[Music] Agnes Chan -- The Circle Game

Agnes Chan

1. Chinese Poem of the Day:


鲁迅 (1881 – 1936)

自嘲

運交華蓋欲何求，未敢翻身已碰頭。

破帽遮顏過鬧市，漏船載酒泛中流。

橫眉冷對千夫指，俯首甘為孺子牛。

躲進小樓成一統，管他冬夏与春秋。


2. Listening to The Circle Game by Agnes Chan brings back a lot of childhood memories.

Agnes Chan has roots in Hong Kong and her cover of The Circle Game came out in 1971.

I was just a few years old and was in Primary school in Hong Kong (= Elementary School in North America) when I first listened to the music of Agnes Chan.

Agnes Chan was just a few years older than me and I suppose I was already a fan of her music at that young age.


3. This is how Wikipedia introduces Agnes Chan: "Agnes Chan or Agnes Meiling Kaneko Chan (traditional Chinese: 陳美齡; simplified Chinese: 陈美龄; pinyin: Chén Měilíng; Cantonese Yale: Chan Mei ling; Japanese: アグネス・チャン) is a pop singer, a television personality (gaijin tarento), a Doctor of Education, a professor at Japanese universities, an essayist, and a novelist. Since 1988 Chan has been a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador and also supports the Japan Committee for UNICEF, a private corporation unaffiliated with UNICEF."

"Agnes Meiling Kaneko Chan" is quite a handful.

"Chan" is her last name.

"Meiling" is the English transliteration of her Chinese given name "美齡".

Agnes Chan married her former manager, Tsutomu Kaneko, in 1986 and she took on her husband's last name as part of her name.


4. Reading Wikipedia's description of Agnes Chan's career makes me realize she has lived a very eventful life.

How does she balance a family life that includes raising three boys, a singing career and an academic career?

Obtaining a Bachelor degree from the University of Toronto and a Doctorate from Stanford University are no mean accomplishment.

And raising three boys must be very hectic in itself.

Wikipedia mentioned Agnes Chan underwent treatment for breast cancer in 2007.

I wish Agnes Chan and her family all the best.


5. The original singer and composer of The Circle Game was the Canadian singer and song writer Joni Mitchell and the song debut in 1966:
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eMMbmXeQqvI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5HXT0bn7QY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AbIuC9hTY9Y

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FcgPLCtYwM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FE5PKLBettc

and many more in YouTube.


6. Agnes Chan singing The Circle Game:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KPnBwQTz75s

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IIry6gX3QEs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVxENv-Sv54


7. Partial cover of The Circle Game with video of Agnes Chan:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPQOiC9og7s

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xDVE3iXjoC0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AyXY9JDHVWA


8. The Lyrics:

The Circle Game -- Joni Mitchell

Yesterday, a child came out to wonder
Caught a dragonfly inside a jar
Fearful when the sky was full of thunder
And tearful at the falling of a star

* And the seasons they go 'round and 'round
And the painted ponies go up and down
We're captive on the carousel of time
We can't return we can only look
Behind from where we came
And go round and round and round
In the circle game

Then, the child moved ten times 'round the seasons
Skated over ten clear frozen streams
Words like, "When you're older", must appease him
And promises of someday make his dreams

Repeat *

Sixteen springs and sixteen summers gone now
Cartwheels turn to car wheels through the town
And they tell him, "Take your time. It won't be long now.
'Til you drag your feet to slow the circles down"

Repeat *

So the years spin by and now the boy is twenty
Though his dreams have lost some grandeur coming true
There'll be new dreams, maybe better dreams and plenty
Before the last revolving year is through.

Repeat *
And go 'round and 'round and 'round in the circle game.


References:

"Agnes Chan", Wikipedia - The Free Encyclopedia,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agnes_Chan
(accessed 2013-01-23).

“Lu Xun”, Wikipedia - The Free Encyclopedia,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lu_Xun
(accessed 2013-01-23).

"陳美齡", Wikipedia - The Free Encyclopedia,
http://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E9%99%B3%E7%BE%8E%E9%BD%A1
(accessed 2013-01-23).

"魯迅", Wikipedia - The Free Encyclopedia,
http://zh.wikipedia.org/zh-hk/%E9%B2%81%E8%BF%85
(accessed 2013-01-23).

End.

[Music] Cass Phang -- Love from another Lifetime

Cass Phang

Posters for Dark Tales (1996)

1. Chinese Verse of the Day:


王國維 (1877 - 1927)

浣谿沙

六郡良家最少年，戎裝駿馬照山川，閑抛金彈落飛鳶。
 
何處高樓無可醉？誰家紅袖不相憐？人間那信有華顚。


2. This blog post is an exercise to exorcise a psychological ghost from my past.

Love from another Lifetime ("隔世情") is the theme song of Hong Kong TVB's TV drama Dark Tales and was sung by Cassapella Phang.

This 35 episodes TV drama was first aired in March, 1996 and was consisted of 6 stories - the first 5 stories are 5 episodes each and the sixth story 10 episodes.

The stories were taken from Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio by PU Songling (1640 - 1715).

These "strange tales" are ghost stories, fox-fairies stories and other stories of a similar kind.

Dark Tales was well produced and Cass Phang interpreted the song very beautifully.

Watching Dark Tales and hearing Love from another Lifetime in the 1990s plunged me into a deep depression that lasted for weeks.

I like to pay tribute to both the drama and the song - a lesser combination would not be able to have that effect on me.

In doing so I hope to exorcise this psychological ghost from my past.


3. I went through more than one spiritual and intellectual crisis in my younger days.

One such crisis was with Existentialism.

The fountainhead of Existentialism was Soren Kierkegaard (1813 - 1855).

According to Wikipedia, the concern of Kierkegaard was that "it is the individual who is solely responsible for giving meaning to life and for living life passionately and sincerely ('authentically')". ("Existentialism", Wikipedia)

Concepts such as "the absurd", "authenticity", "angst" and "despair" are among the basic vocabulary of Existentialism.

After Kierkegaard, Existentialism developed in two streams: an atheistic stream and a religious stream.

In my opinion, the atheistic stream of Existentialism reaches its logical end very quickly in the writings of Friedrich Nietzsche (1844 - 1900).

In a naturalistic universe in which (per Francis Schaeffer):

man = matter + energy + time + chance

there is no meaning and significance to man.

There is nothing but complete silence.

The logical end of atheistic existentialism is nihilism.

Yet according to existentialists, man must live courageously and authentically and give meaning to his own life when objectively there is nothing but complete silence.

Is it any wonder that the basic vocabulary of existentialism consists of words such as “absurd", "angst" and "despair"?

To this day, I have admiration for Nietzsche because he knew the implications of his philosophy and he plunged into the nihilistic void with his eyes wide open.

I have only compassion for Nietzsche when later on in life he suffered complete mental breakdown.


4. Coming back to Dark Tales, there is something very sad when love gives meaning to life but love in life is unfulfilled or unrealized.

"Love from another Lifetime" is a very sad idea.

The human heart yearns for meaning through love and even hopes the love to be eternal.

Yet man dies and love is not completed.

The stories in Dark Tales tried to complete love through magic, coming back from the dead, and love that spans more than one lifetime.

This is hand-waiving and it brought deep sadness in me when I watched this drama in the 1990s.


5. Cassapella Phang singing Love from another Lifetime:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MkeHm02oufA
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yLcj_-HOjvA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7Vc9CB2sek

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xA-GJ7lLTYg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RdaygLujoMA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOxXKLQi3SI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i2nDB_13ezA


6. The Lyrics in Traditional Chinese:


隔世情 -- 彭羚

長夜天空   冷的風
吹過一抹的浮雲
雲聚   雲又散
原是分隔   又再走近
不知不覺已情困
來讓不可思議的也發生
在今夜   望清這癡心女人 HA

* 紅是杯酒   我心口
濺過一片哀或愁
懷念   人漸瘦
擁著你足夠
當天空再次紅透
重現的清早倍教人難受
讓思念   轉身走   還有
從花開花飛一夢中
心傷心碎卻未凍
只因知你摰情仍是和我相同

# 一首歌   一闕詩
千世百世都傳頌
夢散處   誰又不心痛

Repeat *, #, #


7. The Lyrics in Simplified Chinese:


隔世情 -- 彭羚

长夜天空   冷的风
吹过一抹的浮云
云聚   云又散
原是分隔   又再走近
不知不觉已情困
来让不可思议的也发生
在今夜   望清这痴心女人 HA

* 红是杯酒   我心口
溅过一片哀或愁
怀念   人渐瘦
拥着你足够
当天空再次红透
重现的清早倍教人难受
让思念   转身走   还有
从花开花飞一梦中
心伤心碎却未冻
只因知你摰情仍是和我相同

# 一首歌   一阙诗
千世百世都传颂
梦散处   谁又不心痛

Repeat *, #, #


8. Names, Words and Phrases:

Cass Phang (Traditional Chinese: 彭羚; Simplified Chinese: 彭羚)

Dark Tales (Traditional: 聊齋: Simplified: 聊斋).

PU Songling (Traditional: 蒲松齡; Simplified: 蒲松龄).

Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio (Traditional: 聊齋誌異; Simplified: 聊斋志异).


References:

"Existentialism", Wikipedia - The Free Encyclopedia,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Existentialism
(accessed 2013-01-07).

"王國維", Wikipedia - The Free Encyclopedia,
http://zh.wikipedia.org/zh-hk/%E7%8E%8B%E5%9B%BD%E7%BB%B4
(accessed 2013-01-07).

"蒲松齡", Wikipedia - The Free Encyclopedia,
http://zh.wikipedia.org/zh-hk/%E8%92%B2%E6%9D%BE%E9%BE%84
(accessed 2013-01-07).

"聊齋志異", Wikipedia - The Free Encyclopedia,
http://zh.wikipedia.org/zh-hk/%E8%81%8A%E9%BD%8B%E5%BF%97%E7%95%B0
(accessed 2013-01-07).

"聊齋 (1996年電視劇)", Wikipedia - The Free Encyclopedia,
http://zh.wikipedia.org/zh-hk/%E8%81%8A%E9%BD%8B_%281996%E5%B9%B4%E9%9B%BB%E8%A6%96%E5%8A%87%29
(accessed 2013-01-07).

End.