~JcZw

Hmmm so National Day came and went, and with it, half our long week, our last holiday for some time to come... But we'll enjoy it while we may... Managed a credible amount of chem today (suddenly, all the hard Year 1 stuff like redox and equilibrium doesn't seem that hard... or maybe its just the TYS)... going out with Enjie tml to study at Esplanade, if things go to plan.

So fit for the occasion of National Day, I shall talk about... erm.... National Day songs.

Well, I pretty much prefer the older songs, especially "We are Singapore"... Makes the most sense to me, and has the best lyrics of all! Stuff like "Stand up for Singapore" and "Count on me Singapore" are not bad either I guess... Here are some of the songs that somehow stand out in my mind.

1995. "We are Singapore" captured my imagination since I was a primary 1 kiddie... I dunno.... lines like "We're a nation strong and free forevermore" gave (still does, in fact) me a warm fuzzy feeling... and its one of the few pro-Singapore lines I don't feel cliched about. And "this is my country, this is my flag" etcetc are really really nice too... Like gives you a sense of belonging, and as I grew older I could appreciate it more and more cos my relationship with other people, such as "my family" and "my friends" just keep getting better and better =) I remember sitting in class in Primary 1 with the music teacher (Mrs Chin, I recall) teaching us the song...

1998. Several obscure songs sprang up... Like "There are 5 stars arising" and "Who are you my country". I specifically remember the latter sung when I was in Primary4. As a rather pathetic Cadet Scout I had quite literally fainted on the Parade Square while standing at attention listening to the speeches. I remember the prefects and the rest of my friends in the scouts standing in front of the school with their flags and all singing the song, and I was keeled over at a bench next to the parade square squinting at them through bleary eyes.

1999. The year which had the last few "traditional" songs... Like "Home", and of course, we attended the National Day Preview (First time I got to see the Chinook up close) and there was "Together we make a difference". Squeezed in the National stadium, watching, but not quite understanding the parade... I would appreciate it more in the future. Hmmm somehow my graphic memory enables me to remember our teacher warning us not to eat too much or we might throw up in the heat of the parade, but as far as I knew, no one did.

2002.

And three years on, I got to actually take part in the thing, although it was kinda disappointing that we didn't actually get to march past the President... the first time they implemented that only the Guard of Honour would do... sigh... that would have really great.. But it was good enough to be able to participate =) The song "We will get there" was EVERYWHERE and one of the reasons Wei Lun and I remember it is because in the first full rehearsal, we both collapsed after standing at attention for dunno how long while listening to Sun Yan Zi or whoever it was singing that song for the first time... Then there was all the Fun Dance and "Reach-reach-butterfly-butterfly" stuff in between all the parades... But sigh, good as the experience was, the song still wasn't as good as before.

Oh yes, in the above picture, I'm right at the back, in the center, where everyone appears shortest, and I'm half covered by Wei Lun's head... And every year, including this year, we have MSN-ed or messaged each other during the parades to talk about the ongoing parades... hehehh.. I seriously wouldn't mind going back...

2003. Stupid Bing Long and his NCC people. And all because I was the only (male) uniform group leader that didn't walk around with my shirt tucked out, curse, swear, and play soccer everyday after school. Never mind.

2004.

My second parade, this time held in school. Goodness knows why my hands were so out of sync with the rest... But then again, St. John people aren't trained to salute with the other hand swinging... It's the *stupid* NCC people who made everyone change to this American (I think) style on such short notice... All the groups who originated from England (SJAB, BB, GB) had trouble adapting. So this one was one the first times I and Joanne tried this out. And yes, I'm short.

The theme song "One United People" (You know... the "one singapore, one nation strong and free" song) was nice, but unfortunately I shall forever associate it with a certain degree of sobriety. It was our last St. John activity that year and at the end of that day, everything I lived for seemed to have collapsed when I thought that "Oh my goodness. Now I have to study"... Its the "I've got a hole where something should be" feeling that every NCO feels. Still, it was nice to march, and at the end of it, we ran in to dance around in the parade square, and some of us were also struck by the committment of Clarice, Wenbin and Wlt, who were thrown into the cauldron of the parade in their first year, and still performing credibly, especially Clarice who endured through so much of the parade segment despite wanting to faint.

2006. Then this year. My family and I agree that in the last two years, they have distorted and jazzed up the old songs too much... Like semoga bahagia or however you spell it... Sigh... Stick to the original tune! You don't need to be "cool" you know... especially when the singer looked so... errr... never mind... But this year's song is not bad lar... compared to the past years.... hehh

Well, so that's my take on National Day songs... We should sing the old ones more! And have a wider variety of MTVs... not the just on the theme song...

After all, one of the images that forever stuck in my mind was during the MTV of "Count on me Singapore" when the teacher asked the boy "What do you want to be when you grow up" and he said "a soldier" and they showed a soldier running towards an anti-aircraft cannon in the twilight silhouetted against the sun ["... there is something down the road that we can strive for..."]... I dunno, but I loved that image. Although that was before I knew that I would actually have to go through NS one day...

Well, I'll wrap up here now... "We are Singapore" simply rulez!

Happy birthday Singapore! (oh, and to Liling also, haha)