Guest Post: 月亮代表我的心 (Yueliang Daibiao Wo de Xin) by 鄧麗君 (Deng Lijun/Teresa Teng)

September 15, 2008 at 11:45 am (* Easy, Chinese lyrics, Cover songs, Female Singers, Guest Posts) (, , )

One would think that, with a typhoon that just kept me home for two straight days, I would have found the motivation to introduce a new song this weekend.  Unfortunately, it wasn’t meant to be. However, here comes Anna to the rescue. Anna is a friend and fellow KTV connoisseur who I met in Taiwan something like 2 years ago (maybe less?). Sadly, she returned home to Holland this summer, bringing an end to our extensive KTV sessions and late chats over beer while fighting off mosquitoes at the bars behind the Red Theater. Thought it’s not the same (and I’m sure there won’t be any Taiwan Beer to be found in Leiden), hopefully she can find some comfort in the loss of convenient KTV via the magic of YouTube. With that in mind, here’s a song Anna would like to share…
This is one of the very first Chinese songs I ever learned, and it’s also an absolute classic. So classic that John Pasden of Sinoplice built an entire page for this one song. Every other singer makes their own cover version at some point in their career (I like David Tao’s, he does something new with it, makes it his own song), every Chinese can sing it, and if a foreigner knows one Chinese song, it’s usually this one.

The lyrics are not too difficult, although when I first learned it I thought that ‘輕輕的一個吻 qingqing de yige wen’, meaning ‘a soft kiss’, said ‘星星有一個問 xingxing you yige wen’, bad grammar Chinese that’s supposed to mean ‘ the stars have a question’. It’s not too difficult to sing either. For extra authenticity, pronounce 的 as ‘di’. Deng Lijun herself does.

This song is from before there were music videos, but there are still plenty to find, like this one:

[Holly's note: Here is the cover version I often see at KTV]

你問我愛你有多深
Ni wen wo ai ni you duo shen

我愛你有幾分
Wo ai ni you ji fen

我的情也真
Wo de qing ye zhen

我的愛也真
Wo de ai ye zhen

月亮代表我的心
Yueliang daibiao wo de xin

你問我愛你有多深
Ni wen wo ai ni you duo shen

我愛你有幾分
Wo ai ni you ji fen

我的情不移
Wo de qing bu yi

我的愛不變
Wo de ai bu bian

月亮代表我的心
Yueliang daibiao wo de xin

Chorus

輕輕的一個吻
Qing qing de yi ge wen

已經打動我的心
Yijing dadong wo de xin

深深的一段情
Shen shen de yi duan qing

叫我思念到如今
Jiao wo si nian dao ru jin

你問我愛你有多深
Ni wen wo ai ni you duo shen

我愛你有幾分
Wo ai ni you ji fen

你去想一想
Ni qu xiang yi xiang

你去看一看
Ni qu kan yi kan

月亮代表我的心
Yueliang daibiao wo de xin

Repeat chorus

你去想一想
Ni qu xiang yi xiang

你去看一看
Ni qu kan yi kan

月亮代表我的心
Yueliang daibiao wo de xin

Wikipedia article on Teresa Teng here (the section on her early death is interesting): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teresa_Teng

Lyrics at KKBOX: http://www.kkbox.com.tw/funky/web_info/9X.mlILpeGCUu0ij0058008X.html

3 Comments

  1. Nathan said,

    September 15, 2008 at 8:55 pm

    What a lovely song – I am a big fan of Teresa Teng.
    Thanks for the write up.

  2. Akira said,

    December 14, 2008 at 4:37 pm

  3. Lisa said,

    January 2, 2009 at 12:42 pm

    I really love this song and this Singer also
    Thanks a lot

Post a Comment