BLUE BONE (6:48)

By Cui Jian
Translate by: Kelly Cha

It’s not that bad and I’m not that mad
I’ve tried hard, I’m well-educated
I’m a spring flower
Blossoming in the spring
My father told me if I wanted to get somewhere
I had to study hard and get good grades
But I didn’t used to believe that
I still don’t think I believe that

I say live a full life, that’s the most important
So I didn’t finish college and got myself a job
I want to do what I love and don’t care about money
My job is writing and at the beginning
I just wanted to complain through my pen
But once I started I couldn’t stop
What you want to let go you just need to let it go
No one can stop me if I have my pen

So this is my career, it’s also my hobby
What can be better than making money off of what you love
I don’t make much so I’m not too busy
The rest of the time I’m left to think about the meaning of life
A tripod needs three legs to stay steady
Life needs three legs to be happy
The first is to have a career like I said before
Have a job that makes you happy and make ends meet

The second is to take care of your own body
If you don’t have health than nothing else matters
So I jog three times a week and swim once
Working out makes my mind spin faster than ever
The third is a beautiful love
The girls don’t know this but guys need real love more than you
Days without love are spent hanging with buddies
The emptiest people have the most buddies

Talking about love with pals is all bullshit
Only when it’s one on one is it for real
When you’re in love all theory is bullshit
Only when it’s time to break up is the pain for real
This three-legged theory on life sounds pretty damn simple
If you can find two of them in life you’re pretty damn lucky
If you have all three they better be on the same page
If not then they might fight with each other then you’ll really be in deep shit

Red yellow and blue
Represent your heart, body and mind
The three colors mixed together
Into a melting pot of this society
The political movements over the years make people tired of red
All the yellow bodies around us have buried our souls
We can only twist our bodies and look up
And see the one and only clear blue sky

Red has contaminated the color of blood
I don’t know which is warm, blood or heart
The sun and the light shine on my body
I can choose to be alone or I can choose to lose
Blue is my sanity, I seem to be enduring
I only feel healthy with no boundaries
Dad, I’m a spring flower blooming in the spring
And my bones are also blue