A Song a day: January 2013

Thursday, January 31, 2013

31st Jan 2013 (我真的受傷了 – Ivana Wong/Jacky Cheung)

The song that I chose for today is “我真的受傷了” by Ivana Wong. These days I really found Ivana’s songs relaxing. This song was originally sung by Jacky Cheung, but the melody and the lyrics were written by Ivana. Jacky in one of his concert said that he chose this song for one of his album because he was touched by Ivana’s voice in the demo. The direct English translation of the title is “I am really hurt”.

The lyrics of the song are about love. The couple just broke up. It start off saying that the light is dim, the music is low, the marshmallow in the mouth is melting. The sky outside is dark, and she have nothing to do, so she started to think of him. The telephone started to ring and he is about to speak, she thought that he misses her. She found that his voice sound a lot colder, she felt that he had changed. The light is off, the music is off and her tears just drip out from her eyes. The sky started to rain, and she is unhappy, she thinks she is really hurt now. That’s basically the translation of the lyrics, it somewhat sounds like a poem as the start and end corresponds. I hope you will like the song. I have linked both Ivana’s and Jacky’s version, also included as a bonus is the version from Jacky’s concert, which they both sing together.

21st Dec 2012 (末日 – Ivana Wong)

10th Dec 2012 (過敏世界 – Jacky Cheung)

12th Oct 2012 (葬月 – Jacky Cheung)

25th Jul 2012 (她來聽我的演唱會 – Jacky Cheung)

27th Jun 2012 (日與夜 – Jacky Cheung and Sandy Lam)

19th Mar 2012 (Something only love can do – Jacky Cheung)

我真的受傷了 – Ivana Wong

我真的受傷了 – Jacky Cheung

我真的受傷了 – Ivana Wong and Jacky Cheung

Wednesday, January 30, 2013

30th Jan 2013 (三分鐘放縱 – Grasshopper)

The song that I chose for today is “三分鐘放縱” by Grasshopper. This song is one of the classic by Grasshopper. The direct translation of the title is “Three minute indulgence”.

The lyrics of the song are about releasing pressure. The lyrics still make perfect sense today despite the song was make like 20 years ago. The lyrics basically said that every day we are under pressure from work, we always have to fight our way to make the deadline. These pressures that built up inside us make us feel painful. So it tell us that we should get 3 minute of our time and let everything go, let all of our emotion out, perhaps forget everything in those 3 minutes and just dance like crazy. Hope you will like the song.

1st Oct 2012 (你讓我找到未來 – Grasshopper)

15th Jun 2012 (失落園 – Grasshopper)

三分鐘放縱 – Grasshopper

Tuesday, January 29, 2013

29th Jan 2013 (絕對是個夢 – Karen Tong/やまねこ – Miyuki Nakajima 中島美雪)

The song that I chose for today is “絕對是個夢” by Karen Tong. Karen at one point was quite popular, but for some reason she seems to disappeared. This song is one of her more famous songs. Note that this is the Chinese cover version of a Japanese song call “やまねこ” by Miyuki Nakajima (中島美雪). The direct English translation of the title of the Chinese version is “Absolutely a dream”.

The lyrics of the song again are about love. The protagonist is thinking about her ex-boyfriend. She feels very painful from the day he left her, so she wishes time could wash away her sadness. Still, she can’t get rid of him from her heart, especially in rainy night when she feel lonely, but she know that he will forever maintain only in her dreams. Hope you will like the song, I have linked both this version and the original version below.

14th Jul 2012 (感冒 – Karen Tong)

Other Nakajima Miyuki related posts:
18th Nov 2013 (薩拉熱窩的羅密歐與茱麗葉 – Sammi Cheng/With – Nakajima Miyuki 中島美雪)
6th Jun 2013 (流浪花 – David Lui/ローリング – Nakajima Miyuki 中島美雪)
30th Apr 2013 (漫步人生路 – Teresa Teng/ひとり上手 – Nakajima Miyuki 中島美雪)
27th Feb 2013 (人間 – Faye Wong/清流 – Miyuki Nakajima 中島美雪)

絕對是個夢 – Karen Tong

やまねこ – Miyuki Nakajima (中島美雪)

Monday, January 28, 2013

28th Jan 2013 (明目張膽 – Denis Ho)

The song that I chose for today is “明目張膽” by Denis Ho. This song was rather old, I remember it was in the second Denis’s album that I bought, which came out 1 to 2 months after the death of her teacher Anita Mui. From the album you can feel Denis sorrow as there were songs in the album that dedicated to Anita (7th May 2012 (如無意外 – Denise Ho/孤身走我路 – Anita Mui) ). Anyways, I don’t think this song that I chose today have anything to do with Anita. The direct English translation of the title is “Flagrant”.

The lyrics of the song describe a forbidden love. To certain degree, I believe Wyman (the person who wrote the lyrics of this song) wrote this especially for Denis (Denis had recently admit that she is a lesbian). The song start of telling us that the protagonist have to wait to the night just so that she can collect an item of her love one without being found out. She told us that if she wanted to spend the rest of her live with her lover, then she will have to take a few steps back and relay on her own imagination. She is worry that if one day she publically admits about her love, her lover will be shock. So she minimise her love toward her lover so that as if it doesn’t exist. She realised that it is rather stupid to love a person in the way that she does, but she said that she should have the right to choose her own way of loving, even this way will not lead her to anywhere. Hope you will like the song.

9th Nov 2012 (再見...露絲瑪莉 – Denise Ho)
7th Nov 2012 (露絲瑪莉 – Denis Ho)

28th Aug 2012 (喜歡喜歡你 – Denis Ho)

7th May 2012 (如無意外 – Denise Ho/孤身走我路 – Anita Mui)

明目張膽 – Denis Ho

Sunday, January 27, 2013

27th Jan 2013 (夢伴 - Erika Li/Anita Mui/Shirley Kwan/ 夢絆 - Kohji Makaino 近藤真彥)

The song that I chose for today is “夢伴” by Erika Li. The original version was a Japanese song call “夢絆” by Kohji Makaino (近藤真彥). In the 80’s and 90’s many Japanese songs have a Chinese cover version, and no exception to this song, in 1986 this song was converted to Chinese and was sung by Anita Mui. Since then this song became a classic Chinese song. Later on in 1995, Shirley Kwan sung a new remix version. Finally, in 2010, Erika sung this newest version. I usually don’t like these remix classic songs as they usually ruin the feeling and mood of the original, but Erika’s version is an exception. The mood of this version is quite different to the original, but it matches with the lyrics and bring out a different side of the song. The direct English translation of the title is “Dream partner”.

The lyrics of the song are about the protagonist walking by herself and she saw a couple standing under a street light. It was a cold night, but the couple was kissing, it’s like their kiss helped them to resist the cold. It was a very warm moment by seeing this, but the protagonist feels very sad. She told us that now she has lost everything, coming back to this very same location, make her remember that that night when she and her ex-boyfriend were here. She gave him her heart that night, but how he had already left her. Gazing at the star and standing in the wind make her feel extreme sad. She knows that now she have lost everything, and she will never be able to get it back.

Let’s talk about the different version here. Anita’s version is the original Chinese version. In this version, Anita style makes it sounds like the protagonist is very tough/strong. Although the protagonist feels sad, but you can feel that she will have the mental strength to keep living and move on. Shirley’s version is different. In this version, Shirley typical style makes the song sound rather cool. Here it sounds like that the protagonist sad and lost, it feel like she is trying to talk herself out of the shadow. Lastly, Erika’s version. This version is the saddest of all versions. The song became a slow pace, and you can feel the sadness coming right out from the song. I personally really like this version, but it only work with Erika, as these feeling matches with her image and her age. If Anita or Shirley sung like this, it would feel a bit funny. I have linked all 4 versions of the song below, hope you will enjoy them. Note that many singer have actually sung this song, but I only talked these 3 version as they actually included it as a song of their own in their album, unlike others who just sing it live in a show or concert.

20th Jul 2012 (女人心 – Anita Mui)

19th Jul 2012 (風的季節 – Paula Tsui/Anita Mui)

12th May 2012 (夕陽之歌 – Anita Mui/夕焼けの歌 – Kohji Makaino)
11thMay 2012 (千千闕歌 –Priscilla Chan)

7th May 2012 (如無意外 – Denise Ho/孤身走我路 – Anita Mui)

夢伴 – Erika Li

夢伴 – Anita Mui (the original Chinese version)

夢伴 – Shirley Kwan

夢絆 – Kohji Makaino (近藤真彥) (This is the best version that I can find. The song start at 1:30)

Saturday, January 26, 2013

26th Jan 2013 (One more time – Ronald Cheng/One more time, One more chance – Yamazaki Masayoshi 山崎將義)

The song that I chose for today is “One more time” by Ronald Cheng. This is one of my favourite songs by Ronald. This song came out many many years ago, but to be honest I only notice about this song a few years ago when I wanted a Japanese animation call “5 Centimeters Per Second” (Byousoku 5 Centimeter) by Makoto Shinkai. It is an amazing animation, the best part is the last part, at which Makoto uses an old Japanese song for ending, it is very touching. This Japanese song is the original version of “One more time”, and it was because of that song I found out that Ronald sung the Chinese cover version. The Japanese version is very amazing, although I don't understand a single word but Yamazaki (The singer of the original version is Yamazaki Masayoshi 山崎將義) somehow manage to get the feeling across.

The lyrics of the song are about the protagonist can’t let go of the feeling that he has for his ex-girlfriend. The song didn’t tell us why they broke up. At the beginning, we found out that they have broken up for a few years. While they are still living in the same city, they have never met each other in these years. He still feels warm when he thinks of her, but he also remembers her sadness. He follows a road that they used to take, and he remembers that they used to be very sweet even though they didn’t have much to talk about. Back then, they were naïve, they didn’t think about their future much as love has taken them over. He asked himself how many time in our life we would have the chance to fall in love with our ex-girlfriend, now that he is deeply hurt, he can’t just wipe his tears and found another person to fall in love. Though he still wishes that she can forget about their past and start again, even though he knows the chances are slim. Hope you will like the song.

Someone seems to have replaced the original from “5 Centimeters Per Second” and combined it with Ronald’s version. So I have linked to that version along with the original, enjoy. (By the way the original is call “One more time, One more chance” by Yamazaki Masayoshi 山崎將義, the lyrics are pretty much about the same story. As someone has translated the lyrics to English in YouTube, I would talk about it much here.)

28th Sep 2012 (還以為 – Ronald Cheng)

29th Jul 2012 (晴天陰天雨天 – Ronald Cheng)

One more time – Ronald Cheng

One more time, One more chance – Yamazaki Masayoshi 山崎將義

Below is the "5 Centimeters Per Second" version of "One more time, One more chance". Personally I think this is the best match between the visual and audio.

Friday, January 25, 2013

25th Jan 2013 (錯先生 – Edmond Leung)

The song that I chose for today is “錯先生” by Edmond Leung. This song is ancient. The direct English translation of the title is “Mr. Wrong”.

The lyrics of the song are about the protagonist falling in love. It starts off telling us that the protagonist is a guy that is wrong in every sense. He is not trendy and not smart. He doesn’t know how to deal with people and he also doesn’t earn a lot. But one day, he meet this girl and they fallen in love. To him, she is the best in every sense, she is smart, successful and nice. He feel that he is not good enough for her, though he believe that love is always right, so they must be a good match. Since now she is with him, he no longer worry about being label as Mr. Wrong. Hope you will like the song.

7th Dec 2012 (傷了三個心 – Edmond Leung)
11th Nov 2012 (纏綿遊戲 – Edmond Leung)
27th May 2012 (最悲哀的事 – Edmond Leung)
6th May 2012 (重新做人 – Edmond Leung)

錯先生 – Edmond Leung

Thursday, January 24, 2013

24th Jan 2013 (阿牛 – Eason Chan)

The song that I chose for today is “阿牛” by Eason Chan. This song remind of my early university days. I remember back then I need to catch the tram to my university and it took around 1 hour. Back then Eason just left his last music company (EEG), but as he didn’t continue his contract with EEG, the company didn’t let him make any albums or new songs in the year before he left (to try to make him less noticeable and less famous). Obviously that didn’t work, as everyone end up looking forward to Eason’s next album when he changed company. “夕陽無限好” was the first song that came out after he changed company. Back then I remember I listen to it day and night, though to be honest, I really didn’t like that song that much, but just that I haven’t heard anything new from Eason for so long, I had a larger tolerance. The second song that came out was the song that I chose for today (“阿牛”). I really like this song back then (or at least I like it much more than “夕陽無限好”), I immediately replaced “夕陽無限好” with “阿牛” and loop it every day on my boring tram trip. This song was my most played song in my iTunes before I accidently reset the play count. The direct English translation of the title is “Ar Cow” (or you can say it means “Mr. Cow”). Note that in Chinese, the word “cow” could sometime use to describe people are stubborn (which is how it being use here) or hard working.

The lyrics of the song are about the protagonist have broken up with his ex-girlfriend for many years, but he still love her. Now his ex-girlfriend is getting married and invited him to her wedding. He felt extreme down, as he felt that he had lost his identity (as his boyfriend). At one point he had thought of taking her back in her wedding, but took no action. He told himself not to be sad and let go. He wishes that if one day she broke up with her husband, she would go back to him, so he don’t mind to spend the rest of his life waiting, just so that he might have a chance to be back with her. He realised that he have turn stubborn about this relationship, but he also know that he can’t turn away from her anymore. Hope you will like the song.

23rd Dec 2012 (因為愛情 – Eason Chan & Faye Wong)

8th Nov 2012 (愈想愈無謂 – Eason Chan/ Mr. Lonely - Koji Tamaki 玉置浩二)

9th Oct 2012 (1874 – Eason Chan)

7th Oct 2012 (完 – Eason Chan/夢想天空分外藍 – Eason Chan)

13th Aug 2012 (非禮 – Eason Chan)

13th Jun 2012 (重口味 – EasonChan)

29th Apr 2012 (七百年後 – EasonChan)

21st Apr 2012 (路...一直都在 –Eason Chan)

6th Apr 2012 (最冷一天 - Eason Chan/Leslie Cheung)

3rd Apr 2012 (夕陽無限好 – EasonChan)

29th Mar 2012 (單車- Eason Chan)

27th Mar 2012 (What a wonderful world - Eason Chan)
25th Mar 2012 (Shall We Talk - Eason Chan)

阿牛 – Eason Chan

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

23rd Jan 2013 (不吐不快 - Hins Cheung)

The song that I chose for today is “不吐不快” by Hins Cheung. The direct English translation is “Compelled to speak”.

The lyrics of the song are about a couple realising that their love is fading away. At the beginning, the protagonist told us that he found it weird that he got more to talk about to a stranger than his girlfriend. Even if someone asked about her, he didn’t border to say something nice about her. He also realised that he prefer to get on the internet than talk to her. And when they got the chance to watch a movie together, both of them got too tired and felt to sleep. He told us that they weren’t like that before. They used to have so much to talk about that they stay up all night, but now because they were both too busy with their job neither of them border to stay connected with each other. He know that they should have done more, but now it is probably too late. At the end he show us that he didn’t feel surprise that this happened as it happened very frequently amount his friends and the world that he live in. Hope you will like the song.

不吐不快 - Hins Cheung

Tuesday, January 22, 2013

22nd Jan 2013 (手望 – Ivana Wong & Hins Cheung)

The song that I chose for today is “手望” by Ivana Wong. Ivana is staring in a TV drama, and every day when I watch the show I looked forward for her to sing in the drama. I guess it is because of seeing her on TV every day, it makes me wanted to listen to her song, so here I am, chosen a song from Ivana from 2005. The direct English translation of the title is “Guarding” (Note that the title is not exactly guarding, as the first word in the phrase is not the correct word, but a word that got the same pronunciation. I guess that was done to better represent the story in the lyrics.)

The lyrics of the song are about a pair of couple. In it, the male had just passed away, the girl is on the side of his bed and felt very sad. The girl really want to spent the rest of her life with him, so she was considering to commit suicide. While the boy was dead, but his spirit is actually next to her, wishing that she could live on and be strong. Both at the end pray to god that they could be together in their next life. Hope you will like the song. By the way, there are two version of this song, one is a solo version by Ivana, the other is the duet version by Ivana and Hins. I have linked to both version just in case you wish to listen to both.

Other Ivana posts:
20the Sep 2016 (如一 – Ivana Wong)
26th Oct 2015 (小俠 – Ivana Wong)
25th Jul 2015 (好時辰 – Ivana Wong)
31st Mar 2015 (滿天星 – Ivana Wong)
16th Mar 2015 (幸福 – Ivana Wong)
10th Dec 2014 (畫意 – Ivana Wong)
10th Apr 2014 (重見家圓 – Ivana Wong)
23rd Jan 2014 (想愛不相愛 – Ivana Wong)
17th Jun 2013 (細水長流 – Ivana Wong/Aling Choi/Lo Mejor De Tu Vida – Julio Iglesias)
15th Jun 2013 (如果這是情 – Ivana Wong/Leon Lai)
23rd May 2013 (我好愛你 – Ivana Wong)
27th Apr 2013 (面具 – Ivana Wong)
25th Feb 2013 (哥歌 – Ivana Wong)
31st Jan 2013 (我真的受傷了 – Ivana Wong/Jacky Cheung)
20th Jan 2013 (月亮說 – Ivana Wong)

21st Dec 2012 (末日 – Ivana Wong)

8th May 2012 ((巴黎沒有)摩天輪 – Ivana Wong)

Other Hins posts:
5th Nov 2016 (襯 – Hins Cheung)
8th Oct 2016 (不同班同學 – Hins Cheung)
6th Sep 2016 (羅賓 – Hins Cheung)
24th Aug 2016 (騷靈情歌 – Hins Cheung)
11th May 2015 (我和秋天有個約會 – Hins Cheung)
6th May 2015 (春秋 – Hins Cheung)
26th Apr 2015 (相對論 – Hins Cheung/Hins Cheung and George Lam)
15th Nov 2014 (隱形人 – Hins Cheung)
5th Nov 2014 (青春常駐 – Hins Cheung)
26th Oct 2014 (他的故事 – Hins Cheung)
9th Sep 2014 (餘震 – Hins Cheung)
28th July 2014 (笑忘書 – Hins Cheung)
26th Mar 2013 (井 – Hins Cheung)
23rd Jan 2013 (不吐不快 - Hins Cheung)
12th Nov 2012 (櫻花樹下 – Hins Cheung)
2nd Sep 2012 (披星戴月 – Hins Cheung)

手望 – Ivana Wong

手望 (守望版) – Ivana Wong & Hins Cheung

Monday, January 21, 2013

21st Jan 2013 (愛與痛的邊緣 – Faye Wong)

The song that I chose today is “愛與痛的邊緣” by Faye Wong. This song came out in 1994, it was very popular back then, as it was also the period when Faye was being popular. Though it is only today I realised that there is a original mandarin version of this song call “有多少愛可以重來” by Michael Huang (黃仲崑). Anyways, back to Faye’s version, the direct English translation of the title is “On the edge of love and pain”.

The lyrics of the song are about the protagonist is in an unstable relationship. She thought about the time that they were together and wonder how it gets to this point. She has been waiting for her boyfriend for a long time, but he didn’t show up. She feels that her boyfriend don’t like her anymore, but she wonder why he don’t dump her. She don’t want the relationship to go on like this so she wanted to break up with him, yet her heart is still thinking of him and wanted to stay with him. So she is in the stage of love and pain. Hope you will like the song. I have also linked the mandarin version sung by Michael just in case you wanted to listen to it.

3rd Oct 2012 (約定 – Faye Wong)

10th Jun 2012 (有緣的話 – Faye Wong)

20th May 2012 (我願意 –Olivia Ong/Faye Wong)

13th May 2012 (紅豆/償還 –Faye Wong)

19th Apr 2012 (棋子 –Faye Wong)

10th Apr 2012 (冷戰 –Faye Wong)
9th Apr 2012 (Silent All These Years - Tori Amos)

愛與痛的邊緣 – Faye Wong

有多少爱可以重来 - 黄仲昆

Sunday, January 20, 2013

20th Jan 2013 (月亮說 – Ivana Wong)

The song that I chose for today is “月亮說” by Ivana Wong. To be honest, when Ivana first start singing, I didn’t like her too much. But for some reason, the more you listen to her song, the more you will like it. These days I really enjoy her voice, it is very unique. Her voice sounds weak and sometime is sounds like she is running out of breath, yet she never really run out of breath and at time she can sounds strong as well, so that weak and out of breath thing is really just her singing style. This singing style, in conjunction with her songs really makes a good match as it give a sense of fantasy. The direct English translation of the title is “Moon said”.

The lyrics of the song tried to explore love and relationship. It started of telling us that the protagonist has just broken up with her boyfriend. She thought about all the good time that they had with each other, but how she is by herself. She questions how many couples can actually love each other till the day they die. At the end of the song, it gives us the sense that the protagonist had found the answer to her question, but she didn’t share it with us. Hope you will like the song.

8th May 2012 ((巴黎沒有)摩天輪 – Ivana Wong)

月亮說 – Ivana Wong

Saturday, January 19, 2013

19th Jan 2013 (一夜成名 – Sammi Cheng)

The song that I chose for today is “一夜成名” by Sammi Cheng. I remember I used to love this song so much. This song came out at the time when Sammi was very popular, at the time when Sammi and Amanda Lee were competing against each other (at least that’s how everyone see it) to be the queen of canton pop. The direct English translation of the song is “Overnight celebrity”

Reading the title, you might think that the song is about someone making their name overnight, but this is not what it is about. The lyrics of the song are actually about how white collar release their pressure. At the beginning, it told us that the protagonist follow the same pattern every day, eating the same breakfast that taste the same, start working at 9am and finish work at 6pm, there are no entertainment or enjoyment. Though she can decide her life after hour. She wanted to dance like crazy, try to be her own superstar, she can shine in a way that she would never be able during the day. Hope you will enjoy the song.