I've found that Thai songs tend to have very poetic lyrics. I tried to learn the lyrics of one song but couldn't see how learning about driftwood floating in the ocean would be helpful in everyday conversation. I searched the forum and Paiboon Publishing has some Thai hit songs on Youtube but with lyrics like "It's where the immortal Emerald Buddha dwells" and "Endowed with nine precious gems and full of joy" I don't think they'll be particularly useful. I can think of loads of English songs that would be great for English learners, like "Tell me more, tell me more, like did he have a car?" Can anyone recommend similar songs in Thai with short, snappy lines full of everyday words and expressions?

สุนารี ราชสีมา: ส้มตำ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3BSuwk4mS3U

You ain't seen me...right....

When driving I tend to listen to LukTung Mahanakorn Family on 95.0 FM.

Yes there is some sentimental slush played on there at times, put plenty of songs dealing with everyday subjects in everyday language.

In fact some of the songs are nearer to the mark than many would care to admit.

Indeed. As rgs says, most Thai songs from the "popular" genres (Luuk Tung, Plaeng Peua Cheewit etc) are pretty straight forward to follow, just avoid "Thai Pop" which tends to be the same regurgitated sugar coated dross over and over...

It sounds like you have come across Thai "classical" songs which are often based on Thai poems and folk tales which do not (directly) translate easily, if at all.

JMO but I don’t think you’ll get alot lines out of any one song, so

you go through alot of them. I’ve been through some and I remember

some lines I might use. For instance;

Say the wife is nagging you about quitting smoking;

From the song 11 ร.ด. you could say:

ฉันฝังไว้ในป่าช้า I’ll listen from the graveyard.

Or maybe she’s in a bad mood and treating you like a useless nobody.

From the song อมพระมาพูด you could say:

ทำเหมือนว่าฉันเป็นผักปลาไม่ใช่คน You treat me like I’m fish and vegetables

not a human being.

And if you want to get her really ticked off you can say:

หน้าหงิกเป็นมะเหงกอยู่เนี่ย your face is wrinkled like a knuckle

That’s not from a song’ I’m just throwing it in.

oops; just realized ฝัง means bury so I need to change the line in the song to ฉันฟังไว้ในป่าช้า

Edited July 15, 201213 yr by klons

I looked at some Bodyslam lyrics and they seem quite everyday if a bit slushy. The music is very average though.

lookup BobTucker2 on youtube, he has loads of music videos which have thaiscript, karaoke and english subtitles (mostly translated by someone called AnothaiDara). EDIT: actually, it looks like that channel's been closed down and they are now all on playngthaichannel

also look up ethai music - they have webpages of lyrics for 2000 songs in thaiscript and karaoke, with about a quarter of these translated into english. There is also streaming (.swf) audio versions of all the songs.

(Actually, it's showing up as an malware-infected site in google at the moment, so give it a week while they sort it out).

So you can easliy checkout the vocab and meanings before you commit to learning anything.....

Also in that song 11 ร.ด. was a line I thought was colorful

เสือ สิงห์ กระทิงป่า ที่เคยได้เจอ

ต้องหลีกทางให้เธอ เธอมัน 11 ร.ด.

tigers, lions and wild boars that she meets must keep out of her way

because she’s a b*tch (informed on this forum that 11 ร.ด. = แรด =

slang for b*tch.)

So by golly, while reading my trashy Thai dramas today, I came

across the line:

“ไม่กลัว ชั้นมียัยดาวอยู่ทั้งคน เสือ สิงห์ กระทิง แรดก็ต้องกระเจิง”

I’m not scared, yai daao is with me, the tigers, lions, boars and rhinos

will have to scatter.

I think in this case แรด is rhinos and not a b*tch.

The point of this post is my postage point and to show that my previous

post that was supposed to be a joke post isn’t far fetched. Learning from

songs may be a jolly good idea.

Dude, "แรด" (rairt) is literally a rhino, but is best translated as a "slut" or an "Easy" woman.

I would suggest that in the context of the song it also refers to "Sluts" and not just wildlife, but as in "Keep away from my man as I'm not afraid of any "whore/"/wildlife" if you catch my drift.......

I think TV is having a "moment" as my Thai script is acting the pan....

Edited July 20, 201213 yr by HeavyDrinker

Dude, "แรด" (rairt) is literally a rhino, but is best translated as a "slut" or an "Easy" woman.

I would suggest that in the context of the song it also refers to "Sluts" and not just wildlife, but as in "Keep away from my man as I'm not afraid of any "whore/"/wildlife" if you catch my drift.......

I think TV is having a "moment" as my Thai script is acting the pan....

Hey Bro! In the first case the song, it's a bitch or slut or whatever. but in the second case, a story, it's a Rhino.

You see this dude is joking about going bird watching in the jungle. Someone asks what will you do if you meet a tiger.

The dude says don't worry man I got daao with me, she'll scare all the wild things away.

Sometimes slang words with literal meanings are used to mean what they officially mean in the dictionaries.

Here is a song that is about todays generation of teenagers if you want to talk about that. I have the lyrics but can't post

at present because of technical difficulties. They can be found on the net.

There are a couple false starts in this youtube and it doesn't begin until about 40 seconds into it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9QshT_w6bQ&feature=results_main&playnext=1&list=PLF0E81A6F793B5D24

Should you ever have to deal with the issue of sinsod this

song can help. It’s called sinsod rollback

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7lKnDwgcAQ

lyrics available here:

http://bignose.extee.../20110917/entry