Jacky Cheung Hok Yau (Traditional Chinese: 張學友; Simplified Chinese: 张学友; pi… Read Full Bio ↴Jacky Cheung Hok Yau (Traditional Chinese: 張學友; Simplified Chinese: 张学友; pinyin: Zhāng Xúeyǒu; born July 10, 1961 in Hong Kong with family roots in Tianjin) is a Hong Kong singer and film star from the mid-1980s to the present. Dubbed the god of songs (歌神) by the Cantopop industry, Cheung is regarded by many as one of the finest male singers to have come out of Hong Kong, known for his rich baritone voice, wide range and exceptional interpretative powers. Since the early 1990s, he is arguably the world's most popular and respected Chinese pop singer.

He was the national singing champion in Hong Kong 1984 with the song Fatherland, ousting more than ten thousand other contestants. He was signed by the then Polygram Records, now Universal Music Group. Although encouraged by a bright start, he was not yet able to achieve immediate supremacy in Cantopop, then dominated by 譚詠麟, 梅艷芳, Leslie Cheung and 陳百強. Cheung suffered a nosedive in his career in 1988 after a best-selling first two albums. That year he did not have a single song awarded in the annual TVB JSG. His subsequent sales record dipped and one of his albums in the late 1980s managed just around ten thousand in sales. The reason for the fall in his CD sales was partially attributed to his alcohol problem - he could get drunk 5 times a week. After disrupting his friend's birthday party while being drunk, Cheung vowed in public that he would not consume alcohol again till he was 40. He kept that promise.

His recording career subsequently returned to its track. Then, in 1991, with the song 每天愛你多一些 (Loving You More Everyday), his career took a massive upturn. The album, 真情流露True Love Expression in 1992, as well as the succeeding release, 愛火花Love Sparks in 1992, became the two most successful albums in Hong Kong history, achieving audited sales of over 400,000 copies in Hong Kong alone and turned Cheung into a superstar, paving the way for himself and his contemporaries, Andy Lau, Leon Lai and Aaron Kwok, to take Cantopop to even greater heights. Subsequent albums continue to be a hit like 我與你True Love Expression 1993, 餓狼傳說 Wolf Tale 1994 etc. Since then his career has grown from strength to strength, and Cheung has managed to garner thousands of fans overseas as well as numerous music awards both in Hong Kong and elsewhere, including the best-selling Chinese singer in the Worlds Music Awards. Cheung has also been elected one of the world's Ten Outstanding Young Persons.

Among his most famous songs are Amour, 只想一生跟你走 (Only Thinking of Going Through Life With You) and the everlasting 吻别 (Goodbye Kiss) which confirms his status as one, and many consider the pre-eminent member, of the Four Heavenly Kings of Cantopop. Goodbye Kiss, a Mandarin number, was also one of the best-selling albums of all time, achieving more sales in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Southeast Asia such as not attained before, with an astounding 5 million copies sold in 1993 alone, a record that has remained yet unbroken. Goodbye Kiss was also instrumental in helping Cheung to break into the mando-pop market, and it also prompted other Hong Kong singers who wanted to gain a wider market to follow suit, even though, to this very day, very few indeed have been able to approach Cheung's level of success.

His work on the ground-breaking cantonese musical, Snow, Wolf, Lake musical (1997), was also enthusiastically received by both audiences and critics. Cheung not only played the male lead, but was also the artistic director for this production. The female lead was played by Sandy Lam and they achieved 43 full-house performances at the gigantic Hong Kong Coliseum. In November 2004, Jacky and his concert manager, Florence Chan Suk-Fan, worked on a revised Mandarin version of Snow, Wolf, Lake so as to bring it to a wider audience. The estimated budget for this revised production was HK$100 million and the show premiered on 24 December 2004 in Beijing. The production subsequently toured China and other Asian destinations to huge acclaim.

Cheung won, for the umpteenth time, the Best Selling Cantonese Album Award in the Hong Kong IFPI Awards of 2005 with his live album, Jacky Live Performance. In the fast-changing scene of canto-pop, Cheung is able to maintain his popularity and sales power for more than 20 years after his debut, which is unparalleled in the history of Hong Kong pop music.

Cheung acted in many films, although singing has always been his priority. His versatility and acting skills have enabled him to play a lot of diverse parts. He received the Best Supporting Actor Golden Horse Award for his work in Swordsman (1990). He also received the Best Actor Award at the New Dehli Film Festival for his portrayal of the protagonist in July Rhapsody. His song Perhaps Love, which serves as the theme song for the multi-award-winning film Perhaps Love, also won the Best Song Award at the 2005 Hong Kong Film Awards.

He is married to May Lo with two daughters.

Cheung was named spokesperson for Hong Kong Disneyland in 2004. As the theme park's spokesperson, Cheung took part in a number of large-scale marketing events organized by The Walt Disney Company and Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, beginning by hosting a TV program, Magical World of Disneyland. [1] He also recorded a song for Hong Kong Disneyland, a multi-lingual song entitled One. The music video for One was filmed at Hong Kong Disneyland.

分手總要在雨天
張學友 Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

晨曦細雨重臨在這大地
人孤孤單單躲避
轉身剎那在這熟悉的路旁
察覺身後路人是你

如一套戲重逢在這舊地
而彼此不知怎預備
一些嘆氣跟一串慰問

和隨便說一些讚美

為何你眼光年月未變
思憶怎麼要再返舊年
你說要走的一晚
連綿夜雨也似這天

總要在雨天逃避某段從前
但雨點偏偏促使這樣遇見
總要在雨天人便掛念從前
在痛哭擁抱告別後從沒再見

而一個我言詞漸覺乏味
人不知怎麼躲避
終於看見在這熟悉的路旁
那個他靜靜凝望你

而一個你重離別這舊地
臨走的一刻親近地
輕輕送我多真摯慰問
猶如逝去當天語氣

為何你眼光年月未變
思憶怎麼要再返舊年
你說要走的一晚
連綿夜雨也似這天

總要在雨天逃避某段從前
但雨點偏偏促使這樣遇見
總要在雨天人便掛念從前
在痛哭擁抱告別後從沒再見

總要在雨天逃避某段從前
但雨點偏偏促使這樣遇見
總要在雨天人便掛念從前
在痛哭擁抱告別後從沒再見

總要在雨天逃避某段從前
但雨點偏偏促使這樣遇見

總要在雨天人便掛念從前
是你的一切告別在雨天

Overall Meaning

The lyrics of 張學友's song 分手總要在雨天 (Fēnshǒu Zǒng Yào Zài Yǔtiān) describe the sorrow and melancholy that rain brings to people who are in the midst of a separation. It sets the scene with the opening lines describing a gentle rain falling as the singer walks alone. Suddenly, he catches sight of his former partner, standing behind him. They exchange pleasantries, but the singer is melancholic, questioning why everything has to end in the rain. The song repeats its central theme: separating couples tend to reunite on rainy days, and rain stirs up memories of the past.

As the song progresses, the singer's emotions continue to be stirred up, and he feels confused and unsure of his own feelings. The past relationship is likened to a drama, with the reunion taking place on a familiar road. As they talk, the singer realizes that he is still dwelling on the past, even as he's hoping that his former partner has moved on. At the same time, the singer's former partner seems to have a sense of closure, even as he prepares to leave. The song concludes with the singer acknowledging that rain inevitably brings back memories and reminding listeners that some goodbyes are forever.

Overall, the song evokes a sense of emotional turmoil and regret, and its central metaphor of rain as a symbol for regret and sorrow is a powerful one.

Line by Line Meaning

晨曦細雨重臨在這大地
The gentle morning rain falls again on this land

人孤孤單單躲避
People are hiding alone

轉身剎那在這熟悉的路旁
Turning around, just in time to notice you on this familiar road

察覺身後路人是你
Realizing that the person behind me was you

如一套戲重逢在這舊地
Like a play, we meet again in this old place

而彼此不知怎預備
And we don't know how to prepare for this

一些嘆氣跟一串慰問
Sighs and words of comfort

和隨便說一些讚美
And casual words of praise

為何你眼光年月未變
Why have your eyes not changed over the years

思憶怎麼要再返舊年
Why do our memories have to go back to the old days

你說要走的一晚
You said you were leaving that night