“Water Runs East for Ten Years, Water Runs West for Ten Years” is a song by the Guangzhou-based folk band Wu Tiao Ren from their first album, A Tale of Haifeng (2009). The songs on this album celebrate the sentiments and everyday lives of small-town bums living in the transforming Haifeng county in Guangdong province, the hometown of band members Amao (guitar) and Renke (accordion). Amao and Renke sing the whole album in the Haifeng dialect except for one track called “I’ll Let You Know When There Is A Problem.”
“Water Runs East for Ten Years, Water Runs West for Ten Years”
Water runs east for ten years,
water runs west for ten years
Can it be stopped for a few years?
even the devil wouldn’t know.
This year’s sweet potato
is no last year’s taro.
Just like our country’s economy,
the housing prices have gone crazy.
Bong-bong-bang-bang-ah, do a somersault.
Bong-bong-bang-bang-ah, do a somersault.
Water runs east for ten years,
water runs west for ten years
Can it be stopped for a few years?
even the devil wouldn’t know.
This year’s sweet potato
is no last year’s taro.
Just like our country’s economy,
the housing prices have gone crazy.
The chubs of Guangzhou,
are no different from the eels of Shanwei,
Just like us humans,
we all close our eyes when we die.
They say I’m sleep talking.
Actually I’m just speaking the Haifeng dialect.
I don’t know, I don’t know.
La-la-la-la-la.
Today we globalize,
tomorrow we’ll be dumbfounded.
La-la-la-la-la.
I don’t know, I don’t know.
十年水流东 十年水流西
十年水流东啊
十年水流西
少流几年行不行呢？
连鬼都不知道啊
旧年的番薯不比
今年的芋头呀
就如国家的经济
楼价都涨疯了
卜卜变变啊 摆麟圈 (翻个跟头)
卜卜变变啊 摆麟圈 (翻个跟头)
十年水流东啊
十年水流西
少流几年行不行呢？
连鬼都不知道啊
旧年的番薯不比
今年的芋头呀
就如国家的经济
楼价都涨疯了
广州的鲢鱼
汕尾的仙鱼
都像人死后
眼睛也会闭上的
他们都说我是在说梦话
其实我说的还是海丰话
我不知道了，我不知道了
啦啦啦啦啦
今天全球化
明日耍自我
啦啦啦啦啦
我不知道了，我不知道了