怎去猜想這夢會變真? - The Lyrics

(Better hurry up and finish my recollection...otherwise I'll forget all the details. HA!)

Often I get asked... "How is your Chinese so good?!"  I'll be first to admit... my Chinese is 本桶水.  All my Chinese comes from years and years of watching TVB... listening to Cantopop... reading 港漫... and oh... those 9 years of Chinese School at St. Mary's.  And don't even get me started on Mandarin Chinese.  If I'm at elementary school level for Cantonese Chinese, my Mandarin is probably at K or Pre-K.

Throughout these years... I've figured out patterns and shortcuts.  I've been able to borrow or even, plagiarize here or there.  But regardless of how much you can leverage off other people's work... there comes a time when it truly is inspiration.

Filling in the lyrics for these songs was like the recent stock market.  At times... I can sit and crank out verses up on verses.  Other times... I'm stuck.  I research other lyrics from similar genre - sometimes I get 1-2 phrases.  Most of the time, it's fruitless.  My method of finding words that rhyme is very archaic. I literally, go through the letters of the English alphabet, one at a time, sounding out words to see if a word exists.  "SCORE!!!"  if it exists... "NEXT....." if it doesn't.  If it exists.... I quickly jot it down like I've uncovered some hidden treasure on my safari.

Then with Cantonese... there are 9 tones. So even if a word "rhymes", the word won't fit unless it's the right "tone."  And if it's the right "tone", I'm stuck trying to find a phrase that fits it's meaning.  Over and over.... day and night... traffic and no traffic... Sitting on the stall or sitting at my desk.  I've scribbled on so many pieces of paper that I've lost track of the number of iterations I've gone through.

And to top it off.... I hold myself to a certain high standard that these lyrics have got to have some depth and meaning.  Unlike the CNY musical I pulled off...this time, it was serious.

Some songs... I got right away.  Some songs... it took a greater part of 3 weeks.  And even then...  I simply gave up and said, "Good enough.  No one will notice."  Astoundingly.... I got soooooooooooooo many accolades from people who were amazed that the lyrics.

One day... I really would like to watch a youtube video or sit with a legitimate lyricist on the art of penning a song.  And now... before the dream comes true... must come the nightmare.....

"つづく"