
We’ve shared love, hatred, sweetness and bitterness.
สิบหกปีเหมือนสิบหกวัน
Our 16 years were just like 16 days.
รักเอ๋ยช่างสั้นไม่ยั่งยืน
Our love was so terribly short, and did not endure.
มีหวานมีชื่นมีขื่นมีขม
There was sweetness, happiness, bitterness and bitterness.
สิบหกปี ที่เธอและฉัน
For 16 years, you and I,
ครองความรักกันสุขสันต์เหลือข่ม
Lived our love of joy and bitterness.
อุตส่าห์ถนอมน้ำใจกันมา
We have tried to conserve our good feelings,
ไม่เคยนึกว่าจะมาระทม
But I never thought that we would end up broken-hearted.
กลายเป็นสวรรค์ล่ม
Like heaven collapsing,
อกตรมกลัดหนอง
My heart conflicted with melancholy.
ไปดีเถิดนะพี่ขออวยพร
Be on your way and please accept my blessings.
ให้เจ้าไปดี
I wish you all the best,
ลืมสิบหกปีเสียเถิดนะน้อง
And forget those 16 years, my dear.
นึกว่าหลับฝันชั่วพลันเราตื่น
Let us just imagine that we have woken up from a dream.
ลืมคืนเราสอง ที่ครองความรักกันมาถึงสิบหกปี
Forget all the nights we’ve shared together over the past 16 years.
สิบหกปี แห่งความฝัน
The 16 years of our dream,
ทั้งเธอและฉันจบเกมรักกัน เพียงนี้
Both you and I have decided to end our game of love.
สิบหกวันเหมือนสิบหกเดือน
16 years were just like 16 months,
สิบหกเดือนเหมือนสิบหกปี
16 months were just like 16 years,
พี่ตรมฤดีเพราะพี่ขาดเธอ..
My heart is saddened because I have lost you.
There is a field of popular music studies. I find, however, that they are preoccupied with theory and don’t always look at the music and its contexts as deeply as they might. The ethnomusicologists bring some of the skills of an anthropologist but don’t seemingly have an engagement with commercial culture.
May I ask what your “sense” you get of Thai society through this song? I suppose that would involve the meaning it had at its time of creation, and the enduring engagement that Thai music fans have with it. I could imagine these same lyrics being altered a bit and being lyrics for an American country song, or a Vietnamese bolero. I am imagine that there is something in the original Thai words that is very appealing and doesn’t quite translate.
It seems that what really sets the song apart is the vocal interpretation – it feels like it skirts a place where it goes beyond the propriety of acceptable emotion. I associate that with country music – listen to Willie Nelson sing “Funny how time slips away” (the second song)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yWloaxXWv0g
There’s quality with Suraphol Sobatcharoen and WIllie Nelson of an intimate story being told with some difficulty because of all of the emotions being dredged up. “16 years” is a very appealing song, and I suppose part of the appeal beyond the performance is the authenticity of the song – the singer was singing his own life, and in the end his life was tragic and in some way beautiful.
Thanks for giving me the opportunity to hear the song.
“May I ask what your “sense” you get of Thai society through this song?”
I don’t have that sense, but in listening to this song, I don’t “feel” why it would be so popular. There are a couple of places in the lyrics where the wording is interesting, but on the whole, I don’t “feel” all that much. We need a Thai to weigh in here.
The one “sense” I do have has more to do with the context. Imagine that at the height of his career, Elvis wrote and recorded this song and then was shot and no one knew who shot him. Would this song be important/popular because of the song? Or because of the circumstances? The circumstances certainly would play an important role. As for the virtues of the song itself that would enable it to resonate with listeners, I’m not sure about that. Any Thai readers out there??