|
ST PHOTO: ALAN LIM, ST GRAPHIC: ADRIAN SHO
|
AT FIRST, you would think it's a song about wanderlust.
As the melody builds on a flourish of strings, Singaporean singer Kit Chan names an impressive litany of foreign destinations: 'I've walked the streets of Cairo & Bombay/I've seen the neon signs on ole Broadway/I've climbed the Eiffel Tower/The Great Wall in one hour...'
But wait. Chan reaches the chorus, which is also the song title, and sings: 'There's no place I'd rather be.'
Yes, it is this year's National Day theme song with words and melody by Singaporean Jimmy Ye. You have probably seen the video on TV and Chan belting it out at the National Day Parade last Thursday.
The song, though, has been creating buzz for one more reason: It does not mention Singapore by name. It blithely rolls out locations such as Paris' Eiffel Tower and China's Great Wall, but it does not specify any Singapore landmark.
To be fair, There's No Place I'd Rather Be isn't the only National Day theme song which does not spell out Singapore by name. Others include Joshua Wan's My Island Home last year and Tanya Chua's Where I Belong in 2001.
However, Wan's song does touch on the 'island home' while Chua waxes lyrical about her 'sunny island in its glorious greenery'.
In contrast, Ye's song does not allude to Singapore's flora nor its island background. And although its chorus voices the singer's love for his motherland, there is no indication of where this motherland actually is.
Ye, who is in his 40s, defends his lyrics to LifeStyle: 'There are cities that are nicer and more exciting. But we grew up here. It's about where your friends and family are.'
Still, some people find the song's lack of overt reference to the nation odd.
'If you sing the song somewhere else, it can also become a song for that country,' observes Mr Ashley Chua, 35, a representative from the Lee Wei Song School of Music.
His sentiment is echoed by a Singapore blogger called Jzin on eujzin.blogspot.com. In a posting dated June 24, he praises the song for doing away with 'the usual cheesy fast-paced music' found in many National Day Parade songs, but wonders why the lyrics don't mention Singapore.
Jzin adds that the song reminds him of another, I Still Call Australia Home, written by Peter Allen and used in Qantas TV ads.
That song happily mentions foreign locations: 'cities that never close down/From New York to Rio and old London town'. But unlike Ye's song, it makes a reference to its homeland with the line: 'But no matter how far/Or how wide I roam/I still call Australia home'.
No need for hard-sell
THERE'S No Place is the latest in a series of Singapore theme songs - beginning with 1998's Home, written by Dick Lee and sung by Chan - that opt for emotional nuance.
Pop-oriented, these are more subtle than national songs such as Stand Up For Singapore, Count On Me Singapore and We Are Singapore (all in 1988) which are more hard-sell.
'There's no need for it to be so in-your-face just because it's a National Day song,' Ye says, adding that he views his composition as more of a love song than a ra-ra anthem.
Chan, 34, agrees: 'Very often, when you express your sentiments to someone intimate, you don't say their name.'
She also thinks the lyrics reflect the current Singapore mindset: 'People travel a lot more. Their outlook is more globalised, so they can relate to this song.'
Singer Rahimah Rahim, 51, concurs: 'The song is about a traveller comparing the cities he's been to but finding there's nowhere like home. There's nothing wrong with leaving the name out. After all, the visuals for the video are all shot in Singapore.'
Ye says he took about three days to come up with the first draft of the song early this year. It was submitted to the song committee and returned with several changes.
He says there was no mention of why 'Singapore' got left out. 'I guess the committee wanted to have a soft-sell approach, too,' he adds.
Colonel Alvin Kek, chairman of the NDP Show Committee, says that the committee picked There's No Place to be the ballad to accompany the more upbeat Will You - the other theme song for this year. Will You, also written by Ye, was sung by eight local artistes such as Emma Yong, Shabir Mohammed and Sebastian Tan.
Of the two songs, Ye says There's No Place is more personal to him. Having lived abroad for long stretches of time, the erstwhile law lecturer-turned-Mandarin pop singer says the song sums up his feelings for Singapore.
'Though Singapore is not perfect, I will never ditch it. The song is about the Singapore I know and grew up with.'
frankiec@sph.com.sg
Do you think a National Day theme song should include the word 'Singapore'? Send your responses to stlife@sph.com.sg
|
