History of Songs

History of Songs

春郊 (沈心工 / 黃自)

雲淡風輕　微雨初晴　假期恰遇良辰
髻結我髮　復整我襟　出遊以寫幽情
綠蔭為道　芳草為茵　此間空氣清鮮
歌聲驪聲　一程半程　與子偕行皆興

Our classmate Zong Wu, besides his medical profession, is a music
composer, guitarist and singer. In his guitar CD, he plays a song
called "春郊", which is a relaxing melody and a popular old sound
in China and Taiwan. The original Chinese lyric was written by
沈心工. 黃自 got this song from "There Is A Fountain". American
composer, Darwin Jordan, originally composed the tune and
William Cowper used the tune for his lyric "Cleaning Fountain".
Zong Wu indicated in his own comment that the Taiwanese lyric
had nothing to do with Williams Cowper's lyric and had no religious
flavor.

春郊 (Chen Zong Wu)

雲薄風輕 落雨已停 好天擱遇歇睏
梳我頭毛 換我衣裳 蹉跎來開我心
草木青翠 百花盛開 郊外空氣真清
歌聲笑聲 透我心情 跟你擱行擱行

It is not unusual that, while we were enjoying certain music songs,
we only knew the name of sounds or singers, and not aware of the
originality of the songs. For example, we have been familiar with
the song " Those Were The Days" of 1968 and probably knew it was
sung by Mary Hopkins. For those American listeners, they thought
Gene Reski had written the sound. Then someone pointed out
later that the tune was originally a Russian Folk song composed
by Boris Formin. The name of the song was "Dorogoj Dlinnoju",
which means "Along a long road". Gene Reski heard the melody
and wrote his own lyric called "Those were the days"

"
Once upon a time, there was a tavern
Where we used to raise a glass or two
Remember how we laughed away the hours,
Think of all the great things we would do .....
......................................................................
"

《送別》 is another example. Many of us have been so familiar
with this song and only know it was written by 李叔同, but are not
aware of the fact that it was actually an American song:
"Dreaming of Home and Mother" by John Pond Ordway in the
19th century. This song became quite popular later on in Japan.
球溪 used this tune and wrote his own lyric in Japanese in 1907 and
called his song "旅愁". 李叔同, while studying in Japan, heard this
melody and liked it very much. He then wrote his own lyric in
Chinese in 1915 and called his song "送別":

『送別』 李叔同

長亭外，古道邊，芳草碧連天，
晚風拂柳笛聲殘，夕陽山外山。

天之涯，地之角，知交半零落，
一觚濁酒盡餘歡，今宵別夢寒。

韶光逝，留無計，今日卻分袂，
驪歌一曲送別離，相顧卻依依。

聚雖好，別雖悲，世事堪玩味，
來日後會相予期，去去莫遲疑。

There is also some similarity between

『送別』 by 李叔同 and 【蘇幕遮】by 範仲淹

【蘇幕遮】

碧雲天，
黃葉地。　　
秋色連波，
波上寒煙翠。　　
山映斜陽天接水。　　
芳草無情，
更在斜陽外。　　

黯鄉魂，
追旅思。　　
夜夜除非，
好夢留人睡。　　
明月樓高休獨倚。　　
酒入愁腸，


Yeh Tze