Funny how whenever I speak Mandarin, people assume that I've been to China.  (Actually, people assume that I'm Chinese if they can't see my face.  If people do see my face and think I'm Chinese, they're never Chinese themselves and are just being dumb.)  I bought the 5th volume of Long Piao Piao's "Yearn for Old Songs" collection today at the ( Read more... )

I did say I would post something old, didn't I?  If you want high-quality versions of old songs, this isn't the entry for that.  However, several of the songs on this Zhou Xuan compilation have been covered by Zhang Yan and you can find those versions here.  This is a compilation of Zhou Xuan songs that I bought in a grocery store.  (Yay for Asian ( Read more... )

This post is going to be related to this post on more_cmusic , which has several versions of "天涯歌女."  I was also looking through different versions of "天涯歌女“ ("Traveling Songstress").  There are many covers of this Zhou Xuan song from Zhang Yan, Teresa Teng, and Song Zuying, for whom this song choice was very fitting because they can pull off the vocals ( Read more... )

玫瑰玫瑰我爱你

Mei Gui Mei Gui Wo Ai Ni

Rose, Rose, I Love You

玫瑰玫瑰最娇美

mei gui mei gui zui jiao mei

Rose, rose, most beautiful,

玫瑰玫瑰最艳丽

mei gui mei gui zui yan li

Rose, rose, most gorgeous,

长夏开在枝头上

chang xia kai zai zhi tou shang

You open all summer on branches.

玫瑰玫瑰我爱你

mei gui mei gui wo ai ni

Rose, rose, I love you.

玫瑰玫瑰情意重

mei ( Read more... )

甜蜜蜜

Tian Mi Mi

Honey

甜蜜蜜

tian mi mi

Honey,

你笑得多甜蜜

ni xiao de duo tian mi

You smile very sweetly,

好像花儿开在春风里

hao xiang hua er kai zai chun feng li

Like flowers opening in spring,

开在春风里

kai zai chun feng li

Opening in spring.

在哪里　在哪里见过你

zai na li zai na li jian guo ni

Where?  Where have I seen you?

( Read more... )

( Lyrics )

I felt like writing about a song originally sung by Yoshika Otaka today.  For those unfamiliar with the name, Yoshika Otaka or Li Xianglan was one of the stars of MandoPop before pop music was outlawed in China.  She's the original singer of "夜来香" ("Ye Lai Xiang"), but she was also involved in Japanese propaganda during World War II, as she is ( Read more... )

Though sometimes I complain about the disadvantages of being a white fan of MandoPop, sometimes there are advantages.  The usual disadvantages are that I've only been listening to Chinese music for a bit less than 2 years, I don't have any relatives who will buy CDs for me, I haven't gotten to go to Asia, and my parents don't care for Chinese music ( Read more... )