Recording History: Songs That Have Captured the Spirit of Their Times

Most people don't realize that musicians have been recording pop songs such as these, with timely lyrics that respond to the issues of the day, almost continuously for the last 50 years. Moreover, the songs are themselves an important record of the times.

"Gently wake your sleeping spirit / Slowly open your two eyes / Can you see the busy world turning lonely without end. . . ."

During the recording of "Tomorrow Will Be Better Still" 18 years ago, the producers gave Tsai Chin the honor of singing the first line. They did so again with "Hand in Hand." Tsai believes that the new project is the far more important of the two. Judy Chiang, the "Empress of Taiwanese Song," agrees. For her, singing with so many other stars and singing in Mandarin were both extraordinary experiences. In her view, the quality of the singing was not the point: "With this song, everyone wanted to share the love that they felt in their hearts."

Taking an honest look

Sebastian Liao and Lee Tai-hsiang's song, "Re-reading Life," runs: "If we enjoy good times with our friends, but don't explore each other's souls / If we hold each other tightly, but don't feel our beating hearts / When doubts keep us apart, who will keep their hands extended? / When we stumble over rough spots, who will lend a helping hand?" Liao, who was a professor of literature before taking over as head of the Taipei Cultural Affairs Bureau, revealed that the lyrics poured out of him in just half a day. A former director of both the Chien-kuo High School Choir and the National Taiwan University Choir, Liao also heaped praise on the vocalists' "electrifying" performance. "Their interpretation was really outstanding," he repeated time and again.

For Shen Hsueh-yung, a former member of the Council for Cultural Affairs and professor of music, her performance on "Re-reading Life" was the first singing she'd done in 30 years. She explains that when SARS broke out in Taiwan, she was very concerned about the situation and kept wondering what she could do to help. In the end, she decided that song was the "most beautiful weapon" in a vocalist's arsenal.

Perhaps one of vocal music's greatest attributes is the way in which it can lift the public's spirits, especially in troubled times when help seems unavailable. Songs not only motivate us, but also relieve our pain.

If we glance back over the last 100 years, we find innumerable songs that salved wounds or voiced the innermost feelings of the people. The times (and the charts) may always be a-changin', but the songs that capture the spirit of any given era remain forever in the hearts of those who lived through it. The heart pounds and the blood races when the strains of a familiar tune ring out. Feelings from days gone by come galloping back and the past appears before our very eyes. Surely this shows the power of song!

Camouflaging meanings

For example, for those who lived through the eight years of the War of Resistance Against Japan (1937-1945), uncounted songs recall those times. Many seniors can still be heard to hum, "China will be strong, China will be strong / Look at Commander Hsieh, a hero of the people. . . ."

Elderly citizens who left the mainland for Taiwan in 1949 are still carried away into bittersweet memories of days gone by when they hear: "White clouds drift, wisps of smoke swirl / My home is a shady emerald dell! / A small bridge, running water / The home of my dreams is far, far away!"

According to author Hsiao Min, musicians were deeply involved in the war effort, ultimately producing more than 1000 "war" songs. Agonized tears, vengeful roars, and calls to save the nation were sublimated into a musical tide that became a wellspring of national spirit. "These morale-boosting songs stirred the people's feelings," according to Hsiao Min, "creating an awareness of democracy at all levels of society, unifying the military, and building a sense of a common enemy. These ultimately led to China's victory after eight years of bloody war."

People in areas that had been occupied by the Japanese could hardly sing anti-Japanese songs, so writers hid their expressions of distress at the state of the nation and their love of country in songs written for popular films. Perhaps the most celebrated songs of this type were the theme song from the film Mid-Nightmare and "Unchanging Love" from the Zhou Xuan vehicle Marital Harmony. Even today, people still dial up local radio stations to request them.

Yang Chen-yi, formerly a senior writer for China Television Service Publishing, says that with its gentle melody and moving lyrics, the wartime hit "Mid-Nightmare" became even more popular on campuses across the nation after the war ended.

Chunghwa Motion Picture Studios released Marital Harmony, a film starring Zhou Xuan, in 1944. Zhou also sang all of the songs from the film, including "Unchanging Love," which began: "You are my soul, you are my life. . . ." The song later referenced the film's title with the lines: "We are paired for life like Mandarin ducks / Harmonizing in marriage like phoenixes." On the surface, the lyrics seem to be just another example of the all-too-common "Mandarin Duck and Butterfly School" of lyric-writing. This, together with the song's string-heavy arrangement, makes "Unchanging Love" sound like just another of the so-called "lewd songs" of the day. But these lines are only a bit of introductory camouflage; the song's true import is revealed a few lines later: "Separated, separated, we grow more resolute. / You may be as distant as a star, as tiny as a firefly / But so long as I have a little of your light, just the merest trace of you. . . / Everything else may alter, but my love will be unchanged." After the repetition of this expression of will, this heartfelt pledge, the song concludes with the lines: "You are my soul, you are my life."

Keeping a dream alive

Chen Tie-yi, known for writing the words and music to more than 3000 Mandarin pop songs over the years, recognized what underlay Li Junqing's lyrics to "Unchanging Love": the "distant star" and "tiny firefly" represented China's government, which had been forced by the Japanese advance to flee to Chongqing. The song cautiously hinted that as long as the government existed, it would be a beacon to those in the occupied territories, letting them know that they wouldn't always live in darkness.

At the time, Chen felt that people working in the culture industries had a responsibility to do their part in the war, too. Stirred by the lyrics, Chen quit his job as a magazine editor and took his place among the ranks of the songwriters. Encouraging himself with the idea that love is to be admired and beauty pursued, he began penning lyrics.

Old though they may be, these war-era songs have yet to go out of fashion. Twenty-some years ago, a group of young women with a passion for literature and music formed the Friends of Literature Chorus (FLC) specifically to perform war-era songs. Their mission was to keep the songs alive, and to that end they give concerts every July 7 on the anniversary of the start of the 1937-1945 Sino-Japanese War. According to FLC leader Chiu Chi-chi, the FLC's goal is to take those who lived through the war back to their youths for a time.

Plum blossoms covering the earth

The songs from that war are not the only ones embodying memories of a particular time. In 1971, Liu Chia-chang penned the music and the lyrics to what was perhaps the most successful of Taiwan's morale-boosting pop songs-"Plum Blossoms." On August 2, 1971, US Secretary of State William P. Rogers announced that the US would support the PRC's entry into the United Nations. Immediately thereafter, the ROC's Ministry of Foreign Affairs proclaimed that Taiwan would ally itself with the just nations of the world to defeat the PRC's villainous schemes at the UN. Nonetheless, on October 25, the UN General Assembly rejected a US resolution calling for two Chinas in the UN, and approved instead a measure that admitted the PRC and stripped the ROC of the right to represent China in that assembly. Just prior to the vote, Chou Shu-kai, head of the ROC's UN delegation, solemnly declared that the ROC would withdraw from the UN.

For the ROC, 1971 was truly a dark year. In addition to the loss of China's seat at the UN, the nation also saw its diplomatic relations with Turkey, Iran, Belgium, Peru, Mexico, and Ecuador severed as those nations established relations with the PRC. The ROC president responded to the diplomatic debacle by issuing a "Letter to the Nation's Compatriots" stating that in kneeling to violence, the UN had become a haven to bandits. He also called on the ROC to exercise its sovereignty, stated that it would not be subject to external interference, and urged citizens to unite in good faith.

Liu Chia-chang's catchy "Plum Blossoms" came out in the midst of these unsettling events: "Plum blossoms! Plum blossoms! / Covering the earth, wherever there is land. / Plum blossoms! Plum blossoms! / Covering the earth, you are our nation's flower. . . ." The song was an instant hit that helped people let go of their anger and lifted the gloom that had enveloped them.

How Liu came to write the song is a story in itself. Liu says that just after the ROC withdrew from the UN, he went on a trip to Japan with Chunghwa Studios president Mei Chang-ling to observe the film industry there. One day, Mei took the employees who were traveling with him to the PRC's embassy for a demonstration. Before setting out, Mei had told everyone to shout "Long live the ROC" when they reached the embassy. But the idea made Liu uncomfortable, and he resolved not to shout anything. Much to his surprise, when they reached the embassy, the hollering of his friends stirred something inside him. He felt something boiling up in his breast, and soon joined in the protest, shouting "Long live the ROC" with everyone else. When Mei then suggested that Liu put his musical talents to use writing a song that would inspire the whole nation, it struck a chord deep inside him. That very afternoon, he sat down and in just a few hours wrote "Plum Blossoms," a song known and loved in Chinese communities the world over ever since.

Liu also drew on the idea of plum blossoms being unphased by cold and frost in writing a film, also called Plum Blossoms, that describes the indomitable spirit of the Chinese. The film did very well in both Hong Kong and Taiwan, and went on to win the 1976 Golden Horse for best feature film.

"Plum Blossoms" soon became known the world over. On December 16, 1978, Theresa Teng was performing in Singapore when a Taipei resident in the audience edged up close to the stage and whispered to her: "I just heard that the US has decided to establish diplomatic relations with the PRC. Could you sing 'Plum Blossoms' to show how much China's sons and daughters love their country?" Teng froze for a moment, and almost forgot the words to the song she was then singing. A few moments later, she asked several Singaporean musicians who knew "Plum Blossoms" to accompany her as she did her best with a song she had heard but never performed.

"I got the lyrics reversed," Teng later recalled. "Fortunately, there was a group of patriotic fans from Taiwan in the audience who stood up and belted out the song along with me. When we got to the line about 'majestic China,' I sang even more loudly and forcefully." Thereafter, "Plum Blossoms" became one of Teng's signature pieces, a consistent part of her set, especially when performing abroad.

"Descendants of the Dragon"

On December 16, 1978, US President Jimmy Carter announced that the US would formally recognize the PRC and would end diplomatic relations with the ROC as of January 1, 1980. When Taiwan heard the news, the entire nation was furious. People accused the US of betrayal, breaking treaties, and sacrificing an alliance. At this difficult time for the ROC, everyone-the military and civilians, Chinese both in Taiwan and abroad-began making donations, just as they would in later years following crises such as the September 21 earthquake and the outbreak of SARS. The Treasury even accommodated this "patriotic donations" movement by establishing a dedicated "Self-Strengthening Save-the-Nation Fund" to pay for national defense.

Those who lived through those days surely remember the succession of patriotic songs that came out in the wake of the severing of ties with the US. They gave an outlet to the anger that people felt, and helped people turn their anger into new resolve.

The two songs that resonated most strongly were undoubtedly Hou Te-chien's composition "Descendants of the Dragon" (performed by Lee Chien-fu) and Liu Chia-chang's "Ode to the ROC," both of which could be heard playing in virtually every street and alley on the island. Lee Chien-fu says he never dreamed it would create such a sensation. He even performed the song without really being aware of what they had started. And all of this success came with heavy promotion or corporate backing.

In Lee's view, the song's phenomenal popularity was a result of its being in the right place at the right time-it reflected the mood of the nation at a difficult time. Of course, it didn't hurt that it also had a lovely melody that was easy to sing.

Tomorrow will be better still

Taiwan's recording industry took off in the 1980s. Pop songs began to come in all flavors, and the old paradigm, in which a few representative songs reflected the sentiments of a given era, fell by the wayside. Instead, talented writers began producing music and lyrics for all kinds of emotionally charged events. Even the literary community got into the act, thereby raising the standard for this kind of song.

In 1985, Taiwan's recording and publishing industries were experiencing massive losses from rampant piracy. A recording-industry study showed that the pirate factories were consuming five times as many blank tapes as the legal factories (by this time, cassette tapes had supplanted albums in the marketplace). Fighting for their own survival, the record companies went to war. Drawing on the style of the "We Are the World" recording, they drew together more than 60 leading musicians and singers to create "Tomorrow Will Be Better Still" to discourage the purchase of pirated music.

The industry's approach to the problem-appealing to the public in song-may have been gentle, but it worked: "Tomorrow Will Be Better Still" penetrated every corner of the Taiwan market. Luo Ta-you penned the song's music, including its simple, fluid melody. The lyrics, meanwhile, represented the collective effort of a group that included Luo, Lee Shou-chuan, Chang Ta-chun, Sylvia Chang, Chiu Fu-sheng, and Jan Hung-tze. The standard of artistry achieved in the song fully reflected the contributions of the writers, musicians, and media magnates who had played a part in its creation. To no one's surprise, "Tomorrow Will Be Better Still" was a smash hit, and people still talk about its record first-week sales of 300,000 copies.

When the Taipei City Zoo was in the process of moving from Yuanshan to Mucha in 1986, for example, novelist Chu Tien-wen wrote "Lin Wang's Home" for Lin Wang the elephant, the moving lyrics to which ran: "The mountains are home to the clouds / The oceans are home to the sunset / The ponds are home to the rain. / When showers fall and the sun shines / The sky makes a home for the rainbows. / Lin Wang, our Ah-wang, where is Ah-wang the elephant's home?"

The song "Joyful Paradise," which came out around the same time, was a hit children's ditty: "The elephant's long trunk lifted high, raises the hopes of the world. / The eagle leads us in flight, higher, further, to a much-needed dream." To this day "Joyful Paradise" is still widely taught in primary schools.

No "making" classics

Songwriting is one of the arts through which human beings express their thoughts and feelings. Pop songs tend to be relatively simple and accessible, making it easy for people to identify with them. Pop songs also get airplay, which furthers their popularity. Together, these factors may help a pop song with timely lyrics find an audience. But embodying a response to a current issue is no guarantee of success. Success is something unpredictable, something that the public grants where it will.

In 1974, a group of companies put together a "clean songs" competition in the hope of sorting the wheat from the chaff and encouraging new directions in pop music. As former Taiwan Television (TTV) president Ho Yi-mo's 2002 book on TTV states: "In 1974, TTV, the China Daily News, and Reko Records jointly organized a song competition that selected eight songs from more than 8000 entrants." The finalists included such titles as "The Land of Love," "Everywhere the Scent of Ripened Rice," "The World Laughs," "How Beautiful Life Is," and "Harvest."

TTV supported the competition by producing a program hosted by Hsia Tai-fung expressly to promote the songs. The program featured performances of one or two songs every week in a repeating cycle in the hope of making them into hits. TTV even required that the songs be performed at a singing competition it jointly organized with Cheng-sheng Broadcasting that same year. But all to no avail. The songs never achieved the kind of popularity enjoyed by "Unchanging Love," "Plum Blossoms," "Descendants of the Dragon," or "Ode to the ROC."

Clearly, everyone has their own ideas about what makes a good song and no one person can predict what will become popular. The key seems to be that a hit song must move people. No matter how timely the lyrics, a song whose melody leaves people untouched will never become a classic.