50 Songs That Touch the World and Their Behind-the-Story (Includes Disc)

Author: Zhu Ruihong
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-03-01
Features: MacArthur once said, "Old soldiers never die; they just fade away." The same goes for old songs. This book selects 50 classic, popular old songs that grew abroad and tells the passionate and romantic stories behind them. Against the backdrop of history and emotion, the light of thought shines on these songs, refracting colorful images. This book depicts music while collecting scattered souls, embedding them in the music, and embedding them in the culture of the English-speaking world.
These songs, you’ve heard them on a dim, quiet rainy night, on your way home in the summer evening, in a cafe filled with rich aromas, and when you’re embracing happiness with all your might. They’re all familiar tunes. These foreign melodies once echoed in the radios of your parents when they were young—perhaps Bob Dylan or Joni Mitchell. At some point in your life, they’ve lingered in your ears. They’re all old songs.
There are always some that feel familiar, washed away in the flow of time, but you can imagine, when these songs drift through the streets and alleys, your shadow stretches long. The houses around you aren’t the ones you see today. Maybe you’re no longer very familiar with them, but you can still feel the map of the old streets deep in your soul. It seems that when you close your eyes, you can still sense the color of the sunlight and the touch of the air back then. Or, you hear the strumming of a guitar, and you’re transported to that distant time—when the guitarist sings and plays across from you, like an old, yellow photograph.
The same old songs, the same melodies. But you’re too far apart, whether in space or time. MacArthur once said, "Old soldiers never die; they just fade away." The same goes for old songs. On a twilight evening, holding a warm cup of coffee, curled up on the sofa, a melody from a bygone era drifts from the speaker. At this moment, it’s as if yesterday is, and the situations and events once accompanied by these tunes flash back in your mind, but you can only gaze at them from across the river of time.
It’s a book filled with heartfelt emotions that melt into our blood. Flip to any song, and the era and emotions spread from that point. MacArthur once said, "Old soldiers never die; they just fade away." The same goes for old songs. This book selects 50 classic, popular old songs that grew abroad and tells the passionate and romantic stories behind them. Against the backdrop of history and emotion, the light of thought shines on these songs, refracting colorful images. This book depicts music while collecting scattered souls, embedding them in the music, and embedding them in the culture of the English-speaking world.