Lyrics by IR - ராசா எழுதிய பாடல் வரிகள்

Though IR does not claim to be a sakala kalA vallavar, it has been reported that he has some talents outside composing & singing.

Photography was one and an article in vikatan featured this and also published some samples that were excellent.

Writing is another (I really loved his brief series in Kumudam on first time visit to Europe that included his first hand accounts about visiting Bach's place / meeting Paul Mauriat). There could have been some assistance by the Kumudam team but the final output was a very enjoyable one. Unfortunately, I have not been able to get hold of any of his published books. (So cannot comment on his otherwise literary capabilities).

Then there was these few articles he wrote in vikatan and one of them had that interesting view to the kuRaL

எந்நன்றி கொன்றார்க்கும் உய்வுண்டாம் உய்வில்லை
செய்ந்நன்றி கொன்ற மகற்கு

telling that this is exclusively applicable for children and their gratitude towards parents, picking on the last word (His argument was all nanRi is seynnanRi only so what's special here).

In addition, he is now doing Q & A in kumudam currently, generating enough noise :Wink:

Now, to the topic of this new thread:

Though there are only a few, the songs penned by IR have become popular (mainly thanks to the melody / arrangements but the lyrics weren't too bad either).

Let's not only catalog them here but also do some analysis...

idhaykkOyil is one film that was recently in the news for the wrong reasons

First Maniratnam reportedly told BRangan that it was his worst film, kind of confession like 'theriyAththanamA mAttikkittEn'.

Which was then followed up by an attack on MR by the movie producer Motherland Pictures' Kovaiththambi (he almost called MR as 'address illAtha fellow at that time').

Well, to open our account in this thread, let's feature a song written by IR from that film here

இதயம் ஒரு கோவில்
அதில் உதயம் ஒரு பாடல்
இதில் வாழும் தேவி நீ
இசையை மலராய் நாளும் சூட்டுவேன்

A very simple but unobtrusive pallavi. No mAnE thEnE here as in the case of many songs of the producer's prior movie, udhaya geetham.

Also, a song written by IR with a reference to music in pallavi is quite fitting.

(BTW, I haven't watched this movie - the only movie I missed in the IR-Motherland P combo prior to their break-up. Accordingly, don't know whether the pallavi suits the sichchuvEshan)

Some typical IR-brand thaththuvams in the idhayam oru kOvil song :

- உயிரில் கலந்து பாடும் போது எதுவும் பாடலே (Excellent!)

- பாடல்கள் ஒரு கோடி எதுவும் புதிதில்லை ( Of course, one should not confuse that there'a a contradiction with his statement to Gautam that 'onnu mAthiri innonnu irukkakkoodAthu'. It should be understood as 'though one should not resemble another, one should remember nothing is new'! purinjuthA? )

- பாதை ஒன்று ஆன போதும் திசைகள் வேறம்மா (does he mean 'opposite directions'?)

App - there was a controversy created around this song by some lyricist in Kumudam. Like
"IR puts down the contribution of lyricsts. Look what he writes.. paadhai ondru in first line, and unadhu paadhai vERU in very next line. How is it possible?"

My view is here he has used the fact that paadhai stands for two different things - what do you call these? Homonyms?

paadhai ondru Ana bOdhum dhisaigal vERAmma - Although our path(road) is the same, our directions are different

unadhu paadhai vERU enadhu paadhai vERamma - Your track is different from my track.

Path the English word came from our own Sanskrit Path I think. paadhai must have come from the sanskrit path I guess

THat way
1. Paadhai = Path - stands for a fixed road without any reference to direction. For example, Jan Path in Delhi refers to a specific road. It is Janpath whether you walk from east to west on it or west to east.

2. Paadhai - track. has a starting poiint and finishing point. Your track is from west to east and mine from east to west. In this case, now we are standing in the same paadhai(road) at the same place. But now you go from east to west from this point on this path - that is your paadhai(track). I go from west to east from this point. That is my paadhai(track)

I am sticking to my story.



------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This is the Paadhai (Road)
Mohan - Radha (standing here)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mohan's Paadhai (Track) (---- Mohan - Radha ----) Radha's Paadhai(Track)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

plum,

I think we both agree on the "thisaikaL vERu" part (we're on the same road / at crossroads, but will now depart for opposite / different directions).

On the second line of 'unadhu pAthai vERu enadhu pAthai vERammA', your explanation of different "lanes" (still sticking to the same road) is possibly one way of looking at it.

The other one is considering their current location strictly as crossroads and choosing a different route from there.

Another thought is attributing just the figurative meaning to the word pAthai and not worry about a literal road at all...

Means, look at pAthai as 'life course' only. Broadly, for the first line, the translation is "apparently we were on a very similar course of life (say, pursuit of a mate) but with different aspirations / purposes." For the second line, "At this juncture, I understand that we're not even on similar life courses. You were actually after a living mate but I was happy living in dream with my dead love."

imo, he could have just used two different words to avoid the confusion/ambiguity...

Mohan tells radha that we are in the same road of love - but in different directions and also that he is in love with his woman who has passed away (one road) and she is in love with him (another road - though they seem to be heading parallel like roads that are parallel) so
"unadhu paadhai veru enadhu paadhai veru" to be read like thatt.

idhaya koil apart..
IR deserved to get the best lyricist for 'un kuththamaa en kuththama' - what a powerful song?
"Veedhiyil isaithaalum
veenaikku isai undu" - this can be only written by a musician - yet it conveys the plight of the character aptly.
He then completes it with "Vaenkuzhal paadudhu veenayodu" (hinting at the boy who is on the platform along with his mother)
totally touching and complete.

jaiganesh wrote:IR deserved to get the best lyricist for 'un kuththamaa en kuththama' - what a powerful song?

+1

Typical IR thathuvams embedded inside soulful music...

BTW, the first result that comes in google does not list IR as the lyricist

I wonder why people publish such incorrect data on the web

Looping this today -

நாளில் பாதி இருளில் போகும் இயற்கையில்
வாழ்வில் பாதி நன்மை தீமை தேடலில்


romba deep'mmaa.. And what a song! Full marks to Kamalji for the picturization (which I hear happened first) and the situation. So many things going on in his life. Raajabothai, not just becuase of the liquor.

Another top favorite of mine. No flaasafy, not a lot of fancy words. Look at the way they sit in the sandhams. Perfect choice of words and the romance just drips.

எண்ண இனிக்கும் நிலையே!இன்பம் கொடுக்கும் கலையே!
உன்னை எண்ணி வாழும் எந்தன் ஆவியே
கண்ணிமையில் தூண்டிலிட்டு,காதல்தனை தூண்டிவிட்டு,
எண்ணி எண்ணி ஏங்கவைக்கும், ஏந்திழையே

Nerd -adhE adhE. Even for NEPV, you can hear nA Muthukumar saying "romba poeticAlAm ezhudha vENAMpA simpleA ezhudhunn".

This can be interpreted as araajagam against poetry but I guess what he means is this - sandhamla sonorousA vArththai ukkAraNum(I called this lyrical flourish, in the Telugu IR thread there) . If poetic flourish has to take a backseat for that, so be it.

Nice references, Nerd!

So, idhu varai 4 songs identified...

1. idhayam oru kOyil (idhayakkOyil - SPB & IR versions)
2. un kuththamA (azhagi - IR)
3. isaiyil thodangudhammA (hEy Ram -Ajay Chakraborty)
4. maNiyE maNikkuyilE (nAdOdithenRal - SJ+Mano+IR)

All hit numbers!

I just found out from the disk cover of 'uthirippookkaL' that the fun song 'pOdA pOdA pokka, eLLu kAttukkuth thekka' was penned by IR.

I think the scene is not a fun one in the movie...

IR has written all songs from the film Nadodi Thendral and Azhagi.
Nadoi thendral Songs are really close to my heart.

lines from Orukanam oru yugamaaga
------------------
மேகத்தில் ஈரம் போல் கண்ணுக்குள் நீர் ஏனம்மா?
பூமிக்குள் வைரம்போல் நெஞ்சத்தில் நீதானம்மா!

lines from Santhane maarbilae (transe)
------------------
பல உலகம் போகும் யாத்திரை
நிலவுலகில் போகே நேர்ந்ததே!
கனவுலகில் விழுந்த ஓர் பிறை
நிலவுலகில் விழுகுதே!

olichudar,
Welcome here. Thanks for your valuable post. Please share more and often.

Thanks to the vinyl cover thread, I've discovered that one of my all-time-fav songs got penned by rAsA

ராசாத்தி மனசுல என் ராசாவின் நெனப்புத்தான்
புது நேசம் உண்டானது இரு நெஞ்சம் கொண்டாடுது

PS at her very best!



Movie : rAsAvE onna nambi, 1988

The paNakkAran vinyl cover informs that both the "thaththuvam" styled songs in the movie paNakkAran were written (& sung) by rAsA

maraththa vachchavan thaNNi ooththuvAn

&

uLLukkuLLa chakkaravarththi

Finishing 100 days of blogging with this post on a Sanskrit song written by IR. Do read and listen. Thanks

Mathru Bhuteshwari

If it's not too much spamming with my links, second post on IR written lyrics with Isaiyil Thodangudhamma 

DM,

 I had no clue Isayil thodanguthu was written by Ilayaraja Thanks for bringing this to my notice. Fantastic stuff, showing once again that his talents extend well beyond music composition.

You are welcome Fring. Continuing on his lyrical genius with a stunning Kaattu Vazhi Thollai Illa

DM,
    Thanks for the picks..  aathmarthamana vaarthaigal.......  unmaiyum kuda.......... IR is always Great..........

மலைக்கோயில் தீபங்கள் ஒளி காட்டும், மலைக்காமல் வா வா என்று வழி காட்டும். தொலை தூரம் நடந்தாலும் களைப்பாற்றும், அலைகின்ற வாழ்கை அதன் நிலை மாற்றும். 


porapu ennum noyinilae porapeduthom thegathilae
adhu dhan  perum thuyaramaiya


unmai..........


unga writings.....  its also Very Great DM.......... Thanks for sharing........

kaatu vazhi kaal nadaiya  - idhu IR ezhudhinadha... apadi than thonudhae...........

Thanks a lot'nga  Raaja the poet also ought to be respected in the same vein as a musician imho. Enna oru veechu!