i wanted to go back and write a little more about Zhang Zhen-yue's Ok album. The simple fact that after all this time, the entire album remains in my MP3 player, just goes to show how much it has become an important part of my life. Perhaps, i can wean myself off it after i write a bit more about it.
First of all, i have quite a number of his CDs. Full name, Zhang Zhen-yue 張震嶽, he is also 'affectionately' called A-yue. He made his debut years ago in his teens, a fresh-faced aboriginal teen. I have one song in the Treasure Island soundtrack, called Hate Summer. He took a hiatus and joined the national service which is compulsory in Taiwan. When he returned, he took the music scene by storm with 'Boring Afternoon', a grungy-Taiwan-rock album with down-to-earth lyrics that spoke straight into the minds of teenagers. And he has a band now, Free Night. He also dabbles in live music (i don't know what you call it) like Lim-giong, as DJ Orange. OK is his fifth album, i think. I have all except one as A-yue and one EP as DJ Orange (the one which the cover is picture of an orange). Some people cannot like his voice, which is kinda reedy but they still like some of his songs which are very 'listenable' with lyrics that i can only describe as everyday thoughts into poetry.
Now for OK, (i wanted to put in some of the information which came out in the media some time ago but, afterthought - i'll not. It's simply rude and insensitive to speculate.) I think one of the most famous labum covers around is the Beatles' Abbey Road album which has the Fab Four walking across a road, supposedly to represent a funeral march. (BTW, i don't own any Beatles album - hint2)
So somehow, i feel that this is album has a quiet solemnity about it, perhaps more of a wake of sorts.
Note that his album cover is a total departure from his other ones. He is in funereal black, a suit to boot. Head bowed (you can't see his face), carrying a guitar. It really looks like he is paying his respects with this album. Overall, the music is more toned down from his earlier ones, mostly ballads with rap.
First track: 念是一种病 or Missing (you) is a Kind of Illness seems to sum up the sound for the entire album. He shares composing/writing credits with Chyi Chin, which up till now i can't seem to find a reference to.This version has Tanya Chua accompanying, lending enough of her sexy voice to create more pathos.
His skill in lyric writing makes him one of the more formidable singer-composers of today. It isn't specially poetic or 'skilled' when it comes to the choice of words, usually. But the lyrics in this entire album does transcend some of his grungier ones, a bit of them harking to his much earlier work such as Hate Summer. He is no Lin Xi - yet you can relate to him easily - the modern folk rocker that he is. The simple words, slang and even the semi-swear words do make the songs poetry, although of a everyman kind. In 路口 Street Intersection (Track 3), he even punctuates with a tiny 'Ma-de', a close equivalent to 'motherfxxxker'.
As you listen you realise it's an album of good-byes and memories. Take the ninth track. He shares he 'singing' credits with MC Hotdog and Patty Hou. Called 就让这首歌 Let This Song..., i was surprised and impressed with Patty Hou (which later made me see her in a better light when she acted in the drama 'Delicious relationships'. This is another song of goodbyes, or rather one which describes a mutual goodbye. Intros with - let this song, play and play tonight. We are both not wrong, only we see much clearer now the things we did not understand. There is nothing to be said, let's not say it yet, let's just keep silent. A final embrace, the end of a love.
Hence, we need to go into detail one tracks 7 and 11, entitled 再见Goodbye. The seventh track is a faster more upbeat comparatively, while the final track - as finales go - is slow, slow death. My little sister tells me this song is in the soundtrack of a movie, where one of the protaganists is being battered to death. Ugh, cruel. Because, it begins with: i'm afraid i will never have the chance, to say a word of goodbye to you, because maybe i may never see you again. (tears will start filling your eyes la)
If between the goodbyes, there is a song which preludes it all. A song that speaks and is sung for those who were left behind. If you have ever had that feeling, you will know, a song which reminds me of Rene Liu's Men (Door). The words speak true of a person who is now forever afraid to be left behind without a clue or a sign, begging to be told of the exit. I can believe these words as i would and have felt this pain and can never forget being left behind without much of a word. Can't you trust me enough to tell me first? , they all seem to say. And you can feel it in - 孤獨的夜哨 Lonely Evening Whistle.
I sometimes think that 小宇 Small Space is an extension of Lonely Evening Whistle, or perhaps a mirror. As the protagonist throws caution to the winds with a declaration - I don't care what happens in the future, as long as we are happy now. I don't care how it would end, at least the person i would miss is you. I don't care what happens in the future, but i want to see you each day. i don't care how it would end, i would like to be with you. These two songs have become personal somewhat, as they speak too what i believe much in and fear most.
很难Very Difficult, track 4, is one of my favourites. The chorus should be my theme - for: At times i would like to lock myself away, or perhaps, learn to open up the doors to my heart. The ties between people (the direct translation should be: a man and another) becomes blind and deaf, becoming used to (disconnected coldness). At times i would shed tears, without reason. Do not tell me this is self pity, self doubt. Who would not want to be like the birds, free and untethered, who does not hope to be, who doesn't - only it is very difficult. Somehow, this song is a mirror, and extension of Bobby Chen's Ran-er (But), of which he ends with - I want you - free(dom) like a bird.
As for the song that takes the album title - OK ...? It is as if he wants to say - eventhough i'm alone, i'm getting along, i'm OK. The words we always use ourselves when we do not know how to describe the awful things life has thrown us, but we persevere, wounded but hopeful. We are OK.
And so:
At times, we forget the people around us need to be loved and cared for, excuses are distances we prolong. Unexpected, all of a sudden, soundless and untraceable, we are always complaining about ways and means, yet never willing to look within ourselves, thinking if we have done anything stupid, perhaps it is a test (from God). Only this wound needs more time, only we would still miss/remember the past, those people or happenings or things will leave me far behind, and we will eventually leave them to turn into memories.
I'm OK. I hope you are OK, too.
(by the way, i started to write this post on 2nd November 2008.)
First of all, i have quite a number of his CDs. Full name, Zhang Zhen-yue 張震嶽, he is also 'affectionately' called A-yue. He made his debut years ago in his teens, a fresh-faced aboriginal teen. I have one song in the Treasure Island soundtrack, called Hate Summer. He took a hiatus and joined the national service which is compulsory in Taiwan. When he returned, he took the music scene by storm with 'Boring Afternoon', a grungy-Taiwan-rock album with down-to-earth lyrics that spoke straight into the minds of teenagers. And he has a band now, Free Night. He also dabbles in live music (i don't know what you call it) like Lim-giong, as DJ Orange. OK is his fifth album, i think. I have all except one as A-yue and one EP as DJ Orange (the one which the cover is picture of an orange). Some people cannot like his voice, which is kinda reedy but they still like some of his songs which are very 'listenable' with lyrics that i can only describe as everyday thoughts into poetry.
Now for OK, (i wanted to put in some of the information which came out in the media some time ago but, afterthought - i'll not. It's simply rude and insensitive to speculate.) I think one of the most famous labum covers around is the Beatles' Abbey Road album which has the Fab Four walking across a road, supposedly to represent a funeral march. (BTW, i don't own any Beatles album - hint2)
So somehow, i feel that this is album has a quiet solemnity about it, perhaps more of a wake of sorts.
Note that his album cover is a total departure from his other ones. He is in funereal black, a suit to boot. Head bowed (you can't see his face), carrying a guitar. It really looks like he is paying his respects with this album. Overall, the music is more toned down from his earlier ones, mostly ballads with rap.
First track: 念是一种病 or Missing (you) is a Kind of Illness seems to sum up the sound for the entire album. He shares composing/writing credits with Chyi Chin, which up till now i can't seem to find a reference to.This version has Tanya Chua accompanying, lending enough of her sexy voice to create more pathos.
'当你在穿山越岭的另一边我在孤独的路上没有尽头'.
It intros with this line - When you are soaring above the hills and valleys, i am on a lonely road with no end.
'一辈子有多少的来不及, 发现已经失去最重要的东西, 恍然大悟早已远去. 为何总是在犯错之后才肯相信错的是自己. 他们说这就是人生, 试著体会, 试著忍住眼泪, 还是躲不开应该有的情绪. 我不会奢求世界停止转动, 我知道逃避一点都没有用. 只是这段时间里尤其在夜里还是会想起难忘的事情, 我想我的思念是一种病, 久久不能痊愈. '
Rough translation to show a sample of his style of writing: In a lifetime, how many 'too lates' are there, when we discover we have already lost the most important of things, it is far gone. How is it that only after the mistake/deed is done, then can we believe that we are to blame. They say this is Life, learn to understand, learn to hold back those tears, yet we still cannot deny the feelings we ought to have. I do not wish for the world to stop revolving, i know that avoidance is of no avail. It's only that during this time, especially at night, will remember some unforgettable things/memories. I think that missing (you) is a kind of sickness, that takes a long time to recover from.
His skill in lyric writing makes him one of the more formidable singer-composers of today. It isn't specially poetic or 'skilled' when it comes to the choice of words, usually. But the lyrics in this entire album does transcend some of his grungier ones, a bit of them harking to his much earlier work such as Hate Summer. He is no Lin Xi - yet you can relate to him easily - the modern folk rocker that he is. The simple words, slang and even the semi-swear words do make the songs poetry, although of a everyman kind. In 路口 Street Intersection (Track 3), he even punctuates with a tiny 'Ma-de', a close equivalent to 'motherfxxxker'.
As you listen you realise it's an album of good-byes and memories. Take the ninth track. He shares he 'singing' credits with MC Hotdog and Patty Hou. Called 就让这首歌 Let This Song..., i was surprised and impressed with Patty Hou (which later made me see her in a better light when she acted in the drama 'Delicious relationships'. This is another song of goodbyes, or rather one which describes a mutual goodbye. Intros with - let this song, play and play tonight. We are both not wrong, only we see much clearer now the things we did not understand. There is nothing to be said, let's not say it yet, let's just keep silent. A final embrace, the end of a love.
Hence, we need to go into detail one tracks 7 and 11, entitled 再见Goodbye. The seventh track is a faster more upbeat comparatively, while the final track - as finales go - is slow, slow death. My little sister tells me this song is in the soundtrack of a movie, where one of the protaganists is being battered to death. Ugh, cruel. Because, it begins with: i'm afraid i will never have the chance, to say a word of goodbye to you, because maybe i may never see you again. (tears will start filling your eyes la)
If between the goodbyes, there is a song which preludes it all. A song that speaks and is sung for those who were left behind. If you have ever had that feeling, you will know, a song which reminds me of Rene Liu's Men (Door). The words speak true of a person who is now forever afraid to be left behind without a clue or a sign, begging to be told of the exit. I can believe these words as i would and have felt this pain and can never forget being left behind without much of a word. Can't you trust me enough to tell me first? , they all seem to say. And you can feel it in - 孤獨的夜哨 Lonely Evening Whistle.
I sometimes think that 小宇 Small Space is an extension of Lonely Evening Whistle, or perhaps a mirror. As the protagonist throws caution to the winds with a declaration - I don't care what happens in the future, as long as we are happy now. I don't care how it would end, at least the person i would miss is you. I don't care what happens in the future, but i want to see you each day. i don't care how it would end, i would like to be with you. These two songs have become personal somewhat, as they speak too what i believe much in and fear most.
很难Very Difficult, track 4, is one of my favourites. The chorus should be my theme - for: At times i would like to lock myself away, or perhaps, learn to open up the doors to my heart. The ties between people (the direct translation should be: a man and another) becomes blind and deaf, becoming used to (disconnected coldness). At times i would shed tears, without reason. Do not tell me this is self pity, self doubt. Who would not want to be like the birds, free and untethered, who does not hope to be, who doesn't - only it is very difficult. Somehow, this song is a mirror, and extension of Bobby Chen's Ran-er (But), of which he ends with - I want you - free(dom) like a bird.
As for the song that takes the album title - OK ...? It is as if he wants to say - eventhough i'm alone, i'm getting along, i'm OK. The words we always use ourselves when we do not know how to describe the awful things life has thrown us, but we persevere, wounded but hopeful. We are OK.
And so:
'当你在穿山越岭的另一边我在孤独的路上没有尽头时常感觉你在耳后的呼吸却未曾感觉你在心口的鼻息汲汲营营忘记身边的人需要爱和关心藉口总是拉远了距离不知不觉无声无息我们总是在抱怨事与愿违却不愿意回头看看自己想想自己到底做了甚黱蠢事情也许是上帝给我一个试炼只是这伤口需要花点时间只是会想念过去的一切那些人事物会离我远去而我们终究也会远离变成回忆oh 思念是一种病oh 思念是一种病一种病多久没有说我爱你多久没有拥抱你所爱的人当这个世界不在那黱美好只有爱可以让他更好我相信一切都来得及别管那些纷纷扰扰别让不开心的事停下了脚步就怕你不说就怕你不做别让遗憾继续一切都来得及
And so as you soar above the hills and valleys, i am on a lonely road that never ends. I often feel your breath, at the back of my ear, but never feel your beating of your heart. At times, we forget the people around us need to be loved and cared for, excuses are distances we prolong. Unexpected, all of a sudden, soundless and untraceable, we are always complaining about ways and means, yet never willing to look within ourselves, thinking if we have done anything stupid, perhaps it is a test (from God). Only this wound needs more time, only we would still miss/remember the past, those people or happenings or things will leave me far behind, and we will eventually leave them to turn into memories.
I'm OK. I hope you are OK, too.
(by the way, i started to write this post on 2nd November 2008.)
