Andy 60's Mouse Year 2020: (新年快乐) Zhang Lu (張露): Speedy, Mickey, Jerry.

Zhang Lu (張露), born in 1932, was one of the better known singers from China my mother fancied. She made her worth in the middle kingdom, singing in clubs and on the radio but Hong Kong was her place. She made her name as a pop diva, had two children with her marriage to Singaporean Ollie Delfino. She died in January 2009 during the Lunar New Year. Her CNY song is featured below, another one I learnt as a child from mother.

This Post:

It's the Year of the Rat and this animal is the first on the list of 12 Zodiac characters from the Chinese calendar. Rat is actually second but after jumping off Ox's back, he claimed the turf before Ox. Rat has high IQ, EQ, is multi-talented, adaptable and can accumulate wealth. He gets along fine with his counterparts: Ox, Monkey and Dragon.

But this post is not about Rat; it's about my exposure to three fun mice I met when I was young and fancy free. And they are all from the West, my own Three Miceketeers!

Speedy Gonzalez and this year's Chinese Zodiac Rat

Rats or mice? They don't matter. Only one is bigger than the other. 

Rats or mice (unlike the Zodiac ones) have a reputation that's never positive. They are a nuisance in the home and considered pests.

A song by Pat Boone, Speedy (1953) is a sexy, Mexican mouse.

To get a song about mice isn't easy and nice ones are a challenge, unless you believe in the Zodiac sign. But there is one song that kept spinning in my mind and sung by a handsome crooner from the 60's.  The lyrics are funny and the perky song is about a sexy mouse and his wandering ways. 

The rodent with the Mexican sombrero is my hero this Rat Year 2020. Do you know him?  He hails from Mexico.  Apparently this rat is quite attuned to ladies and the plaintive cry of his young maiden haunted the haciendas, gauchos and cactus plants along the Mexican trail, begging him to come home.

Pat Boone's favourite mouse.

The other mouse that I love is Jerry, a good friend of Tom from Tom n Jerry cartoons (William Hanna/Joseph Barbera) and was born in 1940. If I am not mistaken he came earlier than Speedy Gonzalez (Warner Brothers/Looney Tunes/Merry Melodies) who came in 1962. 

Jerry (1940) with cheese and first famous mouse Mickey (1928).

Jerry the mouse is Tom's great friend but they scratch and get entangled with each other all over the place as household paraphernalia get rattled in the milieu. The action happens in the garden too.

Jerry being chased around by great buddy Tom the cat.

My third favourite mouse is Mickey - who hails from the mind of Walt Disney and his cartoonists many many years ago in 1928. Mickey filled my youthful years with much laughter with his good friends Donald Duck and Goofy.

So there, my three miceketeers friends from the West, Speedy, Jerry and Mickey, with this year's Rat from the East. They formulate what I am today from the point of view that rodents can be fun. Yes, but cartoon rodents.

Tom and Jerry Theme: Video from Harzy.

Wishing all my confused readers, Happy Lunar New Year of The Rat. 

My grand-daughter was born in the Rat year and she'll be twelve. This post is dedicated to her, the other 2J's and Mr Michael Bangar.

(Good friend Michael Bangar sends me yearly greeting cards filled with his favourite characters, two of which are Mickey and Jerry. Thanks Mike for your dedicated stories about Singapore music.)

(張露-迎春花) Zhang Lu: Flowers of Spring (Winter Jasmine) 1951. Zzenzero posts many videos on YouTube pertaining to classic Chinese songs. Thanks Zzenzero.

Images: 
Google and copyrighted by Warner Brothers/Looney Tunes, Walt Disney Pictures, Hanna and Barbera Cartoons.

GIF: From Ann Rowena Lim.
Thank you Ann.

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