Jump to content
Chinese-Forums
  • Sign Up

Banned Songs


Recommended Posts

Posted

Quite rare to come across even a semi-official banned list of anything in China, so this on Danwei.org is interesting. So what's your favourite banned song?

Posted

My favourite is 何日君再來 he2 ri4 jun1 zai4 lai2 by Zhou Xuan

&lm=16777216"]

&lm=16777216"]link

(opens player!)

何日君再来

曲:刘雪庵词:贝林

编:ansen

好花不常开好景不常在

愁堆解笑眉泪洒相思带

今宵离别后何日君再来

喝完了这杯请进点小菜

人生难得几回醉不欢更何待

(白)来来来喝完这杯再说吧.

(白)来来来再敬你一杯.

今宵离别后何日君再来

Ha! Just tried to Google the characters for Zhou Xuan and it disables the Google page here on the Mainland! Still quite sensitive then~

Posted

I'm a big Luo Dayou fan, and the banned songs of his are actually pretty good. 侏儒之歌 is a biting take-down of Deng Xiaoping (flash version here), and 京城夜 is an absolutely phenomenal song.

The lyrics to 改变1995 are worth a listen, even if the song itself is pretty lackluster - a take on the Hong Kong/Taiwan/Mainland entertainment world in the late 90s.

Posted

红旗下的蛋. It's from Cui Jian's "Public Enemy" period, and how can you not love a song called "Balls Under the Red Flag?"

(Incidentally, it may be banned on the radio, but I've definitely seen it at karaoke.)

Posted

Cui Jian. Interesting that Yi wu suo you is not on that list... not sensitive anymore?

Rose and zhwj, thanks for your links! I had heard of Zhou Xuan but never heard her, and I had never heard of Luo Dayou and he sounds very interesting.

Posted

*

Looking at the list at Danwei.org I notice China Nights 《支那之夜》 which is the Japanese song 'Shina No Yoru', an important historical song.

SNY is the theme song in the movie with the same title 1940 as the Japanese occupied China.

-----------------

http://imdb.com/title/tt0183773/

Shina no yoru (1940)

Directed by Osamu Fushimizu

Plot Summary:

Wartime propaganda filmed by the Japanese in occupied China, Shirley Yamaguchi portrays an orphan rescued from the streets by a kind Japanese merchant marine officer. Part spy thriller and part Shanghai travelogue, it was part of a popular series known as "Chinese Continental Friendship" made by the occupying Japanese in China.

Summary written by gleywong@erols.com

------------------

http://www.itazuke.org/jukebox2.htm

beautiful, haunting, an accurate version which brings us all back to Tokyo, Yokosuka, and other streets of the '50s, as "China Night" poured from a thousand bars.

SNY achieved its peak popularity during the Korean War (1950-53) as the GI's (on R&R) picked the song up in Japan and brought it back to Korea.

[pop=/zhī]支[/pop][pop=Na/nā]那[/pop][pop=/zhī]之[/pop][pop=night/yè]夜[/pop]

Shina No Yoru (China Night)

- probably composed 1935

- Lyrics by Yaso Saijyo

- Music by Nobuyuki Takeoka

- sung by: Hamako Watanabe/Harumi Miyako/Yoshiko "Shirley" Yamaguchi

The Original Version:

Shina no yoru

Shina no yoru yo

Minato no akari

Murasaki no yo ni

Noboru janku no

Yume no fune

Aa wasurarenu

Kokyu no ne

Shina no yoru

Yume no yoru

Shina no yoru

Shina no yoru yo

Yanagi no mado ni

Lantan yurete

Akai torikago

Shina musume

Aa yarusenai

Ai no uta

Shina no yoru

Yume no yoru

Shina no yoru

Shina no yoru yo

Kimi matsu yoru wa

Obashima no ame ni

Hana mo chiru chiru

Beni mo chiru

Aa wakaretemo

Wasuraryo ka

Shina no yoru

Yume no yoru

What a night in China,

What a night in China

Harbour lights,

Deep purple night,

Ah, ship,

The dream ship

I can't forget

The sound of the Kokyu.

Ah, China night,

A dream night.

What a night in China,

What a night in China,

Over the willow window,

A ramp was shaking,

Chinese lady

Was there like a bird,

Singing love songs,

Sad sounding love songs

Ah, China night,

A dream night.

What a night in China,

What a night in China,

I was waiting in the parapet

There was this girl in the rain

The rouge on her cheeks

Like flowers in bloom,

Forever, I will remember

Even after we separated,

Ah, China night,

A dream night.

Source:

Club Nisei Japanese Music of Hawaii CD

available from: www.cordinternational.com

- China Nights was popular during the years preceding WWII.

Kokyu in verse 1, stanza 8 is a Chinese musical instrument.

Translated by Yoko Nuuhiwa

-

Posted

*

Asking people here who understands Japanese.

Second verse, 4th stanza of 'Shina No Yoru':

Lantan yurete

which was translated as:

A ramp was shaking

imo 'lantan' or 'rantan' here means 'lantern', so the correct translation should be:

A (paper?) lantern was shaking

The translator is probably half Japanese and wrote 'ramp' but meant 'lamp' :mrgreen:

So I would (after also consulting other sources) offer the following translation:

A night in China,

What a night

Harbour lights,

Deep purple night,

A Junk sails

A dream ship

Ah, ah, I can't forget

The sound of the Kokyu.

China night,

Night of dreams.

A night in China,

What a night,

In the willow window,

A lantern was shaking,

A red bird cage,

A Chinese girl,

Ah, sadly

singing love songs,

China night,

Night of dreams.

A night in China,

What a night,

Waiting for you

In the rain at Obashima

Flowers in bloom,

Like the rouge on her cheeks,

Ah, ah, even after we have part

I will forever remember,

China night,

Night of dreams.

Evaluating SNY (one of my all time favourites):

imo SNY could only be compared to the song 'Lilli Marleen' regarding its 'status' during WW II. SNY in East Asia, LM in Europe.

Both songs had been listened and cherished by allies and enemies alike at both sides of the (battle) Front.

http://ingeb.org/Lieder/lilimarl.html

MP3's of the historical versions of LM could be heard here:

http://ingeb.org/garb/lmarleen.html

-

Posted

Sometimes, artists are banned for no apparent reason.... I do like Cui Jian and understand why his lyrics could have been censored but someone like coco lee is just not worth the time the censors spend on her IMHO

Posted

The Rolling Stones, who have just played in Shanghai, were "asked" not to play some of their songs.

I'll quote the main bits as the BBC news site isn't directly available in China :

Ahead of the concert on Saturday, the Chinese government asked that the band not play the songs Brown Sugar, Honky Tonk Woman, Beast of Burden and Let's Spend the Night Together because of their suggestive lyrics.

...

"Fortunately, we have 400 more songs that we can play so it's not really an issue," said Sir Mick.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/4891456.stm

Join the conversation

You can post now and select your username and password later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Unfortunately, your content contains terms that we do not allow. Please edit your content to remove the highlighted words below.
Click here to reply. Select text to quote.

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...