「藍。掉」從一段19世紀的南洋移民史回望〈百家春〉,最初David想以「番客嬸」為題,寫一首閩南語歌曲,經由作詞人王昭華建議流傳於閩、粵一帶的民間樂曲〈百家春〉,歌詞完全切中情境。因此「藍。掉」展開了一段〈百家春〉的尋古與探新之旅,並邀請萬芳一起詮釋以五拍重塑的〈百家春〉。
當春芳草地 萬物皆獻媚
In the spring grass
All take part in a coquettish dance
為著什麼事 拋了妻 遊遠地 長別離
Why did you
Leave your wife
And go to a faraway land?
It’s been so long
憶昔別離時 二八少年期 到如今 霜華兩鬚垂
When you left
I was just 16 years old
And now, today
The hair near my temples is speckled with grey
嘆一聲 青春不再來 夜來床上坐 兩眼淚哀哀
Hear me sigh
My youth shall not return
At night I sit at my bedside
Eyes brimming with tears
君你設使亡 亦當入夢來
If you had perished in that foreign land
Wouldn't you have told me in my dreams?
存亡不可知 將琴彈別調 又恐壞名節
Dead or alive, who knows?
I could forget you, I could strum a different tune
But then I'd sully my reputation as a woman of virtue
多望春花開來深閨地 深閨終將淒涼淚滴
I still await a spring blossom alone in this maiden’s chamber,
Where my tears never stop stinging and all I have is
心傷事 又心傷 空斷腸 苦夜長 淚沾裳 悲傷
Grief, heartbreak, emptiness, unbearably long nights, tear-stained clothes, sorrow