A Song a day: 27th Jan 2013 (夢伴 - Erika Li/Anita Mui/Shirley Kwan/ 夢絆

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.