A similar topic was started on the Open Forum to name songs that remind you of forumosans, but to help include those who may be new to both the forum, and perhaps this tiny little island we longer-termers call…Taiwan, what are some songs that pop into your head at certain moments in Taiwan or things that remind you of certain songs?
Example: For me, Soul Coughing’s “Walk Around in Circles” comes to mind whenever I am trying to cross at the intersection of Dun Hua S. Rd. and Ren Ai Rd.
Include lyrics if you want to justify your selection.
But seriously for a moment, what’s up with stores and restaurants playing vulgar rap songs at high volume? The other day I was in McD’s and they were playing Eminem over the loudspeakers. I guess they just mindlessly think it’s “cool” without even bothering to understand the outrageously offensive lyrics. For that matter, why do they have to blast out high-volume music EVERYWHERE you go? As if this island didn’t have enough noise pollution, they have to pile on even more for no good reason! Every internet cafe, every restaurant, every department store, all those extremely obnoxious trucks blaring advertisements from their loudspeakers…is there any place to get away from the NOISE!
So, the song I’d like to request played all around Taiwan at least once every day would be John Cage’s 4’33.
Wo de shenghuo hen fang dang
Meitian chou
Wo de shenghuo hen fang dang
Meitian mo
Wo de shenghuo hen fangdang
Xiang yi zhi gou
Wo de shenghuo wo de shenghuo
But for some people I know they think it’s more like:
Hotel California (lyrics slightly altered)
On a green coloured freeway
Exhaust in my hair
Warm smell of choudofu
Rising up through the air
Up ahead in the distance
I saw a shimmering light
My head grew heavy, and my sight grew dim
I had to stop for the night
There she stood at the binlang stand
I heard the garbage truck’s bell
And I was thinking to myself
This could be Heaven or this could be Hell
Then she lit up a longlife
And she showed me the way
There were voices down the corridor
I thought I heard them say
Welcome to the Hotel Formosa
Such a lovely place
Such a crowded place
Such a lovely face
Plenty of ESL work at the Hotel Formosa
Any time of year
Any time of year (background)
You can find it here
You can find it here
Her mind is SOGO twisted
She’s got her Daddy’s benz
She’s got a lot of pretty, foreign boys
That she calls friends
How they dance on the bar top
Sweet summer sweat
Some dance to get laid
Some dance for the rent
So I called up the laoban
Please bring me my gatorade
He said
We haven’t had that drink here since 1998
And still those voices are calling from far away
Wake you up in the middle of the night
Just to hear them say
Welcome to the Hotel Formosa
Such a lovely Place
Such a dirty Place (background)
Such a lovely face
They’re livin’ it up at the Hotel Formosa
What a nice surprise
What a nice surprise (background)
Bring your alibies
Binlang juice on the sidewalk
Warm beer on ice
And she said
We are all just prisoners here
Til our ARC expires
And in the expat nightclub
They gathered for a sleaze
They pick up anything that moves
And shag in MTVs
Last thing I remember
I was running for the door
I had to find a quick flight back to the place I was before
Relax said the nightman
We are programed to recieve
You can check out any time you like But you can never leave
Bri, you should have been around when the Shadow Teachers were teaching, drinking, smoking and recording.
I have the two-cassette tape of songs and ramblings, does anyone else? http://www.wardspring.com/music/shadowteachers.html
This was all done at the apartment on Hoping East Road, No. 222.
Ironlady, I also get “Walk Like an Egyptian” in my head, but instead of when driving, it’s when I’m walking behind a family of four all holding hands across sidewalk and stopping randomly randomly to tie shoelaces, gawk at dogpoop or whatever. For me, the lyrics are “Walk Like an Id-i-oooooot”.
And although it’s not Taiwan-related, I’d like to say that Cocteau Twins’ “Road, River and Rail” always reminds me of arriving in Beijing.
Finally, on the subject of nasty music played in public places: when I was in Mainland China, about 10 years ago, I was riding on a train and heard the extremely nasty version of “I So Horny” played over the PA system. I’m pretty sure I was the only person on the train who knew what it was. I asked the conductor later on if they knew how “impolite” (at the time, I didn’t know how to say “nasty” in Mandarin) it was. They didn’t really care.
It may have been Camelot for Jack and Jacqueline
But on the Che Guevara highway filling up with gasoline
Fidel Castro’s brother spies a rich lady who’s crying
Over luxury’s disappointment
So he walks over and he’s trying
To sympathise with her but he thinks that he should warn her
That the Third World is just around the corner
In the Soviet Union a scientist is blinded
By the resumption of nuclear testing and he is reminded
That Dr Robert Oppenheimer’s optimism fell
At the first hurdle
In the Cheese Pavilion and the only noise I hear
Is the sound of someone stacking chairs
And mopping up spilt beer
And someone asking questions and basking in the light
Of the fifteen fame filled minutes of the fanzine writer
Mixing Pop and Politics he asks me what the use is
I offer him embarrassment and my usual excuses
While looking down the corridor
Out to where the van is waiting
I’m looking for the Great Leap Forwards
Jumble sales are organised and pamphlets have been posted
Even after closing time there’s still parties to be hosted
You can be active with the activists
Or sleep in with the sleepers
While you’re waiting for the Great Leap Forwards
One leap forward, two leaps back
Will politics get me the sack?
here comes the future and you can’t run from it
If you’ve got a blacklist I want to be on it
It’s a mighty long way down rock 'n roll
From Top of the Pops to drawing the dole
If no one seems to understand
Start your own revolution and cut out the middleman
In a perfect world we’d all sing in tune
But this is reality so give me some room
So join the struggle while you may
The Revolution is just a T-shirt away
Waiting for the Great Leap Forwards
Wo de shenghuo hen fang dang
Meitian chou
Wo de shenghuo hen fang dang
Meitian mo
Wo de shenghuo hen fangdang
Xiang yi zhi gou
Wo de shenghuo wo de shenghuo
Brian[/quote]
Before I get on to the others, Dude Bu, come on bro, Fang dang - detached - … Nah!. The rest after a nap.
Every now and then, if I’m conscious of being stared at, the following lyrics come to mind:
[quote=“Natalie Merchant / Wonder / from Tigerlily”]Doctors have come
From distant cities
Just to see me
Stand over my bed
Disbelieving what they’re seeing
They say I must be one of the wonders
Of God’s own creation
And as far as they can see they can offer
No explanation
Newspapers ask
Intimate questions
What confessions
They reach into my head
To steal the glory
Of my story
They say I must be one of the wonders
Of God’s own creation
And as far as they can see they can offer
No explanation…
People see me
I’m a challenge
To your balance
I’m over your heads
How I confound you
And astound you
To know I must be one of the wonders
Of God’s own creation
And as far as you can see you can offer me
No explanation[/quote]
