Songs for Leaving a City

Music and Society, Episode 10: Songs for Leaving a City

Beijing

不敢在午夜問路 怕走到了百花深處
One Night in Beijing, by Bobby Chen 陳昇

I was leaving Beijing, again, for god-knows how many times. It was the August of 2018 that I first felt that this song of Chen magically captured my mindset. I was lying on bed, in my old long-gone bedroom, wondering and excited for the next journey in Roma that I would embark on.Beijing is a home though not theoretically “the Home”, but I did “留下许多情”, and to be more accurate, it should be “One Last Night in Beijing”.

The song is another perfect example of traditional Chinese elements (in this case, Peking Opera) with modern pop. Chen is the maestro of this type of songwriting. Another great example is 牡丹亭外. Last December when I was in that karaoke event organized by UM International Center, I could not believe that I forgot to bring this song up.

Bobby, like Anthony Wong, is also another great musician now banned in Mainland China. Bobby is older, but they are both still releasing new songs. In prime, and not censored, they shared great love and vision for the Chinese lands they lived on, and expressed their philosophies unreservedly. Nowadays, with restrictions, they are still trying their best to thrive on the smaller scope they are refined to (Taiwan and Hong Kong), though sadly the Greater Chinese scope is no longer reachable. Wong advocates for rights in HK, while Chen promotes Hokkien and Hakka cultures via his band 新宝岛康乐队. Ironically, despite being banned, they are some of the best artists to express Chinese (broad or local) culture and identities.

不管你愛與不愛 都是歷史的塵埃

Cruelty with a sense of love. My last 3 times in Beijing has gaps of 3 and 4 years. It’s no longer the same, it has a mixture of unfit and warmth. A vivid scene could be: you met a RDFZer in younger generation, walking down the stairs of subway station; you hop on the train on line-4, and the broadcast voice of 海淀黄庄 is no longer pronounced Hai Dian Huang Zhuàng.

Ann Arbor

We owned each other a lot, but I think a closure has already been reached.

Hail! Hail! to Michigan,
the champions of the West!
The Victors, University of Michigan

For example, I only learned this song a considerably long time after I started the program there. And at first I always got the lyrics wrong. If you pronounce the “chi” in Michigan wrong, the lyrics are no longer catchy. When I did, it’d sound like “Hail hail to Mexico” with Spanish pronunciation. And I always changed “West” to “World” (kinda make sense, isn’t?)

He’s got a ticket to ride, and I don’t care
Ticket to Ride, the Beatles

It was desperate and lost moment for me when I first left AA in 2023. Every things were unattached strings, no dots, no ends. Thankfully redemption was completed for me afterwards. AA becomes a close friend. I could not tell why I did not express too much emotions when I left this May, however, the Huron River is forever calm and magnificent; the Island Drive is such a warm community; the Squirrels have the most vibrant lively moves and love my breads; Kerrytown carries an encapsulation of Midwest; the snow, the sky, the herons, people in Bridge Club…

Rome

Chi gli manca la casa, chi vive da solo?
Ma il cielo è sempre più blu, Rino Gaetano

I do not have a song for Roma in particular. I left in the heist of Pandemic. It gave me a unique undergrad experience, a unique relationship, and an imprint of the Eternal City. It is the memory of Roma that finally persuaded me for another adventure here in Milano.

I first heard this song after the 3-month lockdown in 2020, when I was descending the stair of Santa Costanza, a flatmate was cooking and playing this song in kitchen. I couldn’t understand the lyrics, I went pass the photos on the walls of the residence, a fiat car, a portrait of Che Guevara, a nice little garden… It was time with suffering, and sincere hope…

Chi ha crisi interiori, chi scava nei cuori?