"Song" [Lo Ta-yu]

"Song" [Lo Ta-yu]

First line of lyrics: When I am dead, my dearest

Ta-yu, Lo; music (Taiwanese, born 1954)

Rossetti, Christina Georgina; text (English, 1830-1894)

Zhimo, Xu; translation (Chinese, 1897-1931)

1977 [publication]

genre: song|popular music

origin: Taiwan

male composer

Chinese

Rossetti poem(s): "Song" ("When I am dead, my dearest")

Performance history: The song first appeared in an Asian film entitled "Shiny Days" and on the soundtrack for the film "Shiny Days OST" in 1977, when Lo Dayou had just graduated from medical school. This song was one of his very first. (Wu)

Recordings: "罗大佑 - 歌." YouTube, uploaded by Lingfeng Shi, 15 August 2009, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9CJ754acMN8.

Notes: The lyrics from the original poem were translated by Chinese poet Xu Zhimo, possibly during his time in Cambridge at King's College. The specific years are not officially known; however, his poem entitled "Leaving Cambridge" is written in 1922, so it it is possible that Xu Zhimo translated Rossetti's "Song: When I Am Dead, My Dearest" around this time (Xu Zhimo).

Format 1: performance video

running time 2 minutes and 43 seconds

Other data reference(s): "Xu Zhimo: Chinese Poet." Encyclopaedia Britannica, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Xu-Zhimo. Accessed 16 Apr. 2018.
Wu, Gary. "Re:writing from Ottawa with a Christina Rossetti query." Received by Mary Arseneau. 27 March 2018.

Cataloguer: Stephanie Malette, University of Ottawa

Record: CRM-songwheniamdead-lo

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