Van Cao’s ‘First Spring’

Somehow such a pure, loving song was banned from performing for a while, until the Soviet Union included this song in the ranking of the 200 best songs in the world. Since then, the song has been performed in Vietnam, but only in recent decades has it officially become one of the top songs written about the day of peace and reunification.

The First Spring – Van Cao

“Then gently carry the spring with the swallow back
Normal season, this season was about fun
That dream spring is coming first
With smoke in the river, the chicken is crowing at noon by the river
a happy sunny afternoon for many souls.

Then bring the spring with the swallow back
The mother looked at her cubs who have now returned
That dream spring is coming first
Tears on my shoulders, warm drops on my shoulders
Moments of joy seem to be glittering.
Oh how to love the motherland in the first happy spring.
Oh the first moment in your hands a peaceful life.
From here you know your hometown
Injured people here who knows
From here who know how to love people .

Now it’s time to bring the spring with the swallow back
Normal season, this season was about fun.
Where did that dream spring come
With smoke in the river, chickens crowing at noon by the river
Just a sunny afternoon today is immense.”

Many people have listened to this song again and again on youtube, but every time they listen to it, they are moved, and also bring up nostalgia mixed with sadness, even though the song is only about the joy of reunion, about the recovery of the family. the children know their homeland for the first time, express their love for the first time to their compatriots, and to people in general.

That is the dream of an eternal spring, a spring when these peoples find each other, overcome painful obstacles to be able to love each other. That is the dream of a true national reconciliation, reconciliation through forgiveness and love, especially with love. Why do I think this is a prophetic song by Van Cao? Because in the spring of 1976, many of the lyrics in this song were still the dream of many Vietnamese people, because of the story “One million people are happy, one million people are sad” that the late Prime Minister Vo Van Kiet lamented when he said. up, still haunting millions of Vietnamese people who are stuck. Van Cao only writes about love, about the joy of recognizing his homeland, but in both lyrics and music full of love and attachment, there is still a line of sad, sometimes choking sound. . That is the true feeling of many Vietnamese people, and the foreboding sound images in this song are so hidden, it’s like a folded shape filled with content, even though the music is full of tenderness and comfort. , full of wishes:

“Oh, how to love the motherland in the first happy spring.
Oh the first moment in your hands a peaceful life.
From here you know your hometown
Injured people here who knows
From here who know how to love people”

The melody that contains the choking in it is the “predictive line” in this great song. And until now, after nearly 50 years of peace and reunification, the ideal of national reconciliation still inspires us Vietnamese wherever we are. How can that “dream spring” really come to all Vietnamese people, regardless, a spring of truly loving and truly sharing.

Van Cao’s music is like that.