Welcome to music critic Miss Dong's column
Share classic music and write original reviews
If you like music, add attention to it
Miss Dong Press: Tribute to the Master Series, the completed chapters include the giants of the word world - Zhuang Nu and Huang Xia, the Hong Kong music master Gu Jiahui, lu Guozhan and Zheng Guojiang, who are known as the three masters of the Cantonese lexicon with Huang Xia, Lin Zhenqiang, Lin Minqiao and the lyricist Mr. Xiang Xuehuai, who are interested in reading the column article list, welcome to subscribe.
Today we will talk about the partner of the first generation of singers Xu Guanjie, Peter Lai, who has made great contributions to the founding of Cantonese pop songs.
Born in 1950, Peter Lai was a Cantonese pop song lyricist who rose to prominence in the mid-1970s, and he teamed up with Hui Guanjie to compose songs in the spoken Language of Hong Kong, kicking off the prelude to the Cantonese pop music scene.
Peter Li was born in the grassroots of the city and was only educated at the primary school level, but even so, it did not affect him to share the stage with the outstanding lyricists of the same period, Huang Xia, Lu Guozhan and Zheng Guojiang, all of whom were high-achieving students who graduated from institutions of higher learning.
(From left to right, Gu Jiahui, Huang Xia, Lu Guozhan and Zheng Guojiang)
Peter Lai's style of dispatching words is also slang and elegant, his depiction of the ghost horse works of the city is witty and humorous, the image is closely rooted in the hearts of the people, and his serious lyrics are also rare to send love songs to yongzhi. Peter Lai, who is deeply influenced by Cantonese opera, pays more attention to the composition of the song and strives to fill in the words and rhyme to the end.
In addition to his early partner Xu Guanjie, Peter Li often cooperated with composers Gu Jiahui and Li Xiaotian to fill in the lyrics for the older generation of singers such as Wen Na Band, Lin Zixiang, Luo Wen, Zheng Shaoqiu, Zhang Guorong, Mei Yanfang, etc., and his representative works include "The Voice of the Prodigal Son", "The Legend of the Hero Who Beats the Bird", "Pear Vortex Shallow Laughter", "The God of Wealth", "Splitting the Iceberg", "Monica" and so on.
Lexicon career
After dropping out of school at an early age, He worked as a newsboy for a living, also worked in a commercial bank and a gas station, and later became a taxi driver, he contributed to the newspaper, because of his excellent writing, the Young Man Weekly opened a personal column for him called "Chaikov Driver's Notes".
When he was a private car driver, he met the owner of the next parking space, Chen You, the drummer of the Wenna Band. So he was invited to write songs for the TV program "Wenna Zhouji" hosted by Tan Yonglin, Zhong Zhentao and other wenna five sons, and with the popularity of the program, Peter Li began to become a little famous.
Once at dinner in a restaurant, after being introduced to Peter Li and getting to know Xu Guanjie, and after a very happy conversation, Xu Guanjie invited Peter Li to fill in the words for his works. At that time, when the "God of Song" was preparing his new album "Half a Pound, Eight Two", Peter Li contributed "The Voice of the Prodigal Son" and "The Legend of the Hero who Fights the Bird" with his mixed-in style of words, which became the classics of singing, and since then the two have opened up a close cooperation between the two.
From 1976's "Half a Pound eight two" to 1982's "Unforgettable You Paper Boat", the two have collaborated on 7 albums in 7 years. In the 1980s, the music scene ushered in a situation of a hundred flowers, Xu Guanjie wanted to seek a breakthrough, and Peter Li, who was in several positions, was also busy, writing columns, doing screenwriters, and occasionally making cameo roles on the screen, gradually fading out of the word world.
With the rise of the "idol faction" in the music world, Lai Xiaotian once again pulled Peter Li out of the mountain, and he created masterpieces such as "Lover Goddess", "Monica", "Splitting the Iceberg" and other masterpieces for Tan Yonglin, Zhang Guorong, Mei Yanfang and others, and Lü Fang, Liang Chaowei, Andy Lau, Xiao Hu, Su Yongkang, Jackie Chan and others also accepted his filler words.
Classic selection
Voice of the Prodigal Son
"The Voice of the Prodigal Son" was included in the 1976 classic album "Half a Pound, Eight Twos" by the singer Hui Guanjie, which has epoch-making significance in the Hong Kong music scene and marks the official formation of the Cantonese pop market.
"The Voice of the Prodigal Son" is full of sobering words, although full of preaching but not disgusting, on the side, it is also a manifestation of the "Hong Kong spirit". Among them, "it is difficult to distinguish between true and false, and people are more sinister and deceitful", "sometimes there must be in fate, and there is no time to demand in fate", which are full of golden sentences.
The Legend of the Fighting Sparrow Heroes
"The Legend of the Hero who Fights Birds" is also included in "Half a Pound, Eight Two", which is a ghost horse work full of rich market style. The tune of this song borrowed the theme song of the popular drama "The Legend of the Eagle Shooter" composed by Huang Xia, but it was filled in as "Song of sparrows". (Mahjong is a sparrow)
Although the lyrics are signed by Xu Guanjie and Li Peter, the singer himself does not know mahjong cards, so it is vaguely possible to see the beginning of it. Combined with the Cantonese dialect, this song depicts all the beings on the mahjong table to the fullest, and is the best BGM (background music) on the table.
Pear Vortex shallow smile
"Pear Vortex Shallow Smile" is a very long and gentle lyric filled in by Peter Li. The literal meaning of the song title is a shallow laugh, laughing out of the pear vortex, but it is written by Peter Li to be affectionate and elegant, lining the elegant situation of the moon.
Pear Vortex smiled lightly, as if inviting the king. Qi Dream light wave, spring supper is still unaware." This ethereal and poetic lyric work fully demonstrates Peter Li's skill in filling in words, not only good at slang, but also with elegant words and shorter than other lyricists.
Monica
Peter Li's "Monica", which Wilbury wrote for Zhang Guorong, is of great significance to both of them. This is also the most beloved masterpiece of Peter Lee's lyric filling career, because this seemingly brisk and lively dance song pours out all the sorrow and depression after being abandoned by his girlfriend.
"Monica" also brought great honors to Zhang Guorong, with this song he won the major awards of the music industry in 84 years, and thus opened the most exciting era of the Chinese music scene - Tan Yonglin and Zhang Guorong competed for supremacy.
Split the iceberg
This song launched in 1986 was composed and lyrics contributed by Li Xiaotian and Peter Li, the original intention of the two was to give Zhang Guorong and Mei Yanfang a chorus, because Mei Yanfang wanted to promote Xu Zhi'an, who was still a newcomer, Zhang Guorong generously gave up this song.
"Split the Iceberg" is a rhythmic high song, of which the chorus part is also Xu Zhi'an's debut in the song world, and the 80s Mei Yanfang typhoon fashion avant-garde, this song can especially be reflected.
postscript
In addition to filling in words and writing columns, Peter Li also wrote for TVB's longevity variety show "Happy Tonight", also wrote screenplays for movies and TV series, and went from behind the scenes to the front of the stage, participating in many roles in film and television dramas. In particular, his partner Zhou Xingchi has created many "stunning" images: "Tang Bohu Dian Qiu Xiang", Mr. Teaching in Washington, and the diners who eat cockroaches in the tea restaurant in "The King of Destruction" and so on.
Although Most of the on-screen Peter Li is a "lewd image", in reality he is a full-fledged upright gentleman, and he has maintained a good friendship with the great beauties Liu Jialing, Maggie Cheung, Guan Zhilin and other people who have become friends because of the drama. He also contributed to the "red bride" of Jacky Cheung and Luo Meiwei, leaving a good story.
For the topic of "Hong Kong Music is dead" in recent years, Peter Lai is also distressed, he said
"I don't want the music scene to be terminal cancer, I still want to revive the music world, the sense of mission is still there, and the brain has not slowed down." Why did Zheng Guojiang write the theme song for "Rushing to the Clouds 2"?
It's because there's still a fire in our hearts and we don't want Hong Kong pop to become extinct. A hundred years from now, people may not know what mahjong is, but when they find the song "The Legend of the Hero of the Sparrow", they will know how we used to play mahjong. ”