Day 1: It’s a Start with Raah Pe Rahte Hain by Kishore Kumar - Namkeen (1982)

 Jan 27 2021...wow is it really 2021? Time is flying it feels.

I was watching the Nora Ephron movie Julie & Julia on Jan 27 2021. Awesome movie narrating an interwoven story of Julia Child, a cooking professional, and Julie Powell a blogger. Both went on to publish cook books. This movie and Julie Powell inspired me to do something I have never done anything like it before. I cook occasionally on need basis, but I am no cook. But I do sing and write music. I have mostly sung and written English rock songs, but I have been learning Hindi songs in the last few months, thanks to the Corona pandemic lockdown.

Inspired by Julia Powell’s story, I decided I will sing one Bollywood classic Hindi song per day for the next 300 days and post it on my YouTube channel called Puraane Gaane पुराने गाने, meaning old songs.

The next day, Jan 28, I came across an awesome classic Hindi song titled Raah Pe Rehte Hain from a 1982 movie Namkeen. Awesome movie and equally awesome song. The lyrics of this song is written by none other than the awesome Mr. Gulzar, my all time favorite Indian song writer and poet. He also directed the movie. Music director is none other than the great Mr. R.D.Burman. He too is one of my favorite Indian music directors, but I am a bigger fan of his father’s work, legendary Mr. S.D.Burman. The song was originally sung by the great Mr. Kishore Kumar.

I am no expert in Indian classical music, so I am not sure what raaga this song is based on (if you do, please put in the comments section). I am not a trained singer, so this is actually a learning experience for me. Last I sang a few Hindi songs was during my childhood days in India, and that has been quite a while.

I hope I can keep the steam and momentum going to sing and post one Bollywood classic song per day for the next 300 days, and this is day 1.

Backing Track with LYRICS (posted 03/27/2024):

Acoustic guitar version (recorded on 09/14/2022):

Backing Track Rendition (recorded 01/29/2021):

Chords: www.ultimate-guitar.com

Lyrics:

Raah pe rahate hai,

Yaadon pe basar karate hai

Khush raho ehale watan

Ho... hum to safar karate hai

Raah pe rahte hai
Yaadon pe basar karte hai
Khush raho ehale watan

Ho... hum to safar karte hai

Jal gaye jo dhoonp mein to
Saayaa ho gaye
Jal gaye jo dhoonp mein to
Saayaa ho gaye
Samaan kaa koi konaa O
Dhaa sogaye
Jo gujar jaatee hai bas
Ho... us pe gujar karate hai

Raah pe rahte hai
Yaadon pe basar karte hai
Khush raho ehale watan
Ho... hum to safar karte hai

Ho... udte pairon ke tale jab Bahatee hain zameen
Ho... Mood ke hum ne koi manzil
Dekhee hee nahee
Raat din raahon pe hum
Ho... shaam-o-asahar karate hai

Raah pe rahte hai
Yaadon pe basar karte hai
Khush raho ehale watan
Ho... hum to safar karte hai

"Saamma, Samma"
...

"Samma, Samma"

Aise ujade aashiyaane
Tinake udd gaye Ho...

Aise ujade aashiyane
Tinake udd gaye
Bastiyon tak aate aate
Raste mood gaye

Humm thhahar jaaye jahaaan
Usako shahar karate hai

Raah pe rahte hai
Yaadon pe basar karte hai
Khush raho ehale watan
Ho... hum to safar karte hai

English Translation: https://gulzar101.blogspot.com/2014/02/raah-pe-rahte-hain-namkeen.html

Thank you for listening
peace
aG