In this section, we have selected five such ‘first-time’ music exercises by young Wong Jim. All of them were created in the turbulent 1960s. As Wong himself probably knew, these were unmistakably exploratory, immature works. But because they were immature, they displayed a directness that bore the honest imprint of a young mind and an untried time.
In his later years, Wong said he treasured his youth. He enjoyed being monkey-like – always naughty, sometimes naïve, perennially playful, forever young. In this sense these Wong Jim exercises are irreplaceable records of a monkey-like character and an era that set free the monkey in all of us.
In the early days of his career, Wong Jim held multiple jobs, and often had to procrastinate on his commitments. The lyrics to this song came way past deadline. Wong himself was not happy with what he wrote. The only thing going for it, he said, was the song title – a kind of twisting pun on the Chinese calendar.
For me, the main interest lies in the singer Yao Su-rong. Wong was full of praise for her expressive singing, which elevated an originally mundane song to become a minor classic. Yao was part of the ‘Taiwan breeze’ that blew hot in Hong Kong popular culture in the early 1970s. The song was Wong’s first personal incursion into the breeze.
Even Wong himself would not be able to foresee he would become part of a breeze that blew across Taiwan popular culture in the early 1990s, when he was the star singer for a multiple platinum record. Sometimes history does move in a funnily unpredictable way.
作曲：川口真
作詞：黃霑
主唱：姚蘇蓉
每年有那三百六十五天
一年每天都要和你見面
要是一天不見你的春風臉
我就淚漣漣
每年有那三百六十五天
一年每天都要你在跟前
要是一天不和你在肩並肩
我就珠淚流滿臉
看着你 看着你
永遠不厭
愛着愛着你
我心永遠不變
我苦苦纏綿
我心甘情願
愛你三百六十年
每年有那三百六十五天
一年每天都要你在跟前
要是一天不和你在肩並肩
我就珠淚流滿臉
每年有那三百六十五天
一年每天都要你在跟前
要是一天不和你在肩並肩
我就珠淚流滿臉
看着你 看着你
永遠不厭
愛着愛着你
我心永遠不變
我苦苦纏綿
我心甘情願
愛你三百六十年
每年有那三百六十五天
一年每天都要你在跟前
要是一天不和你在肩並肩
我就珠淚流滿臉
