Our last campus folk song
August 24, 2004 Campus Folk Network
The music I like is two extremes - rock and roll and campus folk songs. I remember the first time I said this, someone actually reached out and touched my forehead to see if I had a fever.
I have six beloved CDs, "Campus Ballads 1", "Campus Ballads 2", "Collection of Gao Xiaosong's Works", and the Red, White and Blue series of Wheatfield Company. The white loneliness of hackberry, the blue sadness of Ye Bei and the red passion of Junzi.
I always feel that college students during China’s May Fourth Movement and the early 1990s are college students in the true sense. There was a vigorous poetry movement during the May Fourth period, and in the 1990s, some college students burned poetry collections in memory of Haizi's death. So Haizi's extremely tragic death also gained a halo. There was also Gao Xiaosong in the 1990s. It’s just that we like to call him Funny Pine.
Until now I don’t know how to define Gao Xiaosong’s music. I don’t know why I, who is used to listening to heavy metal, am suddenly fascinated by such soft music. I remember when I first lent Gao Xiaosong's collection of works to my friend, he replied to me that it was good, but it was not interesting enough and not rock and roll exciting. My friend's answer shocked me. But I really feel the passion contained in those sad and light melodies, like the black waves of the sea at night, hitting me deep in my heart one after another, like thunder. As Duras once said, "The tide recedes quickly and rolls back again." What struck me even more was his lyrics. There are three lyricists I like, Gao Xiaosong, He Xuntian, and Lin Xi. A music critic once said that with these three lyricists, all poets should feel ashamed. He Xuntian's lyrics require the listener to have a strong Tibetan atmosphere to support them, while Lin Xi's lyrics focus too much on the exquisite love in the city. Gao Xiaosong's lyrics can be listened to at night, during the day, when the night is dark, or when the sun is shining brightly. Xiao A once said with a smile that Gao Xiaosong's songs are like panacea, which can cure all diseases. I don't think so. His songs are too old to listen to and too young for children to listen to. Because there is always a river of youth flowing in Gao Xiaosong's lyrics. Time spreads and sadness fills the air, covering people easily. If you listen to it to children, they still don’t know it is youth. If you listen to it to the elderly, they will remember that youth should be the dire straits of the Republic of China. As for the sadness of youth and the like, I don’t think I can compete with them. I always like to imagine such a problem: when we have graduated from college, everyone is making a living in the cracks of life, and walking through the stone forest wearing neat suits every day, we suddenly hear questions such as notebooks, exams, English grammar, dormitory The beautiful camphor in front of the window, the beautiful girl at the same table, the handsome boy often seen at the door of the cafeteria, the beloved schoolbag, the failing report card, the graduation album, the football field, etc. When these words are mentioned, how many people will stop? How many people will burst into tears.
Then there is Old Wolf. Lao Lang seems to be born with the temperament of a wandering singer. I always remember how sad and clear Lao Lang's expression and voice were when he sang "You can only believe in me over and over again" in "Vagabond Singer Lover". Lao Lang's singing was like a diary, and he tore his and our growth to us page by page, so the same youth and sadness permeated most of the college students at that time. For example, he sang love letters to girls, good brothers guessing coins, sad midnight movies, and street singers playing guitar. The first people who heard him sing have grown up, and those of us who haven’t grown up continue to listen to his songs. "That evening, white snow began to fall, and sadness filled the hills. When youth was over, the movies at midnight were filled with ancient love, and in the darkness, they sang for the young." Fall in love with the wind and dust, fall in love with the wind and dust.
I have always preferred Ye Bei, the blue singer who sings in the wind. I say "preference" because in terms of contribution to campus folk songs, Ye Bei is indeed inferior to Gao Xiaosong and Shen Qing. But I like it. The first time I came into contact with campus folk songs was through listening to Ye Bei, earlier than Lao Langdu. I remember the first time I heard Ye Bei singing on a noisy road.
I thought that at that moment I would hear the sound of strong black wind whistling past my ears, like the last subway train passing by at midnight. But I think I will remember deeply that those singers were the scorching peach blossoms in the garden of my life, the white snow in my journey station, and the beautiful and fleeting fireworks that bloomed instantly in the night sky of my youth. Just like Ye Bei's "Dandelion": "In the beginning/I stood here/Growing up in the wind/No one passed by/For your instructions/The old map you left/I wore this dress/Shou Looking at these hills/it’s dark/starless nights/springs without rain/the fleeting years without you/I’m not afraid of the long road/I’m not afraid of the vast crowds/I want to fall at your feet with the wind.” Those lonely young people are like dandelions, standing on the hills, waiting for the age of innocence in our hearts, waiting for a slim hope, and waiting for the persistence we once had.
Our last campus ballad, I look at you under the sunset, you are filled with flowing sadness.