Flowers: Roses

Rose, Rose, I love you.


Roses don't grow naturally in hot tropical Borneo. But it is a very popular flower to give. It connotes elegance, beauty and love. My Kai Ma was given this beautiful bouquet of roses on her 82nd birthday. I wore my Nyonya Kebaya top with roses embodiered on the edges of the top and sleeves.  When I was young, I won't be seen dead in them. But now, It has made a come back and I wear it on very very special occasions.

This song, Rose Rose I love you would be popular during the time when my Kai Dad was dating my Kai Ma. I dedicate this song to Mrs. Chew Tieng Kui aka Ang Siok Cheng.

My Kai Pa had a club in the floor underneath their aparment. I can imagine people come at the wurlitzer and dropping a coin to play this song.

Rose, I love you with an aching heart.

Standing on the jetty as the steamer moves away,

In her rickshaw on the street ( This is not a rickshaw, and this is a trishaw, the rickshaw pulled by man was banned.)

Way back to my home on a distant shore.

http://hootin--anni.blogspot.com/

This song was and is hugely popular in China, everybody knows it. Composed by Chen Gexin, it is the only Chinese pop song that to have made a hit in the West. Frankie Laine popularized this song singing in English. He didn't however, stick to the exact translation.

Even though it is is English, little children can recognise that it is a Chinese song. I once sang it to my New Zealand students when one of them told me that her grandma's name was Rose. Whenever I sing it they laugh. For a while, they kept requesting me to sing it.
http://youtu.be/ix8M5eMq9Ko in English

FRANKIE LAINE - ROSE, ROSE I LOVE YOU

http://youtu.be/QJ0V7CG883I  in Chinese

 鳳飛飛.. 玫瑰玫瑰我愛你

Rose, Rose I love you with an aching heart.
What is your future, now we have to part?
Standing on the jetty as the steamer moves away,
Flower of Malaya, I cannot stay.

Mei Kwei, oh, Mei Kwei for my Eastern Rose.
Men crowd in dozens everywhere she goes.
In her rickshaw on the street or in a cabaret,
"Please Mei Kwei for Rose," you can hear them say.

All my life I shall remember,
Oriental music and you in my arms.
Perfumed flowers in your tresses,
Lotus-scented breezes and swaying palms.

Rose, Rose I love you with your almond eyes.
Fragrant and slender 'neath tropical sky.
I must cross the seas again and never see you more.
Way back to my home on a distant shore.

(All my life I shall remember,)
(Oriental music and you in my arms.)
(Perfumed flowers in your tresses,)
(Lotus-scented breezes and swaying palms.)

Rose, Rose I leave you, my ship is in the bay.
Kiss me farewell now, there's nothin' to say.
East is East and West is West, our worlds are far apart.
I must leave you now but I leave my heart.

Rose, Rose I love you with an aching heart.
What is your future, now we have to part?
Standing on the jetty as the steamer moves away,
Flower of Malaya, I cannot stay.

(Rose, Rose I love you, I cannot stay.)








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