A Canadian Jingle Writer and the Singaporean identity

On today, Singapore's national day, I want to talk about one aspect of Singapore's cultural fabric that continues to bother me: that of national songs. But mainly, I want to focus on three that particularly irk me: Count On Me Singapore (1987), We are Singapore (1986) and Stand Up For Singapore (1984). I was a child in primary school when these songs were first unleashed onto the Singaporean public and like many of those my generation, I grew up singing those songs. As national day approaches each year, these songs are being dragged back from the past and played to the public year after year, so that even the next generation of Singaporeans will know these songs. Now there are many Singaporean national songs, but please allow me to explain why these three songs just rub me up the wrong way. 

Did you know that these three songs were written by a Canadian jingle writer? That's right, these songs were not penned by a Singaporean, but were outsourced to a foreign talent: Canadian Hugh Harrison. Now I don't have anything against the fact that he was neither a local nor lived in Singapore, but what irks me was the fact that he didn't bother to write a song about Singapore when commissioned to do so. Talk about not delivering what was on the brief! Now, let's look at the lyrics of his first song, Stand Up For Singapore.  I have cut and pasted the lyrics below and have removed the word 'Singapore' and replaced it with a blank.

Stand up for _________, do the best you can
Reach out for your fellow man
You've got to make a stand
Recognise you can play your part
Let it come right from your heart
Be prepared to give a little more
Stand up, stand up for _________

Stand up for _________, do it with a smile
If you stand up for _________
You'll find it all worthwhile
Believe in yourself, you've got something to share
So show us all you really care
Be prepared to give a little more
Stand up, stand up for _________

_________ our home and nation
Together with determination
Join in like we've never done before
Stand up, stand up for _________ (X 3)

Now if we were to fill in the blank with the name of another city (oh how about Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, Edmonton or Vancouver?), then it would still make complete sense. Why? Because there wasn't a single word in the song that referenced anything about Singapore. Look, just off the top of my head, let me name a few things that come to mind when I think about Singapore: Sentosa, laksa, the MRT, Lee Kuan Yew, kiasuism, Singlish, hawker centres, HDB flats, the Singapore flag, the Merlion, Raffles (and all things associated with Raffles from Raffles Hotel to Raffles Institution) - need I go on? But hey, I am actually from Ang Mo Kio and I grew up in Singapore: it must have been a tall order for a Canadian to have penned a song about a country that he knew nothing about. I know that back in the 1980s, we didn't have Google at our fingertips, but, it wouldn't have been hard for Harrison to have made a trip to the local library to get hold of a book or two about Singapore, you know, that's called doing your research. I spent many years doing my research in the library, yes I actually read books rather than just look stuff up on Google. 

According to this interview with Harrison, he didn't spend too much time on the composing the song. "I was given the brief on a Friday and spent a weekend conceptualising an appropriate theme."
The Monday after, he was recording a Coca-Cola advertisement at Lion Studios, which is now partially owned by jazz musician Jeremy Monteiro. Mr Harrison, who used to play at Canadian jazz bars, said: "I sat down at the piano and laid down a demo version. I can only think that the words must have flowed quite naturally from the theme and the music flowed from the words." So even if Harrison only spent three or four days coming up with the song, surely someone from the then Singapore ministry of culture should have noticed that the song contained no reference to Singapore at all. But no, no one at the ministry questioned it at all - but why? How did this one slip through the net? 

But incredibly enough, it did slip through the net: I remember being taught the song as a primary two student and I didn't question the lyrics. The teachers merely told us to sing the lyrics on the page and feel patriotic; and being extremely Singaporean primary school students who were 很听话, we simply did as we were told. This process was repeated two years later with We Are Singapore and then when I was in primary five with Count On Me Singapore. Now with We Are Singapore, finally we get one reference to Singapore with the line "hear the lion roar". Singapore is also known as the "Lion City" because of the legend of Sang Nila Utama renaming the island 'Singapura' (Lion-City, in Sanskrit) when he first saw a lion on the island. Interestingly enough, Sang Nila Utama and his men were probably mistaken as lions never lived in Singapore and what they saw was probably a tiger, but as they were not zoology experts, they got confused. But I digress, apart from that one lion reference, the rest of the song made no reference to Singapore. One reference is better than none. Did Harrison move in the right direction? Sadly no, allow me to present the lyrics for Count On Me Singapore (with the word Singapore blanked out) - have a read. 

We have a vision for tomorrow, just believe, just believe
We have a goal for _________, we can achieve, we can achieve
You and me, we'll do our part, stand together, heart to heart
We're going to show the world what _________ can be
We can achieve, we can achieve

There is something down the road that we can strive for
We are told no dream's too bold that we can't try for
There's a spirit in the air, it's a feeling we all share
We're going to build a better life, for you and me
We can achieve, we can achieve

Count on me _________, count on me to give my best and more
You and me, we'll do our part, stand together, heart to heart
We're going to show the world what _________ can be
We can achieve, we can achieve

Count on me _________, Count on me _________
Count on me to give my best and more, count on me _________

Together _________ _________ (X 2)

Do you see any references to Singapore in the lyrics above now that I have blanked out the word 'Singapore? No there aren't any. Our Canadian jingle writer strikes again and gets away with presenting a song about a subject that he clearly knows nothing about and can't really be asked to do any research on. What makes it even worse is that the client, the then Singapore ministry of culture, actually believed that this was acceptable. There isn't even a theme in the lyrics to do with a nation, what comes to mind is a badly penned school song for a Singaporean primary school. Why don't you try filling in the blanks with 'Tanjong Katong Primary School' or my former primary school 'Sembawang Hills Estate School' and guess what? It still makes complete sense because the lyrics are addressing themes which are so vague that any school, company or community can use the song, fill in the blank accordingly and it would still make sense. That's what lazy jingle writers do - someone like Harrison probably has a hundred jingles that he can offer you with lyrics vague enough to suit any product you wish to flog. 

Am I cynical? You bet I am cynical, so I ran this by my friend Singaporean Michael and I wanted to hear his opinion on the issue, given that he was a former classmate of mine. He pointed out to me that these songs have become a part of the collective memory of Singaporeans, they associate these songs with national day activities and celebrations - so it is not the lyrics per se that matter, but the fact that they associate these songs with events that invoke a sense of patriotism. Community singing brings people together - that is why most church services use the singing of hymns to make their congregations feel a sense of belonging. It is a tradition that goes back many centuries, so it really doesn't matter what you're singing about, it is the fact that you are doing an activity that brings you together that matters. In fact some Christian hymns are designed to be simple, catchy and memorable - they don't try to explain the whole gospel to you in one song, they're just meant to be fun to sing. Such is the purpose of songs like that and yes, those three national songs had appallingly badly written lyrics, but they did serve their purpose in bringing Singaporeans together year after year, hence Michael thought that I was perhaps a bit too harsh in my judgement of these songs. 

Does it matter what we use to inspire patriotism?

Take Chan Mali Chan, he went on to explain, that is one of the most iconic folk songs that many kids in Singapore know by heart, even those who don't speak Malay. It is a song about a person looking for his goat. The words 'Chan Mali Chan' don't even mean anything in Malay, one can only assume that 'Chan Mali Chan' is the name of the goat (admittedly a rather unusual name for a goat, even in Malay). Many other national songs do not necessarily deal with grand themes associated with patriotism: take the French song La Madelon for example, the song tells a story about soldiers flirting with a lovely young waitress in a country tavern. And what about Waltzing Matilda - the famous Australian patriotic song, the song narrates the story of an itinerant worker, or "swagman", making a drink of tea at a bush camp and capturing a jumbuck (sheep) to eat. When the sheep's owner arrives with three police officers to arrest the worker for the theft, the swagman commits suicide by drowning himself in the nearby watering hole, after which his ghost haunts the site. Songs don't need to have grand themes about pledging loyal allegiances to one's country or dying for one's country at war to inspire a sense of belonging or collective identity through singing them together. 

I wasn't happy to leave it at that, so I challenged Michael further: this was only possible if Singaporeans all did as they are told. They are presented with a national song, they are told to sing it and feel patriotic without asking too many questions. A few years ago, I had foolishly tried to raise the issue of the lyrics penned by our Canadian jingle writer on a a Singaporean forum and I was attacked in quite a vicious way by the Singaporeans there. And no, they didn't try to analyze it the way my friend Michael did. Oh no, it was like, "fuck you mother fucker you go suck Angmoh cock, go drink poison and die you fucking chao cheeby etc" Oh yeah, they weren't exactly the most articulate people when it came to defending their national songs. But if these songs really meant so much to them, then why couldn't they have found the words to explain why they loved these songs? Such is the Singaporean way I'm afraid. The government tells you to sing a song and feel patriotic and you do as you're told (even if the lyrics are extremely vague), so even if those feelings of patriotism may feel quite real to some of these Singaporeans, these feelings are not inspired a true sense of belonging or pride but rather an almost Pavlovian response to do as one is told and 乖乖听话.

Harrison penned his last national song for Singapore in 1987 and the job was handled by locals from then on. Did things improve when the locals took over? Not really. Oh dear. One of the more popular national songs of late is Home, penned by the famous Dick Lee. Once again, let's look at the lyrics with the word 'Singapore' removed:

Whenever I am feeling low
I look around me and I know
There's a place that will stay within me
Wherever I may choose to go
I will always recall the city
Know every street and shore
Sail down the river which brings us life
Winding through my _________

This is home truly, where I know I must be
Where my dreams wait for me, where the river always flows
This is home surely, as my senses tell me
This is where I won't be alone, for this is where I know it's home

When there are troubles to go through
We'll find a way to start anew
There is comfort in the knowledge
That home's about its people too
So we'll build our dreams together
Just like we've done before
Just like the river which brings us life
There'll always be _________

This is home truly, where I know I must be
Where my dreams wait for me, where the river always flows
This is home surely, as my senses tell me
This is where I won't be alone, for this is where I know it's home

This is home truly, where I know I must be
Where my dreams wait for me, where the river always flows
This is home surely, as my senses tell me
This is where I won't be alone, for this is where I know it's home

For this is where I know it's home
For this is where I know I'm home

Oh dear. Even Dick Lee has failed to make references to any Singapore in this song - goodness me, even Harrison managed to make one reference to Singapore in 'We Are Singapore', Dick Lee didn't even make one. And this was the man who brought you iconic Singaporean musicals like Beauty World and Fried Rice Paradise. You'd think that if anyone could write lyrics about Singapore it would be Dick Lee! Oh dear. I am glad I am arriving on the 20th August after your national day celebrations are over because I don't want to offend anyone with my sneering cynicism. 

Enjoy your national day weekend. But do me a favour, before you sing those songs, pause  and think about the lyrics - your response is entirely up to you, but don't just sing them without engaging your brain. Many thanks for reading.