No matter how jaded I get, I'll never hate music. A friend introduced me to this song and told me that I was out of touch.

The original is from a Punjabi Sufi poet, Bulleh Shah. The words are wonderful.

Not an Arab, nor Lahori
Neither Hindi, nor Nagauri
Hindu, Turk, nor Peshawari
Nor do I live in Nadaun

Bulleh! to me, I am not known

Secrets of religion, I have not known
From Adam and Eve, I am not born
I am not the name I assume
Not in stillness, nor on the move

Bulleh! to me, I am not known

I am the first, I am the last
None other, have I ever known
I am the wisest of them all
Bulleh! do I stand alone?

Bulleh! to me, I am not known





It is the song of the nowhere man.



[The translated lyrics are courtesy of this web site.]

1 comment:

Chronicus Skepticus said...

Ooo! Rabbi Shergill! I *love* him.

Have you heard the rest of the songs on this album? Tere bin is just...heartbreaking.

*sigh*

Till a couple of years back all I wanted out of life was to have his babies.

His second video kinda sucked though — killed the song for me.

The Cold Within

Six humans trapped by happenstance In bleak and bitter cold. Each one possessed a stick of wood Or so the story’s told. Their dying fire in ...