Frances Yip Lai-yee (born 1947) is a Hong Kong English pop and C… Read Full Bio ↴葉麗儀
Frances Yip Lai-yee (born 1947) is a Hong Kong English pop and Cantopop singer. She is best known for performing many of the theme songs for television series produced by TVB in the 1980s and early 1990s.
Born in 1947, Yip is of Hakka ancestry, and is the youngest of 5 siblings. She grew up in a rural area in Hong Kong, and studied in St. Clare's Girls' School, an English Catholic school.
Her first singing job was in 1969 when she won a talent contest called Sharp's Night Four Lights Competition on Hong Kong television where she met the composer, Joseph Koo. Koo used Yip to sing commercial jingles while she was working as a secretary in HSBC, one was the jingles was a song about savings account for HSBC. Her first record, Bu Liao Qing (Love Without End) was recorded in the same year. She recorded predominantly English covers of Mandarin songs and Mandarin songs then.
In 1972, Yip and Joseph Koo went to Japan's World Singing gathering in Nippon Budokan. In 1973, Yip was working for Cathay Pacific as an Ambassador of Hong Kong under Hong Kong Tourism Board for a year, and her album, Discovery, was based on her experiences travelling. Discovery was sung in nine different languages to represent the 9 major destinations for Cathay Pacific then, and the album inspired a London talent agent to find her. She signed onto EMI records and lived in London for two years.[3]It was a worldwide contract, meaning she can have one English album released in 6 different languages in different areas of the world. Since then, she had renewed her two-year contract until now.
Yip hit international fame with her signature tune, The Bund from the TVB drama of the same title.[4] After she recorded The Bund, she returned to Hong Kong.
In her 45-year career, Yip has released more than 80 albums, mostly of songs in American English, Indonesian, Thai, Malay, Mexican Spanish, Japanese, Tagalog, Hong Kong Cantonese, and Taiwanese Mandarin. She has performed on television, and in films, concerts and cabarets in more than 30 countries on five continents. Her linguistic skills, with unique interpretations of lyrics in English, Cantonese and Mandarin, as well as several other Asian languages, have led to a fan base across a wide range of cultures and countries.
Yip has worked with the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, the Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra, the Macau Chinese Orchestra, the Singapore Chinese Orchestra, the Youth Orchestra from the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, Singapore Symphony Orchestra and Thammasat University Philharmonic Orchestra in Bangkok as well as large orchestras in Kuala Lumpur.
Yip achieved worldwide recognition when she was selected by the Hong Kong government to be a co-presenter at the British Farewell Ceremony to mark the transfer of sovereignty in Hong Kong. The event on June 30, 1997, was watched by a television audience estimated at 120 million, in more than 80 countries worldwide.
In 2012, Yip recorded her first Christian album, Grace and Glory Psalm 84.
Yip is fluent in Chinese (Hong Kong Cantonese and Taiwanese Mandarin) and English. She often spends time in Sydney where her son and grandchildren live.
She was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1996, but was considered free of cancer in 2002. To celebrate eight years of being cancer-free, in 2010, she held a charity concert in Kuala Lumpur to benefit cancer research and treatment.
Since 2013, she and her husband have lived in the rural suburbs of Sydney, Australia with their son and grandson. They have Australian citizenship, and also own rental properties in England. She occasionally returns to Hong Kong to perform and make TV appearances.
Arirang
Frances Yip Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
아리랑 고개로 넘어간다
나를 버리고 가시는 님은
십리도 못가서 발병난다
아리랑, 아리랑, 아라리요
아리랑 고개로 넘어간다
나를 버리고 가시는 님은
Frances Yip's song "Arirang" is a Korean folk song that tells the story of a young woman who has been abandoned by her lover. The lyrics of the song depict the woman's heartbreak and the despair that she feels after being left alone. The refrain of the song, "Arirang, Arirang, Arariyo," can be translated as an expression of longing and sorrow.
The opening lines of the song refer to the Arirang Pass, a mountain pass that is located in the heart of Korea. The woman in the song is crossing this pass alone, feeling rejected and helpless, as she thinks about the person who left her. The song suggests that the person who abandoned her will not be able to travel far, as the weight of their guilt and betrayal will cause them to become sick.
The use of the Arirang Pass in the song is significant because it is a symbol of the Korean people's struggle for independence and freedom. The pass was used by Korean patriots during the Japanese occupation to smuggle goods and people across the border. In this sense, the woman's journey across the Arirang Pass reflects the Korean people's struggle for freedom and independence.
Line by Line Meaning
아리랑, 아리랑, 아라리요
Arirang, Arirang, Arariyo
아리랑 고개로 넘어간다
Crossing over the Arirang pass
나를 버리고 가시는 님은
The person who leaves me behind
십리도 못가서 발병난다
Will fall and stumble and suffer from illness after only ten li (a Korean unit of measurement) of traveling
아리랑, 아리랑, 아라리요
Arirang, Arirang, Arariyo
아리랑 고개로 넘어간다
Crossing over the Arirang pass
나를 버리고 가시는 님은
The person who leaves me behind
십리도 못가서 발병난다
Will fall and stumble and suffer from illness after only ten li (a Korean unit of measurement) of traveling
Contributed by Landon I. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
NW
on Shang Hai Tan
I assume this "translation" was a joke. OP literally just made everything up. Not a single line is even REMOTELY right. I got a good laugh out of it though.
Kek Joo
on Shang Hai Tan
I just happened to see your translated lyrics. I am afraid they are absolutely incorrect. The song speaks of the rise and ebbing of the tides and likens the experiences of love and hate/revenge to the changing tides. There is no mention of buildings (long pang long lau means the tide/current rises and ebbs). Shi hei shi sau is not it’s black, it’s majestic but whether it is joy or whether it is sorrow. Etc etc. This is very in line with the themes of the drama and movie versions which has this song as its theme song. This is a melancholic song and not one prompting SH as a tourist attraction toon
Janet Lim Swee Kim
on Bengawan Solo (Indonesia)
Very beautiful , you , love to listen to your song, thank you Mdm. Yip.
Janet Lim Swee Kim
on Bengawan Solo (Indonesia)
Many thanks Yip Lai Yee mdm.