The Torment of a Flower
| "雨夜花" | |
|---|---|
| Song | |
| Language | Taiwanese Hokkien |
| English title | Torment of a Flower |
| Published | 1934 |
| Composer(s) | Teng Yu-hsien (鄧雨賢) |
| Lyricist(s) | Chou Tien-wang (周添旺) |
The Torment of a Flower (Chinese: 雨夜花; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Ú-iā-hoe; literally: "a flower (or flowers) at rainy night"), also known as Rainy Night Flower, is a Taiwanese Hokkien song composed by Teng Yu-hsien (鄧雨賢; 1906 - 1944) and written by Chou Tien-wang (周添旺).
About
A Taiwanese writer Liau Han-sin (廖漢臣) wrote the lyrics of a children's song "Spring" (春天) and gave it to Teng Yu-hsien to ask him to compose for it, it's the earliest version of The Torment of a Flower. Although Teng is a Hakkan, he usually composed with Taiwanese Hokkien but not Hakkan.[1] It is worth noting that some scholars have questioned this story about children's songs.[2]
In 1934, Chou Tien-wang (周添旺) was working in a record company Taiwan Columbia (古倫美亞唱片), once he went to a nightclub and heard a sad story about a girl worked there. Chou was touched, he decide to rewrite the lyrics of Spring, wrote the story into Teng's music, that is The Torment of a Flower. It's the first work of Teng and Chou with each other. Especially, there was usually three part lyrics in a Taiwanese Hokkien songs then, but there was four parts in The Torment of a Flower.[1]
雨夜花，雨夜花，受風雨吹落地。無人看見，每日怨慼，花謝落塗不再回。
— Chou Tien-wang, The Torment of a Flower
The first part of the lyrics means: "Blossom in a stormy night, pelted to the ground by the rain and wind. All by my lonesome, no one sees my constant grief for the blossom falling into the dirt that has no hope of revival."
During the Second World War, the Japanese Imperial Warlord tampered the lyrics of the song and declared that the Taiwanese under their rule love Japan like in the lyrics in the Japanese version of the song. This is a part of the meanings in the Japanese version: "How excited the honorable Japanese soldiers who wear red ribbons." (紅色彩帶，榮譽軍伕，多麼興奮，日本男兒。)[1]
Singing
- Placido Domingo sung this song with Jody Chiang in Taipei Concert Hall.
- In 2010, S.H.E. song 我愛雨夜花 is a partial cover of The Torment of a Flower.
- Hayley Westenra performed the song at a 2010 concert in Kaohsiung.
- A 2011 television drama series produced by Sanlih Television was inspired by the song.
References
- 1 2 3 Chuang, Yung-ming (3 April 2014). "80年前的今天，雨夜花落知多少？" [How much do we still know about The Torment of a Flower 80 years later?]. The News Lens (in Chinese). Archived from the original on 27 May 2018. Retrieved 27 May 2018.
- ↑ Ch'en, Po-yuan (18 July 2013). "淒美的台灣情懷《雨夜花》" [Beautiful Taiwanese Song The Torment of a Flower]. The Epoch Times (in Chinese). Archived from the original on 27 May 2018. Retrieved 27 May 2018.