ORIGINAL VERSION BY TERESA TENG (Mandarin and Japanese - note that this song was originally a Japanese song, so Teresa Teng is actually attributed with the greatest cover version of that Japanese hit)
Then followed by a series of cover versions, listed in the order in which I like them…(Note, there are probably countless other professional versions out there, including a Vivian Chow version that I gotta get! Anyone have that song from her 1995 concert???).
Joey Yung
Jane Zhang
Delphine
Faye Wong
Cass Phang
Joanna Wang
GiGi Leung
Leon Lai
S.H.E.
a-Du
Jacky Chan (kung fu movie star)
BiBi
Lyrics
Teresa Teng - Wo Zhi Zai Hu Ni
rúguǒ méiyǒu yùjiàn nǐ 如果没有遇见你 If I do not meet you
wǒ jiāng huì shì zài nǎli 我将会是在哪里 where will I be?
rìzi guò de zěnmeyàng 日子过得怎么样 how will I complete my day?
rénshēng shì-fǒu yào zhēnxī 人生是否要珍惜 will I treasure life?
yěxǔ rènshi mǒu yī rén 也许认识某一人 will I know someone?
guò zhe píngfán di rìzi 过着平凡的日子 will my days be ordinary?
bùzhīdào huì bù huì 不知道会不会 I do not know if I will,
yěyǒu àiqíng tián rú mì 也有爱情甜如蜜 also have a sweet love like honey.
-----REFF----- rèn shíguāng cōngcōng liú qù wǒ zhǐ zàihu nǐ 任时光匆匆流去我只在乎你 Let time flies. I only care about you.
xīngānqíngyuàn gǎnrǎn nǐ di qìxī 心甘情愿感染你的气息 I'm willingly to be influence by the way you are.
rénshēngjǐhé nénggòu dédào zhījǐ 人生几何能够得到知己 How many times in our live we can get a close friend?
shīqù shēngmìng di lìliang yě bù kěxī 失去生命的力量也不可惜 Loosing life strength is also not a pity.
suǒyǐ wǒ qiú qiú nǐ bié ràng wǒ líkāi nǐ 所以我求求你别让我离开你 So I beg you,do not let me leave you.
chúliao nǐ, wǒ bùnéng gǎndào yī sīsī qíngyì 除了你,我不能感到一丝丝情意 Except you,I do not feel affection for somebody else.
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rúguǒ yǒu nàme yī tiān 如果有那么一天 If there is one day,
nǐ shuō jíjiāng yào líqù 你说即将要离去 you say you are going to go away immediately.
wǒ huì míshī wǒzìjǐ 我会迷失我自己 I will be lost.
zǒurù wúbiān rénhǎi lǐ 走入无边人海里 I will walk in the crowd.
bùyào shénme nuòyán 不要什么诺言 I do not want any promise.
zhǐyào tiāntiān zài yīqǐ 只要天天在一起 I only want to be together everyday.
wǒ bùnéng zhǐ yīkào 我不能只依靠 I can not only depend
piànpiàn huíyì huó xiàqù 片片回忆活下去 on pieces of memory to go on.
Dad is one of the greatest musicians in New York City, with the ability to adeptly handle any instrument from the East. His passion for 50 years of his life has always been Yeut Kook (Cantonese / Chinese Opera) - singing, playing, and composing. You can say if there were a Hall of Fame or Walk of Fame for Cantonese Opera, my dad's handprints would be on show-case display. He is legendary in the NYC Chinese Opera circles. OK, so I brag a bit ...
Growing up as a 6 foot tall handsome man, coming over from Toisan to work in the sweatshops, marrying a local beauty queen teenager from the HK ghetto's, gambling away everything the family had, and making a personal comeback at the age of 50 after the kids all grew up and matriculated into adulthood.
For Chinese New Year celebrations this past Saturday, his troupe was summoned to perform at Chinatown's Jong Wah Gong Sau, and I was glad to have been able to catch part of this past Saturday's performance.
When I was a child, I used to take for granted his talent. I would join him and mom at the New York Chinese Opera club and I'd play in that dilapidated loft above Canal Street. While the "adults" sang away into the wee-hours of the morning (sometimes 2am or 3am on Saturdays), I'd be goofin' with the other little kids - stacking the mah jong tiles, bullshiting, or teasing each other. We, the little ones, would completely crash out of tire by about midnite and sleep through the rancor until our parents woke us up.
======================================== When my dad saw me shoot up from a kneeing position in front of the stage to capture a closeup, he nodded to me in acknowledgement, kept his cool, and played on until the set was over. I think inside, he was very happy to see me that afternoon.
Afterwards, we went backstage amidst all the smoke and Toi-san dialect, and we said hello to my dad. I was very proud like as though he were my child having just completed his first piano recital. Talk about role-reversal!
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Below is my dad looking "yau-ying" cool backstage, taking a puff with the boys during an intermission. Because he's my dad, I brashly give myself the VIP treatment and I just go backstage and take photos without anyone throwing me out. I rock.
Here my dad takes a bow when the MC introduces all the "Si fu's".
This below photo is from the original Chinese Benevolent Association and Cantonese Opera at 231 Canal Street. There were only 2 or 3 such joints back then. Nowadays, more have sprung up, but surely sans the history and charm of the original (if you consider smoke-browned ceilings and linoleum floor tiles charming!). Hanging in a slant from the top of the walls, portraits all-stars from decades past remind us of the legacy they've left behind for other New York Chinese immigrants to follow. Yes, the pip-squeek on the right is me.
This is my dad, backstage, back in 1965?
This is my mom and dad's impersonation of Maggie Cheung and Tony Leung, circa 1971. Lol, my brother was such a pig!
Some of you might already have seen the below photo of dad and I at the basement joint under 230 Bowery. My Arizona friend and I paid them a visit in Sept 2007 and the musicians coerced my dad to step on stage to belt one out for his son. Prior to that moment, my dad, with his shortness of breath, had not crooned on stage in years. His performance that stormy Fall afternoon left me very teary-eyed.
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