A Song a day: February 2013

Thursday, February 28, 2013

28th Feb 2013 (手信 – Miriam Yeung)

The song that I chose for today is “手信” by Miriam Yeung. I just love Miriam’s old songs, her voice and her expression back then feel powerless, somewhat sounds like Ivana Wong’s style. The English translation of the title is “Souvenir”.

The lyrics of the song are about love. The protagonist said that every time when her male friend travelled, he always brought her back a souvenir. She always looks forward for him to come back, so that she can see him when he hand her the souvenirs. She really didn’t care much about the souvenir itself, sometime she wishes that he would just give her a kiss as souvenir. She wishes that one day he could forget about the girl that he love and fall in love with her. Hope you will like the song.

14th Jan 2013 (自由行 – Miriam Yeung)

11th Jan 2013 (我不要你愛我 – Miriam Yeung)
27th Nov 2012 (小城大事 – Miriam Yeung)

26th Jul 2012 (一千零一個 –Miriam Yeung)

14th Jun 2012 (愛人 – Miriam Yeung)

22nd May 2012 (出埃及記 – Miriam Yeung)

手信 – Miriam Yeung

27th Feb 2013 (人間 – Faye Wong/清流 – Miyuki Nakajima 中島美雪)

The song that I chose for today is “人間” by Faye Wong. I always love this song, by as I got so many songs in my music library I tend to forget about them until I accidentally played them. I clicked on this song earlier today by accident and it brings back some memory from the past. Anyway, back to the song. The English translation of the title is “Mortal World”. This is the Chinese cover version of the Japanese song “清流” by Miyuki Nakajima 中島美雪

The lyrics of this song described the reality of our world. It main message is to tell us that the world is not perfect, not everything will turn out as we expected, but we can always make it better. It starts of saying that “the sky doesn’t necessary became clear after a thunder storm, and that there isn’t always a rainbow when the sky is clear. So you might look innocent, but it doesn’t mean that you are ignorant. Not all the relationship will have a start and end, and loneliness doesn’t always lead to worries. Though in our life, we can’t avoid pain. Let’s hope that your eyes will only see smile. Wish that every tear that you drop could emotionally touch others. Pray that every dream that you have could be achieved. The mortal world in the sky, if it really worth praising, it is only because you are there to make it feel warm. The world is big, and it is more blurry then you would have imagined, so I wouldn’t lie to you and just wish that you could understand what I am talking about. I wish that you understand, then you would know what to do with your life.”

Although the lyrics sounds a bit cruel, but because of Faye’s voice and expression you actually feel a bit warm after listening to the song. Hope you will enjoy this song as much as I do. As usual, I have also linked the original Japanese version for comparison.

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

21st Jan 2013 (愛與痛的邊緣 – Faye Wong)

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)

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)

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

人間 – Faye Wong

清流 – Miyuki Nakajima 中島美雪

Tuesday, February 26, 2013

26th Feb 2013 (國王的新歌 – Aaron Kwok)

The song that I chose for today is “國王的新歌” by Aaron Kwon. This song was a big hit in 1996. It is a typical Aaron’s fast pace song. Aaron just got this magic that when he sing a fast pace song, it somehow make you feel energetic. I guess it is for this reason Aaron is still irreplaceable in Hong Kong music industry as there simply isn’t another singer in Hong Kong that can sing dance/fast pace music at the same level. The direct English translation of the title is “The Emperor's New Song”. I guess you might notice the similarity of the name of the song and one of Hans Christian Andersen’s classic fairy tale “The Emperor's New Clothes”.

The lyrics of the song somewhat plays on the plot of “The Emperor’s New Cloths”. It starts off saying that the Emperor was at a parade with a piano. He played the piano and hope that someone could play him a song. He wanted that everyone in the city could be joyful regardless of their wealth. The emperor just love to play with the piano, and he looks awesome with the piano. Everyone get ready to listen to his tune. There were no sounds coming from the piano when the emperor was playing on it but the atmosphere was great. There is this new kid just arrived in town. He didn’t understand why everyone was so excited even there was no music at all. The emperor got so excited as well when he pretend to play on the piano and see that everyone get so excited for no reason. Someone asked how could this happen, there were no music, yet full of applause. It turns out that the emperor wanted to test his citizen, only the wise would be able to hear his song, but at the end majority of the people just pretended they could hear it.

This song really plays on the plot of “The Emperor’s New Cloths”, yet at the end it turns out that the emperor was the wise one. Hope you will enjoy the song.

國王的新歌 – Aaron Kwok

Monday, February 25, 2013

25th Feb 2013 (哥歌 – Ivana Wong)

The song that I chose for today is “哥歌” by Ivana Wong. This song was originally sung in a TV drama by Ivana. But I guess due to high popularity she makes it into a complete song. I love this song the very first time I heard it in the TV drama, and since then have been hoping that she would make a full version of it. Finally, a few days ago the full version came out. The direct English translation of the title is “Brother song”.

The lyrics of the song are about the love between brother and sister. At the start the protagonist said that “Brother, I love to hang around with you, playing, traveling and watching movie. From day to night, it is full of surprise, it is simple yet full of beauty. If one day I get married, I would still remember the old broken shoes. Brother, I love to hang around with you, angry but also praise. From day to night, you seem to be full of energy and fun, amount friends and partners, you are the best. Please forgive me for being too relied on you. If one day we happened to argue with each other, I would still remember we love each other. I might get lost in life, but I know that you will be there for me. Brother, I like to hang around with you, laugh like crazy, daydream and being naughty. Love you forever.”

I personally love this song, it is a beautiful song. Especially with the way Ivana sung this song, it make it sounds very sweet. I hope you will enjoy the song.

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

哥歌 – Ivana Wong

Sunday, February 24, 2013

24th Feb 2013 (大熱 – Leslie Cheung)

The song that I chose for today is “大熱” by Leslie Cheung. It is so hot today, so I thought I would match chose a song with the word hot in it. This song was published in the album that shares the same name as the song. It was one of the first albums that I got by Leslie. I bought the album because back then I quite like this song (well, I actually found this song quite out of Leslie’s personality, different to his usual), but the real reason is that I saw the album in a second hand CD shop and it was selling for 10 Hong Kong dollar, that was very cheap (yet, it really just the CD and the booklet. The original packaging and the box was broken, but the CD was in perfect condition.) The direct English translation of the title is “Big heat”.

I found the lyrics are a bit complex to understand. Though I think the main message of the song is to say how powerful love could be. It starts of by saying that “falling in love is like jumping off a cliff. I wanted to hug you until you are rotten. Loving this world would not be as great as loving you. Now when we are in love, I get so powerful, our love could melt metals and rocks. This heat is like it has been generated by overlapping the equator. The more we love the hotter it gets.”

Back in the time when this album came out, Leslie was seen as a bit weird, people thought that he might have a bit of mental problem. So the music video of this song is very different to any usual Hong Kong music videos. Anyway, hope you will like the song.

22nd Feb 2013 (小明星 – Robynn & Kendy/Leslie Cheung)

11th Feb 2013 (由零開始 – Leslie Cheung)

8th July 2012 (風再起時 – Leslie Cheung)

20th Jun 2012 (寂寞夜晚 – LeslieCheung/Eason Chan/ To You – Leslie Cheung)

5th May 2012 (春夏秋冬 – KellyChan/Leslie Cheung)

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

大熱 – Leslie Cheung

Saturday, February 23, 2013

23rd Feb 2013 (邁步向前 – George Lam)

The song that I chose for today is “邁步向前” by George Lam. This is one of the songs that I really like from George, thought I have forgotten about it for a long time until a few weeks ago I heard it on TV as in an ad. The direct English translation of the title is “Stepping forward”.

The lyrics of the song are about how we should move forward in our life, the lyrics are very meaningful. It say that “the road that we are walking on today might be full of problems. But if we wanted to be in front of others, we need to have courage to take the first step. You moved forward like an arrow, and I only know that I need to catch up with you, having no clued about where I am heading. The road is lonely, and it is full of disasters. All I wanted is to have someone to walk the road with me. You have the will to move forward, and I have the spirit to chase up, and finally managed to walk with you. Walking with you, I don’t need to care about who is better, I can say all the thing that I hide in my heart, there is nothing better than friendship. Walking together, we got each other to share the pain and happiness.”

I personally really like the lyrics, it give you a sense of secure. I hope you will enjoy my pick for today.

31st Dec 2012 (莫再悲 – George Lam)
13th Dec 2012 (亞里巴巴 – George Lam)

6th Nov 2012 (沙漠小子 – George Lam)

31st Aug 2012 (誰能明白我 – George Lam)

11th Aug 2012 (究竟天有幾高 – George Lam)

9th July 2012 (零時十分 – Sally Yip)
3rd Jun 2012 (三人行 – George Lam)

1st Jul 2012 (祝福 –Sally Yip)

14th Apr 2012 (追憶 –George Lam)

邁步向前 – George Lam

Friday, February 22, 2013

22nd Feb 2013 (小明星 – Robynn & Kendy/Leslie Cheung)

The song that I chose for today is “小明星” by Robynn & Kendy. The song was originally sung by Leslie Cheung. Robynn & Kendy recently covered this song in their newest album as a tribute to some important figures in Hong Kong music industry who had passed away. There are five of these songs, but today I will focus on this one. The direct English translation of the title is “Little star”. From memory, this song was the theme song for a movie that Leslie starred in.

The lyrics of the song are about star and life. It uses start as an analogy for life. It start off saying that little star, flying with you, you don’t need to give me any legend. Shining star, please give me light, come back and search for the happiness that you missed. Perhaps the little star is dim, but even the most expensive jewellery can’t match with it. Comparing to meteor, perhaps it is brighter, but it doesn’t last. The lyrics are actually quite complex and abstract. I guess what it is trying to say is that perhaps we are small and dim when we compare to others, but there are something in the world that only us could do and we can’t be replaced by others for this role. Hope you will like the song. I have also linked Leslie’s version in case you want to compare them.

The two versions are quite different. Leslie sung this song with more sadness, which I guess suit the movie better. Robynn & Kendy did a great job as well by singing this Leslie’s song with their style. The Robynn & Kendy version are more relaxing and it sounds like it there is hope, so it is more joyful.

Other Robynn & Kendy posts:
12th Jun 2016 (我不完美 – Robynn & Kendy)
4th May 2015 (新一天 – Phil Lam and Robynn & Kendy)
16th Apr 2015 (或許 – Robynn & Kendy)
12th Apr 2015 (普通朋友 – David Tao/Robynn & Kendy)
7th Dec 2014 (月湖 – Robynn & Kendy)
25th Apr 2014 (不痛不癢 – Robynn & Kendy)

3rd July 2012 (小說伴咖啡 – Robynn & Kendy)

11th Feb 2013 (由零開始 – Leslie Cheung)

8th July 2012 (風再起時 – Leslie Cheung)

20th Jun 2012 (寂寞夜晚 – LeslieCheung/Eason Chan/ To You – Leslie Cheung)

5th May 2012 (春夏秋冬 – KellyChan/Leslie Cheung)

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

小明星 – Robynn & Kendy

小明星 – Leslie Cheung

Thursday, February 21, 2013

21st Feb 2013 (十個救火的少年 – Tat Ming Pair)

The song that I chose for today is “十個救火的少年” by Tat Ming Pair (達明一派), usually refers to as Tat Ming (達明). Tat Ming consist of two members, Anthony Wong (黄耀明) and Tats(劉以達). Anthony mostly takes care of the vocal part, so from memory there are hardly any songs from Tat Ming you would hear Tats’ voice. I am not a fans of Tat Ming, but they are a very unique group, their songs are quite stand out from the others. The direct English translation of the song is “Ten fire-fighting juveniles”.

The lyrics of the song describe a scan with fire. Ten juveniles put themselves forward to put out the fire, but one thought that he didn’t have enough training and it would be a danger task, so he pulls out. Another of the ten wanted to be closer with his girlfriend, so he quit without telling other. Another listened to his mother, who said that it would be dangerous to stand too upfront, so he pulls out as well. Now there is only seven of the ten left, standing next to the bridge. Three of them argued with each other and decided that they will never see each other again. Now there is only four people left, but one of them don’t want to take any action. With the three people left, it is impossible for them to put out the fire, and in a split second, they were swallowed by the fire. At the night with the big fire, everyone talks about these three people saying how useless they are, slowly and slowly, these three people seems to have been forgotten already.

This song in some way reflects how our society works. Majority of the people just want to complain about our society (the fire in the song). But only a small number of people will put themselves forward to try to change the world. But even so, during the cause of it, majority of these people will quit, left behind a very small amount of people to take on the challenge. When they fail, everyone will complain about how useless these people are, but no one is brave enough to fix up the problem. Anyway, hope you will enjoy the song.

十個救火的少年 – Tat Ming Pair

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

20th Feb 2013 (揭曉 – Kit Chan)

The song that I chose for today is “揭曉” by Kit Chan. Kit is a singer from Singapore. She was quite famous, at one point was stared in Jacky Cheung’s musical “雪狼湖” and got very famous in Hong Kong. From memory, it was at that time she started to get into the Hong Kong market and produced a number of Cantonese songs. This song “揭曉” was one of those that were produced at that time. The direct English translation of the title is “Announced”.

The lyrics of the song are quite unusual. At the beginning of the song, the protagonist’s friends were surrounding her and congratulating her. They were all surprise that she announced that she will be getting married. They were all happy for her, saying that they will help her to choose her wedding dress. All her friends were so excited, saying how lucky she is to be with him. They all go to search for a good day for her to get married, as getting married on a good day means good fortune. At the same time, she can’t take it anymore, mentally breakup and start crying. She announced that her boyfriend had left her, to cover up her pain, she laugh at herself, saying that she could finally be free from his control. Now everyone is silence. Love is gone, but it left behind a joke for her. Her friends tried to comfort her and try to find out why he left her. She wonders who’s the lady in her wedding dress that makes him so determined to breakup with her. She is now living in pain and completely collapsed. But she understands that the love between him and her are gone, but her life is not finished yet. Hope you will enjoy the song.

9th Jan 2012 (擔心 – Kit Chan)

揭曉 – Kit Chan

Tuesday, February 19, 2013

19th Feb 2013 (異種 – Corinna Chamberlain (陳明恩))

The song that I chose for today is “異種” by Corinna Chamberlain (陳明恩). This is the first time I hear her sing. She got a rather unique background as a singer in Hong Kong. She was born and grown up in Hong Kong, but her parents are from Australia and New Zealand. I guess with her gold hair, you would never be able to guess that she can speak Cantonese. Although her pronunciation on Cantonese is a little off on occasion, but most of the time it is not even noticeable. The direct English translation of the title is “Alien” (note, Alien as in difference type of people, not alien from outer space).

The lyrics of the song are about herself I think. It start off saying that if a girl with gold hair meet a guy with black eyes, will she be loved. An alien travelled from Mars and landed on Earth actually feel very cold. Living in a world with different colour skin, she asked what type of person is she. Yellow or White? No matter what colour skin we have, we still live under the same sky, we will still be hurt if we got rejected. Perhaps no one will understand her, and rumours are out of her control, she still wanted to communicate with this Asian guy, but why he just doesn’t understand. She tried to change for him, but he still rejects her. She reckons that he should be proud to be with her, as he would be brave to show others that he can live differently. But she realised that she is not the type that he wanted. She is the only alien, different to others and can’t be accepted by others. So at the end, she moved on and accepted the fact that she will be alone. The ending of the song is rather sad, I hope this is not how she really feels. Anyway, I hope you will like this song. She really surprised me with this song, I will definitely keep my eyes on her and try to talk more about her songs if more came out.

Related posts:
24th Dec 2014 (底線 – Corinna Chamberlain)

異種 – Corinna Chamberlain (陳明恩)

Monday, February 18, 2013

18th Feb 2013 (今夜沒有風 – Gigi Leung)

The song that I chose for today is “今夜沒有風” by Gigi Leung. This song came out in 1999, so it is rather old. I remember I used to loop this song over and over again as I love it so much. The direct English translation of the title is “There is no wind tonight”.

The lyrics of the song are about puppy love. The protagonist was playing on swing, she feels that she is like flying into the sky. All of a sudden, she saw this boy and she felt that as if she had landed next to him. She wanted to be with him, she wanted to share her life with him. Yet, nothing had happened, everything was in her imagination only. Hope you will like the song.

17th Sep 2012 (Today – Gigi Leung)
27th Aug 2012 (花火 – Gigi Leung)

今夜沒有風 – Gigi Leung

Sunday, February 17, 2013

17th Feb 2013 (愛的根源 – Alan Tam)

The song that I chose for today is “愛的根源” by Alan Tam. I just realised that I actually haven’t talk much about Alan, so I decided to choose one of his classic song for today. Alan is a famous singer in Hong Kong, but he was very very popular in the 80’s and 90’s. These days he is being called as the Principal (of Hong Kong music) as he have been working in the field for a very long time, and that he tends to give support to newer singers, so he is a very respectful figure in Hong Kong industry. Back to the song, the direct English translation of the title is “Source of love”.

The lyrics of the song are about love. The lyrics are very simple, it basically just say that the protagonist belong to his love one. It starts off saying that he is living only because of her. And when he was traveling in his journey of life, someone had lightened up his heart, making him feel warm. When he closes his eyes, he feels that as if it was yesterday that he just knows her. It is a song that is full of love. A fun fact to point out, the first line “殞石旁的天際” (in English meaning “the sky next to the asteroid”) doesn’t mean much alone. The song written once explain that it is actually English (as in the pronunciation of these words in Cantonese sounds similar to English) the line actually represent “Once upon a time”. Anyway, hope you will enjoy the song.

24th Jul 2012 (大大時代 – Alan Tam)

愛的根源 – Alan Tam

Saturday, February 16, 2013

16th Feb 2013 (那誰 – William So)

The song that I chose for today is “那誰” by William So. This song was a big hit in 2001.The direct English translation of the title is “Who is that”.

The lyrics of the song are about our feeling toward our ex-girlfriend/ex-boyfriend. At the start it said that at the day when we broke up with our ex, our tears created a line of rust on our face and it just got stuck there, we can’t wipe it off. As we are still living, we must move on, so we must accept the wound, but try not to touch it too often. Times goes by, but do we still hate our ex? If we don’t think about the wound, perhaps the wound would healed already. Sometime we might be glad that there are still tears coming from our eyes, as it is a proof that this relation means a lot to us. Perhaps one day we might forgot the name of our ex, but we might still remember what we done together. So perhaps we just take this as part of our life journey, think about it as God wanted to complete our perfect life by giving you some imperfection. That way, we can smile and move on. Hope you will like the song.

30th Jul 2012 (越吻越傷心 – William So/William So & Kit Chan)

那誰 – William So

Friday, February 15, 2013

15th Feb 2013 (傻癡癡 – Leon Lai/三人– Noriyuki Makihara (槙原敬之))

The song that I chose for today is “傻癡癡” by Leon Lai. I chose this song because I forgot yesterday was Valentine’s day (as I am still single) until last night when I listened to the radio and heard this song. So I thought I really should post something sweet here as a blessing (and perhaps to compensate all the sad love songs that I have been posting all the time :p ) Anyway, the English translation of the title is “Silly”. This song is really old, it was from around 1993 and it was a theme song of a TV drama. Note that this is the Chinese cover, the original is a Japanese song call “三人” (meaning 3 people in Chinese, but I guess it got the same meaning in Japanese) by 槙原敬之

The lyrics of the song are about falling in love. The protagonist at the beginning say that the girl he love might found him a bit silly, always looking at her and never say a word, looks like he is just waiting for her instruction. He wonders whether she understands that to him she is like an angel. He hang around her every day, hoping that one day she will found him important. He hope that she will understand him one day, but until then he will stay next and wait. Hope you will like the song. By the way, I have also linked the original version just for comparison.

24th Sep 2012 (願你今夜別離去 – Leon Lai)

15th Jul 2012 (無名份的浪漫 – Leon Lai)

6th July 2012 (只要為我愛一天 –Leon Lai)

Other Noriyuki Makihara (槙原敬之) related posts:
6th Feb 2015 (火舞艷陽 – Leon Lai & 花火の夜 – Noriyuki Makihara (槇原敬之))
28th Aug 2014 (我的親愛 – Leon Lai/もう恋なんてしない – Noriyuki Makihara (槇原敬之))

傻癡癡 – Leon Lai

三人– Noriyuki Makihara (槙原敬之)

Thursday, February 14, 2013

14th Feb 2013 (綠野聲蹤 – Bianca Wu)

The song that I chose for today is “綠野聲蹤” by Bianca Wu. Bianca is quite a unique singer, she is not popular, but the songs that she sings is very unique in Hong Kong, usually her songs are more voice dominated. The direct English translation of the title is “Trace of greenfield’s sound”.

The lyrics of the song are about the protagonist thinking of her dream land. It starts of saying that the protagonist thinks that her happy childhood was too short. She remember when she sit next to a speaker and hear the sound from it, she will stop crying. Hearing these songs would bring her to a magical land. In there she will forget all her sadness and she feels free and powerful, she wonders how would she have overcome all the difficulties if she don’t have a song that she like. Hope you will enjoy the song.

Related posts:
2nd Dec 2015 (他 – Bianca Wu)

綠野聲蹤 – Bianca Wu

Wednesday, February 13, 2013

13th Feb 2013 (哭牆 – Valen Hsu)

The song that I chose for today is “哭牆” by Valen Hsu. Since I talked about Valen yesterday, I think I should talk about another Valen’s famous song. The direct English translation of the title is “Wailing Wall”.

The lyrics of the song are about the protagonist just broke up with her boyfriend. Her boyfriend somewhat feel sorry for what he had done, but she keep her emotion from showing up on her face. She saw that there are some water marks on the wall, she felt that as if the wall is crying for her. Now that her boyfriend had left her, she feel that the wall is the only thing that will listen to her. Although time will pass, but these memories will be marked on the wall forever. Hope you will like the song.

Related posts:
12th Mar 2015 (淚海 – Valen Hsu)

12th Feb 2013 (留低鎖匙 – Valen Hsu)

哭牆 – Valen Hsu