Exodus? Wanderer? Migration? Home. By A Wayfarer: Part 2

8th February 2020 (Update):
With the Wuhan virus at its worse, how many Chinese citizens who live and work overseas have gone home but have not met their loved ones after two weeks in their own country. 

Because of the clampdown on travel, entry and exit, all of them were not allowed to go back to their own hometown. There are no statistics but read the end of this article about the old man who went down on his knees to beg for a ticket so that he could go home to his loved ones.

Up to 2000 readers  
since its publication 

A new writer for this post, A Wayfarer, was teaching with me in the same faculty at one of the universities in Singapore. Here's her take on the Chinese song, The Olive Tree by Qu Yi which I posted last week. 

This song is so popular that it is even sung by singers all over the world, regardless of race. The YouTube video is by Sara Niemietz

Thanks so much, A Wayfarer.

橄榄树 (Olive Tree) - Vocals and Video by Sara Niemietz. Thank you, Sara.

"When I played the clip, the first strains of the melody and lyrics made me realise this is a song from my youth, from my past. I cannot recall when I first heard it. The movie? The radio? Perhaps sung at a karaoke session?  It is an old song and an old style song. Is it still played often?

Regardless, when I heard it for the first time and again now I cannot help but be struck by the haunting melody and the sense of longing and loneliness; of a person adrift. He is far from his homeland and his home, its beauty, the warmth and all that is good.

The beauty of the landscape and the olive tree is distant - a land far, far away and memory from long ago. Is this his actual homeland, or as he believes he remembers it to be? Was it so, or is it his idealized vision of it?  

A permanent migration, going adrift and far from their homeland, is sad indeed.

Whichever be the case, the reality is he is far from it. He wants to go back to it, he wants to attain this, but the reality is he wandering and a wanderer, alone, and lonesome.

The lyrics are simple, the music uncomplicated but so sad.

We who live on this tiny island and who have the means to travel at whim may find it difficult to appreciate vastness, vast distances and the feelings of separation. This song speaks to those who have experienced this. 

And that is the reason the multitudes of those who had left their hamlets, their villages, their towns, and even their cities to wander elsewhere, heed the siren call of the Spring Festival and the Reunion to make their way "home".

Animal migration in Africa as suggested by 'A Wayfarer' in this article.

When you compared the return home of the workers from wherever they are to return home as a "migration", there cannot be a more apt word. I immediately thought of the great migrations of the wildebeest, the caribou, and the salmon. The long, arduous and definitely perilous journeys they make to go "home".  

Brings to mind the news article about the old, Chinese man who queued so hard to buy a ticket home but was unsuccessful and couldn't buy it online because he was both illiterate and worse, computer illiterate, until he kneeled in front of the station master to beg for a ticket.

What do you think?"

You can read Part 1. Click below:
https://singapore60smusic.blogspot.sg/2018/02/qi-yu-ganlan-shu-lunar-new-year.html

The annual trip home for the Chinese to meet for their family reunion.

Article: An original by A Wayfarer.
Images: Google.
YouTube Video: Acknowledged.

Chinese New Dog Year Pops 2018 中国新年的狗流行歌曲

Pop Songs With the Word Dog: 
流行歌曲与词狗

My elder grandson was born in 2006 and will be twelve years young this year of the dog. Like him, most of us love dogs and appreciate this year's Chinese Almanac bow-wow and woof-woof zodiac sign. 

The Rooster has already left us after saying goodbye to the dog; so here's a tribute to man's best friend with a list below of songs about dogs and canine-related themes. There are hundreds of these songs but here's a short list of 33 which are from the 60's to the 80's. 

The exceptions include a tune from a classic Walt Disney cartoon called Lady and The Tramp (1955) and the other from a movie called, Rugrats in Paris (2000) with a song by Baha Men. Both are hilarious. I just could not leave these two songs out from our Doggie List.

Dog saying goodbye to Rooster during a solemn and respectful day at the farm.

From Little Red Rooster which I used last year to Walking The Dog this time around, The Rolling Stones has never failed to please as both songs are sung by them. I could not leave out the latter.

Here's the rest of my selection:

Dogs - Pink Floyd 
Hot Dog -  Elvis Presley
Hot Dog  - Led Zeppelin
Bird Dog - Everly Brothers

Hound Dog - Elvis Presley
Dirty Old Egg Sucking Dog - Johnny Cash
Diamond Dogs - David Bowie
Walking The Dog - The Rolling Stones

Lady And The Tramp - Dog Pound Scene from Susie Harrison.

The Dog - Otis Redding
Dog Eat Dog - The Toasters
Dogs In The Mid Winter - Jethro Tull
A Salty Dog - Procol Harum

Dogs of War - Pink Floyd
Payback Is A Dog - Stylistics
Black Dog - Led Zeppelin
I Wanna Be Your Dog - Stooges

Walking The Dog: The Rolling Stones: They covered Little Red Rooster too

No Dogs Allowed - Jose Feliciano
I Love My Dog - Cat Stevens
Me And You And A Dog Name Boo - Lobo
Gonna Buy Me A Dog - Monkees

Dogs On The Run - 1985 - Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers
Poor Dog Who Can't Wag His Tail - Little Richard
Dog Eat Dog -AC/DC
Sick As A Dog - Aerosmith

Hot Dog - Elvis Presley from movie Loving You. Video by 

The Dog Pound Song - Lady and The Tramp.
Hey Bulldog - The Beatles
Dogs On The Run - Tom Petty
Eat Your Dog - Bad Religion

Atomic Dog - George Clinton
Rain Dogs - To Waits
Mad Dog - Deep Purple
The Dog Breathes Variations - Frank Zappa

Who Let The Dog Out: Baha Men Video from

Any comment guys?

Images from Google and A Personal Collection.

2018 Chinese New Year of The Dog Get-Together @ Tan Soo Khoon's Mansion:
(Standing L-R): Dominic, Larry, JT, Soo Khoon, Andy, Henry, John.
(Sitting): Eddie, Mrs JT, Mrs Lai, Mrs Lim.

Blog Statistics: Chinese New Year Dog Zodiac 2018

Singapore Had Great Music Before Cliff Richard came:

A big thank you for reading my music blog. It has reached about 60,000 monthly readers (20 February 2018) and beyond 70,000 views on 3 March 2018. I am glad to have interested some of you in our local music and its influence from around the world.

The 60's was huge for Singapore's music boys and girls. But please don't forget that we really didn't start from there. Way before that we had a lot of imported influence internationally. People from all over the globe visited our port to trade and bring in goods, services and of course, music. 

Many of us had radios that we listened to every day and night because we had neither television nor computers or even Rediffusion to entertain us. A few had 78 rpm records to play on their gramophone grinding machines. And the most famous dog of all famous dogs was listening to His Master's Voice on this machine.

The most famous music dog of all, HMV or His Master's Voice which started in England.

The three entertainment Worlds, The Great World at Kim Seng Road, The New World at Kitchener Road and The Happy World at Geylang Road brought in international entertainment that most Singaporeans in the 50's could enjoy. 

There were singers and musicians at these Worlds. The Happy and Great World cabarets had Chinese artistes, the Happy (Gay) World stadium had Xavier Cugat with Abbe Lane and Pasir Panjang's West Point had Filipino musicians. 

Xavier Cugat with wife Abbe Lane was in Singapore in the 50's.

The Flamingos combo band and the first vocal group ever to have cut a vinyl, The Crescendos, were already singing their lungs out. Singapore music came way back when, before Cliff Richard and The Shadows hit our trail. 

On the other hand, the vibrant music scene in some of our hotels, like the Raffles and Goodwood, the nightclubs, divas from our surrounding countries were already engaged at the microphones and stages to provide live entertainment, backed by some of the finest professional musicians around.

And so on.

 You can read these stories from this blog. Bits and pieces but all in place. 

Check the CONTENT bar on the right column of this page or just hit your mouse or finger on the MOST POPULAR to start (images above).

Just browse along...

Article: A nostalgia trip.

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