Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Eric Suen’s “My Story (我的故事)"

I was listening to a Cantonese radio station on the way to work this morning and a song came on that sparked my interest. The song had a very nice rhythm to it and a 'flow' that made it easy on the ears. It wasn't necessarily a fast song, but it wasn't a slow ballad either -- it was one of those songs that I consider a "勵志" song (meaning 'inspirational')... it actually sort of reminded me of Jacky Cheung's classic hit "壯志驕陽" (a great song, by the way). I especially liked the part near the end of the song with the harmony and background vocals singing along with the artist, making it sound like a group song....

Anyway, this particular radio program has a habit of revealing the name of the song and the artist later on in the program rather than right before or after the song (since they sometimes play a few songs at once), so I was hoping I would get a chance to hear the song name at least before my drive was over. Luckily, this song was the last one in the 'lineup' so a few minutes afterwards, the host came on and recapped the names of the songs and artists. It was then that I found out the name of the song is called "我的故事 (My Story)" by Eric Suen. I was actually surprised because at one point during the song, I had thought the person singing was actually Chi-Lam (Julian) Cheung because it sort of sounded like him at certain parts -- goes to show that I don't listen to Eric's songs often enough to be able to differentiate his voice!

When the host talked about the song, she said that it is from Eric's new album and the music was actually composed by him -- not sure if the lyrics were written by him as well, though I would think so, since it's supposed to be a song about his life and experiences. The host also said that this was a special song and to 'pay attention to the lyrics'.....so of course, this makes me want to listen to the song again, since this was my first time hearing the song and I wasn't really paying attention to the lyrics -- I was too caught up in the wonderful melody….

Needless to say, when I got home, one of the first things I did was to look for this song so I can listen to it again. I found the MV of him singing the song live, which also had the lyrics printed on it. I listened to it again and this time paid attention to the lyrics….I must say that I LOVE the song….the melody is so sweet and the lyrics are so touching! I especially like the chorus, where the lyrics go something like this: “It’s your applause that accompanies me, love is right in front of me, unable to separate between you and me; may this song continue to play in the future, this belief is like a fire, overcome obstacles once again, overcome them together…..” The rest of the lyrics are very moving as well…it’s obvious that Eric wrote this song during the time when he had the illness with his throat because there are references in the song to possibly not being able to sing again and how thankful he is to all the fans who have stuck by him.

I especially like the video segment below in which Eric does a live performance of the song. Near the end of the song, he tearfully tells the story of a fan of his who died in a car accident on her way to buy a birthday gift for him – he used the guitar she gave him to write this particular song, and so he was hoping that the audience could help him out by singing the chorus part with him again and dedicating it to her. It was so touching that I got teary-eyed….

2 comments:

  1. I got a tad teary-eyed too while reading the last bit of Eric's story. I didn't listen yet but probably will later. That is sad and really touching.

    When I heard that Eric was having problem with his vocal and might not be able to sing again, I was shocked and waited for more news. I was glad it was only a delay of his album and NOT a definite halt because that would be a major shame. He's one of the two from the old generation who I still listen to (the other one being Jacky Cheung - of course) so that was a relief for us all that he recovered.

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  2. Yea...I didn't realize the 'story' behind the song until I saw this video...I was definitely touched.

    I was shocked too, but glad that he recovered so well. Though I don't listen to Eric's songs much, I do like him as a person and we also share the same faith. After listening to this song and another one that I heard on the radio this morning (again from his new album), I will probably listen to his songs more now....

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