THE AUTUMN WINDS

The idiot was there again, but unlike last week, he had much more liquor in his system, and far less speed. He wasn't tweeking, but he couldn't really stand. Pilgrim, Tatyee, and "the most dangerous man in Chinatown" were also there. One white guy; but he left pretty soon after doing an unremark- able karaoke piece. After that, five Lau Takwah (劉德華) numbers -- he's worked long and hard to get to the point where he does a duet with a man in a mutant costume with a helium voice, it's art, man, art -- followed by Teresa Teng (鄧麗君). The Bo Derek look didn't really suite her.
Fortunately that didn't last very long.
She looked better normally.
No cornrows.

Her voice has been described as seven parts honey, three parts tears.

"The moorland chrysanthemums are blooming, at the end of the branches the maple leaves quiver in the breeze; Autumn has arrived again."

[Song: 楓葉飄飄 'fung yip piu piu'; Mandarin: feng ye piao piao.]

That in no way describes the season in San Francisco. With Fall we get Germans and Italians, mostly. Middle-aged Germans, young Italian men. It's as predictable as clockwork. No, they don't flutter. Unlike Teresa's leaves.
Teresa Teng's singing was a vast relief; I feared that there would be more noise there. White people doing rap.


鄧麗君 -- 楓葉飄飄

[SOURCE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZpLCCs64OyY.]



In the alley outside, three people were shooting craps. A wiry black guy, a drunk, and a fellow in a wheelchair missing a leg. Two dogs were dozing nearby. There was also a punk, and a guitar.
Further on, someone slept.

The Lyrics:

野菊花又開了 紅的豔 白的嬌
開在原野 開在山崗 朵朵花含笑
枝頭上楓葉飄飄
楓葉飄飄秋已到
花在風裡飄 樹在搖 秋色多美好
是你告訴我 一年容易秋風又來到。

忘不了你的笑總在我心中繞
也是去年也是我倆 投入秋的懷抱
枝頭上楓葉飄飄
楓葉飄飄秋已到
花在風裡飄 樹在搖 秋色多美好
是你告訴我 一年容易秋風又來到。

依然是花開了 紅的豔 白的嬌
眺望遠野 眺望山崗 不見你的笑
枝頭上 楓葉飄飄
楓葉飄飄秋已到
花在風裡飄 樹在搖 秋色多美好
是你告訴我 一年容易秋風又來到。

It's in Mandarin, in case you were wondering.


The sounds of the craps game and the guitar didn't reach us listening to Teresa crooning the maple leaf ballad, nor could we hear the Italians who had been so loud outside Vesuvio's. Or any other white people.

Did I ever mention that when Ms. Teng was still a perky teenager singing in Hokkien she was cute as the dickens? Adorable and sparky.
She had an innocent girlishness.

Nobody at the karaoke joint knows Hokkien.
That's rather a pity.




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