Online review: analysis of “年少無知”

Introduction:

“年少無知” is one of the theme songs of a local TV drama: “When Heaven Burns” (天與地). The song is composed by Paul Wong (黃貫中), a former guitarist of a local band: Beyond, and the lyrics is written by Riley Lam (林若寧). It is sang by Bowie Lam, Moses Chan and Kenny Wong, who are also the main actors in the drama. The song was released in November 2011 together with the drama.

Meaning of the song:

林：
年少多好　頑劣多好 不甘安於封建制度裡　迷信上街真理會達到
旗幟高舉　群眾聲討 不惜犧牲一切去上訴　權貴的想法太俗套
只可惜生活是一堆挫折 只可惜生命是必須妥協

陳：
年少多好　貧困多好 一蚊積蓄足以快樂到　廉價結他抒發我暴躁
財富得到　年歲不保 捐輸不必講究有回報　人世間總會有異數
只可惜生活是一聲發洩 只可惜生命是一聲抱歉　怕追到

黃：
年少多好　朋友多好 一番爭執不會有被告　遊戲競爭不會記入腦
年歲增長　無法修補 青春的詩總會老　時間多恐怖

The song mainly composed by three verses and two choruses with a proper order. In fact, content of those verses is very similar: it first remembrances the youth life, the time when we were able to do whatever we like, we could voice out for injustice and dared to criticize irrational issues. Besides, we were easy to feel happy even we were poor and friendships were more long-lasting.

However, during our growth, we might face many injustice and unfair issues, but we have to compromise those issues as we were not powerful enough and need to fight for our living. We might also make some wrong decisions and hurt others which let us regret later. Lyrist uses the contrast between the dream and the reality to lead the song to the chorus part.

合：
如果　命運能選擇 十字街口　你我踏出的每步更瀟灑
如果　活著能坦白　舊日所相信價值　不必接受時代的糟蹋

合：
如果　命運能選擇 十字街口　你我踏出的每步無用困惑
如果　活著能坦白 舊日所相信價值　今天發現還未老
如果　命運能演習 現實中不致接納　一生每步殘酷抉擇
留守　過去的想法 我會否好像這樣　生於世上　無目的鞭撻

The chorus parts impressed me very much as it mentions: if we could decide our destiny, we would not get confused when we faced the crossroad; if there were chances, we would not give up our beliefs in order to have a better life; if we could keep our beliefs, we might not make wrong decisions, if we made correct decisions, we would not living without our dreams.

Those sentences were actually used to reinforce the regret instead of saying that there were chances for us to live once again.

Reasons of its popularity

In fact, there are mainly two reasons that made the song became so popular. Firstly, it is the theme song of an uncommon local TV drama: “When Heaven Burns”. The program was so special as it was very different to those typical Hong Kong TV series. There were hidden meanings about politic such as June Forth Incident and it dared to challenge the social norms. Therefore, the program got so many attentions from the public and with similar reasons, the song was close to reality and hence it led a lot of resonance and feedback from the society.

Secondly, the song was used during the protest of against moral and national education. In September of 2012, the actors who participated in the drama as the teenagers of those three main characters joined the protest, and sang the song with the protesters on stage. As people thought the song reflected the situation of the society at that time, therefore, it was played and shared frequently in the internet and got our attention again.

Besides, as mentioned above, the song was released in November 2011 together with the drama, but it did not obtain any awards at that time. However, after the drama obtained the Best Drama Award in the end of 2012, the song became popular again and obtained few music awards finally, including the Top Ten Chinese Gold Songs Award and the Ultimate Song Chart Award for example.

I love this song not only because of it truly reflects the reality, but it also reminds me to keep my beliefs, my dreams and to treasure my present, which I personally think is the actual meaning of the song.

Finally, here is the link of the drama ending and it implies with "choice" and "destiny", which is also the main theme of the song.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=am3hfuVUd8Q

Tam Kin Shing Kenneth (10321203)