Lyrics: Yan Su Composer: Xu Jingqing Performed by: Jiang Dawei Source: CCTV 1988 version of "Journey to the West" end credits Composed: January 1984
Lyrics in full
You carry a burden, I hold a horse Welcome the sunrise, send off the evening The Tang Monk (CCTV version of the "Journey to the West" stills)
Xia Treading through the bumps and bruises, into the big road Fighting against hardships and dangers, and then set off, and again Departure La la la ...... ...... One and a half spring, fall, winter and summer. A scene of sweet and sour, bitter and spicy. I dare to ask where the road is, and the road is beneath my feet. A scene of sweet and sour, bitter and spicy. I'm not sure where the road is, but I'm sure the road is under my feet.
Songwriter
Xu Jingqing was born in Longkou, Shandong Province. He is a national composer. He is a member of the Chinese Musicians Association, the Chinese Filmmakers Association and the Chinese Film Music Society. Xu Jingqing has loved music since he was a child. He used to stand under the telephone pole and listen to the humorous and spicy duet played on the rural radio speakers. In his middle school years, he was already sharp in music composition, not only learning to play erhu, but also learning to play the flute and piano. He is the captain of the school band, he was based on the students to repair the Jixing River reservoir picking soil, tamping labor scene, composed a "Jixing River Reservoir" large joint song. Listening to his classmates humming their own compositions, he had his first real experience of music as spiritual food to bring him the joy of enjoyment. 1965, he graduated from the Harbin Institute of Fine Arts, majoring in composition, he was assigned to the Beijing Agricultural Film Studio (now China Agricultural Film and Television Center) as a composer, for which he created a large number of agricultural science and education documentary film music. His musical works cover almost every field of music creation: folk orchestral music, symphonic music, electro-acoustic music, opera music, etc., showing his multifaceted musical creation talent and profound artistic skills. 1972 to 1980, he successively composed the solo piece of Banhu "Joyful Opening of the Harvest Sickle", the large-scale folk music ensemble "Ussuri, My Hometown", and the concerto piece of yangqin "Jinggang Mountain" as well as the folk music of the domestic household at that time. After 1980, he intervened in movie music creation, and composed music for eight movies, such as the feature film "Danxin Spectrum", "Red Elephant", "September", "Good Night Blood", "OK Big Belly Lohan", "Marry You", etc., which won the love and praise of the audience. Yan Su, playwright. Formerly known as Yan Zhiyang. Originally known as Yan Zhiyang, he was a native of Baoding, Hebei Province. Born in 1930, Yan Su was the leader of the Southwest Youth Literary Troupe after 1950, and joined the Chinese ****productivity party in 1953. He joined the Chinese People's Liberation Army in 1953. He has served as a sub-captain of the Southwest Military Region Literary Troupe, head of the choreography group of the Air Force Opera Troupe, creator of the Air Force Song and Dance Drama Troupe, and a member of the third and fourth sessions of the Chinese Drama Association. The lyrics of "I Love the Blue Sky of the Motherland" and "Going Down to Sichuan" were honored with the Creative Excellence Award of the Third Chinese People's Liberation Army Literary and Artistic Performances in 1964. The opera "Sister Jiang" won the Creative Award of the Fourth Chinese People's Liberation Army Literary Performance in 1977. In 1979, the opera "Remembering Mother" and the Peking Opera "Red Lantern" won the First Prize of the Chinese People's Liberation Army Literary Performance for the 30th Anniversary of the Founding of the People's Republic of China. 1986, he joined the Chinese Writers' Association. In 1986, he joined the Chinese Writers' Association. He is a famous playwright and lyricist. He is a member of the Chinese Writers' Association, vice-chairman of the Chinese Drama Association, and a member of the Chinese Music Association.
Edit Background
The theme song of the TV series Journey to the West, "Dare to Ask Where the Road Leads", has become a household name in China. The song has won many awards in China since it was released, and in 1998, it won the Lion Award of the "First Chinese Film and Television Song" in France. I have always wanted to know about the creation of this song. Finally, in a small office, I talked to Xu Jingqing, the songwriter of the song. "In 1983, I was the tenth candidate for the music of Journey to the West. At that time the song was ready to be used as an interlude, a song full of manliness. However, during the recording, another composer had already chosen a male voice for one of his theme songs, so I had to use Zhang Stormer instead, as the first vocalist, and Zhang Stormer's singing was very distinctive; her voice was soft and supple, and very intrinsic. "After the recording, the band and I, as well as the vocalist, were as calm as if we had accomplished an extremely unusual and ordinary task. No one praised it, no one called it good. On the contrary, some people expressed their dislike, thinking that Journey to the West is mainly about the Monkey King and should be humorous and lively. Others thought it was too poppy, and a critical article in a newspaper pointed out that the 'la-la-la-la ......' was out of place. The song was sent to a publication and returned, saying that it was suspected of spiritual pollution and should not be published. Soon, a senior leader at a meeting criticized the crew to replace the composer, saying that my songs and music were not suitable for the classical masterpiece Journey to the West. My mood was very low, I thought it was over, I could only write some science music for my organization in my life. Then director Yang Jie forcefully affirmed me. "In fact, there was no such thing as a few days of sleepless, floating meditation to write this song. I'm a person who simply doesn't write if I'm not in the mood when I'm composing. A good song doesn't get better the more work you put into it, sometimes it backfires. Instead, there is often a flash of inspiration, a spark that comes out of nowhere, and then you should hold on to it and follow the feeling that strikes your heart to think and create. Of course, this situation is not all diamonds, and sometimes you will also catch a stone, straw, a class of ...... remember that day, about the winter, sitting on the public **** car to see the snowflakes outside the window and hurrying to rush pedestrians, the brain suddenly came out of the 'a number of spring, fall, winter and summer! ......' this melody, the heart is so excited, hurry out of the car, from a passing child's schoolbag borrowed a pencil, leaning on a pole to this moving sentence on the cigarette case. After returning to the desk from the first line 'you pick the burden, I hold the horse' write, the whole process of about two hours, in the state of excitement has been difficult to feel good or not, so put on the table, completely do not want to vacant two days later, and changed two notes, the song is completed. "Writing a song does not necessarily start from the first sentence, just like a director shooting a movie does not necessarily start from the first shot of the script. Start writing by grabbing the place that excites you the most, and you might get a great line. The melodic line 'Some times spring, fall, winter and summer ......' is the climax and the most moving part of the song. "It's a song that people have grown to accept and love. This may be the reason why 25 episodes of the TV series are aired so often, so imagine a song listened to a couple of 25 times should pretty much get the hang of it as well. "Writing a song is mainly about turning an inner feeling into notes through lyrics; it's not words or images, and it's not something that words can say. That's why different songwriters will have different feelings about the same thing. If the first thing you think about when writing a song is how perfect the form is, and how skillful the compositional techniques and methods are, then what you write is just a bunch of regular notes, and it will never be a touching and good song." The theme song of Journey to the West should be said to be both atmospheric and ethnic flavor, the combination of lyrics and music complements each other, and although it was written sixteen years ago, it still sounds touching and angry today, especially Jiang Dawei's singing, which brings the song into full play, and is said to be the best version of the song. The music of "Dare to Ask Where the Road Leads" and "Journey to the West" is Xu Jingqing's success and fame. Over the past twenty years he has composed nearly one hundred film and television music, and the most important feature of his film and television songs is the fusion of national style and the atmosphere of the times. This is reflected in the theme songs of TV dramas such as Woman is not the Moon, Song Qingling and her Sisters and Half of the House, as well as Hongyi Master, Love Debt and Zhou Xuan, all of which he has composed in recent years. He said to the author: "the understanding of the music of the national style, except in special circumstances can not be copied, move and copy that is the artist's way, will only make your music creation road narrower and narrower. Should be national, folk things chewed up, eat through, into their own cells, so that then write out the work has its own characteristics.
Edit this section of the lyrics to appreciate:
The song's upper and lower two que lyrics are by "you pick the burden, I hold the horse," led by this sentence, we seem to see the mang dust and sand, the distant end of the world, the pig eight quit holding a white horse, Monk Sha picking the burden, the four masters and disciples in the vast western sky on the road to fetch the scriptures walking scene. The four masters and disciples are walking on their way to fetch scriptures in the vast Western sky. The upper section of the "usher in the sunrise send away the evening sun, tread flat bumps into the road" and the lower section of the "over the mountains and wade through the water, two shoulders frost flowers, wind, clouds, thunder and lightning to rebuke" is written on the road to the west, although the road is distant and dangerous, but the Tang Monk, teacher and disciple, defying the difficulties and dangers of the four, tread flat bumps over the mountains and the mountains, sunrise and night fall, let you fly flowers fall, and the four walk on the road to fetch scriptures. Night fall, let you fly flowers and snow, let you thunder and lightning rebuke, I am immovable. We have never changed the will of the heart, toward the holy land of the Western Paradise. The phrases "to fight the hardships and dangers and set off again" and "to the end of the world, to the end of the world" remind us of the Monkey King's journey to eliminate demons and devils. As the most important backbone of the Journey to the West team, he is brave and militant, lively and optimistic, to eliminate demons and monsters, repeatedly built a miraculous achievement, for the master of the Tang Monk removed a lot of obstacles, after eighty-one difficulties, and finally accomplished a great success. "A lot of spring, fall, winter and summer, a sweet and sour, dare to ask where the road is, the road is under the feet." This melody line is the climax of the whole song and the most moving place. When I was a child reading novels, have not been able to understand, in accordance with the "Journey to the West" description, the great sage Sun Wukong a somersault one hundred and eighty thousand miles, "said to go, on the vertical somersault clouds, as early as the spirit mountain", not only that, the canopy Marshal Pig Bajie and the Curtain General Sha and the monk will "shrinking the ground law "as long as a little magic, can reach the destination in a twinkling of an eye. If they go to fetch scriptures, it can be said that easy as a hand. But the Tang Monk is a mortal flesh-eye, can not fly, and destined to go through all sorts of trials and tribulations, in order to retrieve the scriptures. Therefore, the sentence "I dare to ask where the road is" is a very good question, "the road is under the feet" - there is no place in the world that cannot be reached, the farthest road is under the feet, and a great A great journey begins from now on. A great journey begins from now on. The sharpness of the sword comes from sharpening, and the fragrance of plum blossoms comes from bitter cold. How to see the rainbow without experiencing some storms - this is also the "Journey to the West" gives us the most touching place.