Flower of Malaya, I Cannot Stay

Too busy to post yesterday. But at least it was the kind of busy that makes, rather than costs, money.

Subzeros continued yesterday, and then snow as well, on a day that should have been "too cold to snow." But I understand that's a myth. Antarctica is plenty cold, colder than here most of time, and it does snow there occasionally, though as dry as the place is, not much. Still, it never melts, hence the really big collection of frozen water on that continent.

But there was enough snow here in metro Chicago to shovel, and out I went early in the evening. It was overcast, but the snow had a peculiar reflective quality to it, glittering a bit from the house- and street lights. It was light snow, airy snow, and thus easy to shovel, unlike the heavy stuff that fell in December.

When I read that Frankie Laine had died, I had two reactions. First, he was still alive? Second, go to YouTube and look for clips. Sure enough, there are some, such as this and this. I became acquainted with his version of "Rose, Rose I Love You" only last year, a song I find charming indeed -- and then was astounded to see the Chinese-language version of it used in The White Countess.

Actually, until I saw the movie, and looked it up later, I hadn't realized the tune was originally Chinese (and probably anachronistic in the movie, since the song was recorded first in 1940 but the movie's set in 1936 and '37). The opening line of the Chinese version -- as I've read, since I have no Mandarin -- is "Méigui o méigui zuì jiāoměi," ("Rose, rose, so stunning"), the first two words of which sound like "make way, oh make way." The writer of the English-language version, who is variously described as British or Australian, cleverly included the line, "Make way, oh make way, for my Eastern Rose."