A Song a day: Kohji Makaino (近藤真彦)

Showing posts with label Kohji Makaino (近藤真彦). Show all posts

Friday, August 8, 2014

8th Aug 2014 (無聊時候 – Blue Jeans/夕焼けの歌 – Kohji Makaino (近藤真彦))

The song for today is “無聊時候” by Blue Jeans. This song shares the same melody as Anita Mui’s “夕陽之歌” and Priscilla Chan’s “千千闕歌”. Personally I like Priscilla’s version the most (while Anita’s version is probably the most popular, closely followed by Priscilla’s). Blue Jeans version is not really popular at all, I had never heard of it until a few weeks ago, I watched an interview of Priscilla, talking about the big battle between “千千闕歌” and “夕陽之歌” (both song were very popular back in the days), and Priscilla mentioned about Blue Jeans version. Seriously, Blue Jeans’ version is not main stream, its lyrics are much more suitable for men who been through a lot. I personally don’t like it as I think the lyrics is a big mismatch to the melody, however, I think it is worthwhile to talk about the song as it still remain as a third Cantonese cover version of Kohji Makaino’s ( 近藤真彦) “夕焼けの歌”.

The lyrics of the song are about a man who been through a lot, felt very lonely and think about the old days. The protagonist said, when he is bored, he will be able to see the lonely universe. He is still bored and still carrying a tone of pain. He is bored as usual, he dreamed to be free, wanting to forget the people who have not been honest with him and let go of the unhappiness. He wanted to let go and made up a lot of excuses. He wanted to leave for a place far away, not just a person that only know how to look up to the sky and think about the past. Helplessly, he has to smile, and not allowed to make a mistake. No matter how pointless it is, he still has to accept it, as he is worry about taking the blame and falling behind. He felt that staying in this universe make him start to lose the ability to share his pain. Ah….. Thinking about the team mate from the past (here, I think team mate is referring to friends that the protagonist used to be very close with and gone through a lot together). When he was bored, he tends to predict what will happen after today. Who haven’t been bored? So Pressurised that you almost cried. It is painful to feel bored as you feel that you always fail and never will be accepted. No one will ever understand him as if he lost his freedom to think. There are too many wounds in his heart, all because he was down for too long; the only think that he could do now is to lonelily look at the star and think about the past. Helplessly, he has to smile, and not allowed to make a mistake. No matter how pointless it is, he still has to accept it, as he is worry about taking the blame and falling behind. He felt that staying in this universe make him start to lose the ability to share his pain. Ah….. Thinking about the team mate from the past. Ah…. He can’t remove the coldness from his heart as they build up day by day, and all he knows is that he can’t be wrong again. Hope you will like the song.

Other songs that share the same melody:

12th May 2012 (夕陽之歌 – Anita Mui/夕焼けの歌 – Kohji Makaino)

11th May 2012 (千千闕歌 – Priscilla Chan/夕焼けの歌 – Kohji Makaino)

無聊時候 – Blue Jeans

夕焼けの歌 – Kohji Makaino ( 近藤真彦)

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, May 12, 2012

12th May 2012 (夕陽之歌 – Anita Mui/夕焼けの歌 – Kohji Makaino)

Today’s song is “夕陽之歌” by Anita Mui. This can be seen as a continuation of yesterday’s song. The English translation of the title is “The song of sunset”.

This song and yesterday’s song got the same melody. They are both cover song of a Japanese singer Kohji Makaino’s (近藤真彥) “夕焼けの歌” (From translation, the title is pretty much the same as Anita’s “夕陽之歌”.) “夕陽之歌” talks more about life. It talks about how we have gone through a lot in our life, there had been good and bad, and we might have missed a few chances or made the wrong decisions. But throughout the song there is a sense of loneliness. Different to yesterday’s “千千闕歌”, “千千闕歌” talks about sadness from separation.

From what I know about the original song, “夕陽之歌” lyrics are also a closer match to the original. Anyways, I personally like Priscilla’s “千千闕歌” more than Anita’s “夕陽之歌”. So if you missed yesterday’s song, you can click on the link below.

I have linked both ”夕陽之歌” and the original “夕焼けの歌” below, hope you will enjoy them

Other songs that share the same melody:
8th Aug 2014 (無聊時候 – Blue Jeans/夕焼けの歌 – Kohji Makaino (近藤真彦))
11th May 2012 (千千闕歌 – Priscilla Chan/夕焼けの歌 – Kohji Makaino)

11thMay 2012 (千千闕歌 –Priscilla Chan)

夕陽之歌 – Anita Mui

夕焼けの歌 – Kohji Makaino

Friday, May 11, 2012

11th May 2012 (千千闕歌 – Priscilla Chan/夕焼けの歌 – Kohji Makaino)

The song for today is “千千闕歌” by Priscilla Chan. Priscilla was once a very famous singer in Hong Kong. She is one of my favourite singers, I have almost got all the albums that she produced, only missing a few that I am still searching in second hand CD shops (these shops are rare these days.)

Just like yesterday’s song (10th May 2012 (理智與感情 – Jason Chan & Rainie Yang)) This song is also a song that I listen to during my night walk when I was living in Japan. This song is also one of the few songs sung by Priscilla that I remembered from my childhood. I am pretty sure that when I was I kid, I have no idea what the lyrics means, but I just love the melody.

My interpretation of the lyrics is that it talks about love. In the lyrics, the girl says that she enjoyed last night so much. Her boyfriend is about to leave her (not in the sense that they are breaking up, more like they have to be physically separated for a long time), she felt that there are still so much that she haven’t said to him. She said that there might be a more starry night than last night, the moon could be brighter than the moon last night, but any night will never be as enjoyable as last night because her boyfriend was with her.

Hope you will enjoy this song. By the way, there is another version of this song in Cantonese sung by Anita Mui. I might link that up for tomorrow. Note that both of these songs are cover song of a Japanese song call “タ燒けの歌” by Kohji Makaino (近藤真彥). I will talk more about these song next time.