A translation of "One Love as Always" - subtheme song from The Long Ballad (2021)

A translation of one of The Long Ballad's subtheme songs: "One Love as Always" 一愛如故

Those who have watched The Long Ballad (2021) may, like me, have fallen for the Haoyan CP - the second lead couple, Imperial guard Hao Du, played by Liu Yu Ning and Princess Li Le Yan, played by Zhao Lu Si. The slow burn romance between the (not so) cold-blooded big bad wolf and the innocent fluffy bunny is unabashedly romantic.    

I've written about why I love them so much in my final review 👉here, but I love their romantic subtheme song so much that I wanted to try and provide a translation of "One Love as Always" 一愛如故, which remains a regular on my playlist.  You can find a clip of the song here. 

The song is sung by Liu Yu Ning himself (Prince of Chinese OSTs!), which makes it even more romantic, encapsulating as it does, Hao Du's perspective - a yearning, hopeless and selfless devotion.  

The song's Chinese title 一愛如故 is a play on words, the literal translation means "One Love as Always" or "One Love as in the Past", but it evokes another Chinese idiom 一見如故, which describes friendship at first sight, that is, familiarity on sight, as if you have known one another for ages (as of old/as always).  In changing "sight"見 to "love"愛, the meaning of the title evokes love at fist sight. Rather Shakespearian really - "Who ever loved that loved not at first sight?"      

Anyway, my attempt at translation below.  I have opted mostly to translate for meaning, rather than a direct literal translation (so, for eg. 'One Love as Always" 一愛如故 in the lyrics is translated as "Love at first sight").  There are also some brief footnotes for when I want to explain gaps in translation.  

All errors my own, of course!💕

  

A translation of Su Shi's "Prelude to Water Melody" (theme song in My Heroic Husband (2021))

A translation of Su Shi's 蘇軾 "Prelude to Water Melody" 水調歌頭 

One of my favourite theme songs in My Heroic Husband (2021) was the ending theme - Prelude to Water Melody《水調歌頭》, which sets the famous Song dynasty poem of Su Shi 蘇軾 aka Su Dong Po 蘇東坡 (1037AD-1101AD) to music. It is sung by Zheng Yun Long in My Heroic Husband - you can listen to the song 👉here. 

Ep7: A show stopping rendition

As well as being the ending theme song, Prelude to Water Melody《水調歌頭》is used to great effect in episode 7, when Ning Yi saves the day by pulling off a stunning performance of this song, directed with modern day special effects (wire work, lighting, petal machines, fireworks etc) and alongside a secret weapon break out star.  See 👉here for a short clip💛

I think Prelude to Water Melody《水調歌頭》is a great choice of song for the drama - it captures all the wistful longing for reunion with loved ones who are far away and who may be wishing on the same moon...