My Songwriting Journey: Original Song No.2 - 我们的心跳 (Our Heartbeat)

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"I always get stuck in writing songs."
"Find someone to write together then!"

And so I did.

By an odd coincidence, me and my friends manage to write a song in a short period of time and I get to perform this song in UCMA's 1st year Anniversary Celebration at Empty Cup Coffee House about a month ago.

UCMA (University College Music Association Malaysia)

UCMA is a non-profit association that helps provide a platform for local tertiary students who are passionate & talented in songwriting to showcase their talent, and for their originals songs to gain exposure & recognition from the mass media. And I am one of the committee. :)

The CNY song that I recorded with 2 other singers (which I shared on Steemit on Feb), was actually written by UKM (Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia) students. They are one of the few originals that UCMA scouted for 8TV CNY album song recruitment project.

So back to the story. The president of UCMA, Kenn requested all committee to write a song and perform during the event. As I was cracking my head on what song to write, Kenn approached me and said..

Let's write a song about Malaysia!"

Aha this is interesting! Let's do it!

What comes to your mind when you think of Malaysia?

Hibiscus - Our national flower

Teh Tarik ("pulled tea") - A hot milk tea beverage commonly found in coffee shops in Malaysia

Mamak - A 24/7 eatery operated by Indian Muslims that serve Mamak delicacies like roti canai, teh tarik, nasi kandar etc

Nasi Lemak ("fat rice") - A Malay fragrant rice dish cooked in coconut milk & pandan leaf, and comes with basic condiments like anchovies, ground nuts, egg, cucumber etc.

Ok it feels like I'm writing a Malaysia food post now. Hahaha look at all those mouth-watering food pictures! Oh my! Malaysian food is DA BEST! ❤

So What's In The Lyrics?

I manage to give a simple basic words & idea for the lyrics (like the food examples above haha). We decided to do this song in Mandarin as my friend is more well verse in that language. Even so, we still had to google the synonym words that rhymes or sounded nice/flowery. Definitely squeezed our brain juice for this. Now I know why some artists use up to years to produce an album!

For the Verse, we tried to incorporate Malaysia's food/scenery into the lyrics. Sadly we didn't manage to insert Nasi Lemak, because we couldn't think of elegant word for Nasi Lemak. Hence replacing it with coconut tree instead. Hahaha. 😁

Then for the Pre Chorus, it is about the reality of human behaviors & mindsets of the society today. The greed for power, fame and money had complicate the simplest things in life - conscience, friendship, love.

Chorus is what we wish and hope to see in Malaysia. We hope everyone fight lesser and hug each other more. To be less pretentious and give praise to each other more. Lesser accusation, more understanding. Lesser misunderstanding, more unity.

So What's In The Melody?

Its in C key. Simple chords. Not anything fancy, since it was written quite last minute. It started with Kenn humming few notes in the beginning and I try to get the feel and finish the whole line of melody. Basically just let the creativity in my brain to flow and not pressuring myself with all the what IFs. "What is the song turns out not ok... What if the song is too simple..." bla bla bla..

The melody is finally out, so I was thinking if I could get someone else to help me improve the song. And I recalled of this new friend whom I got to know recently. She said "If you have any new originals in future, just pop over to my house and share with me. I'll be happy to help!". Her name is Grace Cho. She's a Korean who have been residing in Malaysia for almost 10 years. She's now a keyboardist in a local band called Fazz.

When I met her, I explained about the meaning of the song and played once for her. Her feedback was.. "This song sounds peaceful." hahaha. She then went ahead helping me to change and add certain chords to enhance the song. As the chord changes, I had to make slight changes to the original melody, just to make it sound better. She helped to create the melody for intro & interlude too.

So here you go! I've attached a simple translation below, for those who do not understand Mandarin language.

我们的心跳 (Our Heartbeat)

词曲 Lyricists/Composer： Michelle Loh, 野田弘
编曲 Song Arranger ： Grace Cho Hee Won

Verse 1:

陽光下的紅花璀璨
The red hibiscus under the sun
熱帶雨林奔放
Beautiful rain forest
回憶少年時光
Memories of childhood
椰樹上害羞的芬芳
The fragrance of coconut
撲鼻的拉茶香
The smell of Teh Tarik
說話聲嘹亮
The atmosphere of people speaking loud loudly (in mamak)

Pre-Chorus:

人們的思想過於囂張
The arrogant mind in human being
像荊棘裡 爬行的慾望
Like the crawling twisty vines
想要太多 抓著不放
So much to hold on to
忘了本來就那麼簡單
We forgot everything was so simple back then

Chorus 1:

少一點爭吵多一點擁抱
Let's fight less hug more
少一點偽裝 多一點稱讚
Be less pretentious and praise each other more
當個 純真思想的色盲
Let our mind be as pure as the color blind (meaning not to see skin colour - racism)
這裡就多一份希望
And we will see the light of hope here (in Malaysia)

Verse 2:

遊樂園善忘的小光
The forgetful Siao Guang (Chinese race)
阿里姆都相伴
Playing together with Ali & Muthu (Malay & Indian race)
友情這麼簡單
Friendship was that simple (to Pre-Chorus)

Chorus 2:

少一點責備 多一點諒解
Let's blame lesser And understand each other more
少一點誤會 多一點團結
Lesser misunderstanding More unity
謙虛 羽毛在空中翱翔
The motion of shuttlecock in the air
我們的心跳 我們的驕傲
Our heartbeat Our pride

This is our home Our love
Our home Our love Our pride

Yay! Finally 2nd original song - Done!

On my right Kenn Yeap, the co-songwriter and on my left Grace Cho, the music arranger. It has been a humbling experience to write with this two talented duo and see how our strengths has helped each other's weaknesses. I'm not good in words/vocabulary, so I gave ideas and Kenn put the thoughts into beautiful words. I'm not good in arranging songs, thus I gave the melody, and Grace helped to beautify the chords. It made me realize, we can do so much when we are in a team, rather than doing it alone.

Thank You Lord for this 2nd song. Thank You for placing favorable people around me to have this awesome experience of co-songwriting. This song is not perfectly done, definitely have room of improvements, but surely a progress to me. pat pat on my shoulder. More to come! 😊

Over the years, I've learnt that I don't have to be perfect to start anything. In fact, no one else is. I just have to do whatever I know now, at where I am, with every resource I have. :)

YOU CAN DO IT TOO!

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