热烘烘的太阳 (林黛) (蔡幸娟) Lin Dai, Delphine Tsai: The Hot Hot Sun: A Lost Song, Found

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Lin Dai with The Hot Hot Sun 热烘烘的太阳 (林黛)

I have this Chinese melody stuck in my head for many years and I wanted to find it from YouTube but I didn't know its title. I asked friends and musicians but to no avail. I searched in vain on YouTube without knowing its Chinese title nor its singer.

Then, very recently and out of the blues, a good friend** asked me if I could find a song for him. He whistled it on WhatsApp and sent it to me. Now, that was a good move, whistling it for others to hear.

I was surprised because it was the same song that I was searching for and learned as a child. I circulated it on WhatsApp to about 10 friends, among them a student friend* of mine whose father was familiar with Chinese Mandarin songs. What a revelation. 

Delphine Tsai with The Hot Hot Sun 热烘烘的太阳 (蔡幸娟)

Sung by Lin Dai (林黛), it's a youthful and symbolic song about the sun. Such bliss to be able to listen again to a song I lost and found after 60 years. The title is 热烘烘的太阳 which actually means The Hot Hot Sun. 

Enjoy it, my dear readers and friends. I didn't, for so many years.

I have posted two versions where the second video is a new recording by Delphine Tsai. It is clear and clean, with high definition video and fantastic sound recording.

Beautiful Lin Dai (林黛), whose face appeared on huge posters outside the Capitol Cinema whenever she starred in a new movie for Shaw Brothers. She was the sweetheart of most Chinese fans in Singapore and had acted in more than two dozen Chinese films. 

Born in 1934, her shows like Love Without End and The Kingdom and the Beauty were box office hits. Successful on the screen, her own personal story was a tragedy and she took her own life in 1964.

Delphine Cai Yuxuan (蔡幸娟) was born in March 1966 in Taiwan, became a radio and TV pop star when she was only 14. She was a natural talent and was known to sing at Western restaurants during her younger days. 

She won contests various times with her inimitable singing voice, was recognized by Huang Jixiong, a famous musician who had her record many pop hits. Delphine had performed in Singapore a couple of times and is still popular today.

Please share your views with me.

This post is specially dedicated to 

Joycelyn, Yen and Eddy Eng.

Images: A Private Collection and YouTube.