"Rose, Rose, I Love You" () is a 1940 Mandarin popular song composed by

Chen Gexin Chen Gexin (; September 19, 1914 — January 25, 1961) was a Chinese popular music songwriter. He also used the pen names Lín Méi () and Qìng Yú (). Chen Genxin was beaten to death in his sleep during the Rightist movement. Biography Chen ...

and first recorded by

Yao Lee Yao Lee (; 10 September 1922 – 19 July 2019), also credited as Yao Li, Yiu Lei and Hue Lee, was a Chinese singer active from the 1930s to the 1970s. She was the sister of Yao Min, also a famous singer and songwriter. She was considered one o ...

. An English-language version whose lyrics have little in common with the original Mandarin was first recorded by

Frankie Laine Frankie Laine (born Francesco Paolo LoVecchio; March 30, 1913 – February 6, 2007) was an American Singing, singer, songwriter, and actor whose career spanned nearly 75 years, from his first concerts in 1930 with a marathon dance company to hi ...

in 1951. The song was brought back to England by broadcaster Wilfrid Thomas in 1951 after doing commentary on the war in Malaya. When he played it on his BBC program he received a barrage of requests for a repeat and he played it again in several more programs. The song is also known under the titles "Shanghai Rose" and "China Rose."

History

The original Chinese lyrics were by Wu Cun (Ng Chuen; 吳村 ''Wú Cūn'') and the music was credited to Lin Mei (林枚), a pen name of the popular songwriter

. The song was first recorded in 1940 by

as an interlude for the movie ''Singing Girl'' and released as a single on Pathé Records (

EMI EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At the time of its break-up in 201 ...

) catalog number B. 597. Yao Lee's Mandarin version was also released in the US and UK in the early 1950s by

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music, Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Sony. It was founded on Janua ...

, catalog numbers 39420 and 2837 respectively. Yao Lee was credited as "Miss Hue Lee" in this release. Other early releases have also credited her as "Yiu Lei." The English-language lyrics were written by the British radio presenter

Wilfrid Thomas Wilfrid Coad Thomas AO (2 May 1904 – 16 August 1991) was a British-born singer and broadcaster, who had a significant career in Australia, then as radio and television commentator for the BBC in London. His name is very frequently mis-spelled ...

. It was recorded by American singer

and the Norman Luboff Choir, with Paul Weston and his orchestra, on 6 April 1951, and released by

as catalog number 39367. The song reached number 3 on the ''Billboard'' music chart. At this time Columbia also released Yao Lee's original Mandarin version in the US and UK under the English title, "Rose, Rose, I Love You." When the songwriter Chen Gexin's youngest son went to the United States for advanced education, he was able to meet Laine and maintained a correspondence. The English lyrics have little in common with the original Mandarin, but they pay subtle tribute to the titular Mandarin phrase "méigui méigui" (lit. rose, rose) by including the similar-sounding English phrase "make way" with its normal English meaning three times.

Covers

* Petula Clark covered the song in English with new lyrics under the title "May Kway". This lyric entered the UK sheet music charts on May 5, 1951 and peaked at number 16. * The

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

ese singer

Kyu Sakamoto was a Japanese singer and actor. He was best known outside Japan for his international hit song "Ue o Muite Arukō" (known as "Sukiyaki" in English-speaking markets), which was sung in Japanese and sold over 13 million copies. It reached number ...

covered the original Mandarin versions in the 1960s. * Gordon Jenkins released a cover of Frankie Laine's version on

Decca Records Decca Records is a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis (Decca), Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934 by Lewis, Jack Kapp, American Decca's first president, and Milton Rackmil, who later became American ...

catalog number 27594. *

Aneka Mary Sandeman (born 20 November 1947), better known by her stage name Aneka , is a retired Scottish singer. In 1981, she reached number one in the UK Singles Chart with her song "Japanese Boy". She was well known for the Oriental image she took ...

also covered Frankie Laine's version in the early 1980s, also adding new original English lyrics. This single was released by

Ariola Records Ariola (also known as Ariola Records, Ariola-Eurodisc and BMG Ariola) is a German record label. In the late 1980s, it was a subsidiary label of the Bertelsmann Music Group, which in turn has become a part of the international media conglomerat ...

but did not chart. * Hong Kong singer Anita Mui sang the Cantonese cover of the song in 1989, and was featured as the theme soundtrack in

Jackie Chan Fang Shilong (born 7 April 1954), known professionally in English as Jackie Chan and in Chinese as Cheng Long ( zh, c=成龍, j=Sing4 Lung4; "becoming the dragon"), is a Hong Kong actor, filmmaker, martial artist, and stuntman known for ...

's film, '' Miracles''. * The Malaysian girl group

Four Golden Princess M-Girls ( zh, s=四个女生) is a Malaysian girl group consisting of Queenzy Cheng, Angeline Khoo, Cass Chin and Crystal Ong. The group was formed in 2001. Although M-Girls studio albums have been officially released in many different parts ...

released an album of medleys (2006), each of which paired a popular Mandarin song with an English-language pop song. They covered the first two verses and chorus of the English-language version of "Rose, Rose, I Love You," rather than the Chinese version. * The original Mandarin version of this song was also covered by Taiwanese singer

Joanna Wang Joanna Wang () is a Taiwanese-American singer-songwriter, daughter of renowned music producer Wang Zhi-ping (王治平). Born in Taipei but raised in Los Angeles, California, Wang dropped out from Gabrielino High School when she was 16. Her de ...

in her 2009 album ''

Joanna & Wang Ruo-lin ''Joanna & Wang Ruo-lin'' is the second studio album by Joanna Wang, released in January 2009. It comprises two discs, given two separate titles: the first, also titled Joanna & Wang Ruo-lin, is described in this article; disc 2 is titled ''The A ...

''. * The Mandarin version also has reached a degree of popularity in

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

with various performers, such as Thu Ngọc and Thái Doanh Doanh, covering the song under the title "Cánh hồng Trung Quốc." * The

Shanghai Restoration Project The Shanghai Restoration Project (SRP) is a Barcelona-based contemporary electronic music duo, consisting of Chinese American artists Dave Liang and Sun Yunfan. Background Producer Dave Liang was born in Lawrence, Kansas and grew up in Upstat ...

has covered the Mandarin version in their album, ''The Classics'' (2014), featuring singer Le Zhang (張樂). * The song has occasionally been covered in Hong Kong TV dramas, including '' House of Spirits'' and ''

Glittering Days ''Glittering Days'' may refer to: * ''Glittering Days'' (TV series) (東方之珠), 2006 Hong Kong TV series * ''Glittering Days'' (film) (万家灯火), 2009 Chinese film *'' The Glittering Days'' (星光灿烂), 2010 Malaysian-Singaporean TV ...

''. * The Malaysian trio The Shanghai Sisters has recently covered the trilingual version of "Rose, Rose, I Love You" in their

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...

In popular culture

* The original Mandarin song was featured in the 1996 film '' The Pillow Book'', both opening and closing the film and serving as a leitmotif representing the protagonist Nagiko's childhood. It was also featured in the 2005 film '' The White Countess'' (the film appears to be set in 1937, so the inclusion of the song would be anachronistic). Anita Mui sings this song in the 1989

film '' Miracles''. * The Frankie Laine version was featured in Peter Bogdanovich's 1971 film ''

The Last Picture Show ''The Last Picture Show'' is a 1971 American coming-of-age drama film directed and co-written by Peter Bogdanovich, adapted from the semi-autobiographical 1966 novel ''The Last Picture Show'' by Larry McMurtry. The film's ensemble cast includes T ...

''. *

David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known professionally as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer-songwriter and actor. A leading figure in the music industry, he is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the ...

references the song in the 1984 documentary ''

Ricochet A ricochet ( ; ) is a rebound, bounce, or skip off a surface, particularly in the case of a projectile. Most ricochets are caused by accident and while the force of the deflection decelerates the projectile, it can still be energetic and almost ...

''. While visiting Hong Kong on his '' Serious Moonlight Tour'', Bowie is filmed having dinner with a group of local socialites. He asks if they know the song, and several of the guests begin to sing it. At another time, the song is heard as a backdrop to footage of Hong Kong street life.

References

External links

"A Rose Is a Rose ..."
''Time''. 14 May 1951. Accessed 30 January 2007. Note the article contains some errors about the Chinese version of the song. {{Frankie Laine, state=autocollapse Chinese songs Mandarin-language songs Kyu Sakamoto songs Frankie Laine songs 1940 songs EMI Records singles Pathé Records singles