Jacky Cheung’s old track named Top Local Chinese Pop Song
A Jacky Cheung classic from the mid-1990s has won the title of Top Local Chinese Pop Song at the annual Compass (Composers and Authors Society of Singapore) Awards, which was held at Marina Bay Sands’ Sands Grand Ballroom on Sept 29.
Wait Until Flowers Wither is a mournful ballad composed by veteran Singaporean songwriter-producer Lee Wei Song, with its Mandarin lyrics penned by local author-journalist Ng King Kang, who are in their 50s.
Found on Cheung’s album True Love New Songs + Selections (1995), it is the highest royalty-earning local Chinese composition in the pop music genre in 2023. The Cantonese version of the song was released in 1994.
Royalties are typically earned through permits for ad-hoc events such as concerts, plays, roadshows, staged or sports events, as well as through annual licences of radio stations, and at fixed venues such as discos, karaoke venues, restaurants, cafes and retail malls.
Wait Until Flowers Wither was among the numbers performed during the Hong Kong singer-actor’s 60+ Concert Tour, which stopped in Singapore for 11 performances in 2023.
At the Compass Awards ceremony on Sept 29, Ng and Lee sang the 30-year-old number, with Lee on piano.
Ng said he was “very surprised and extremely happy”, adding: “I think it is quite amazing that a song this old has won, showing that it is truly a classic.”
Wait Until Flowers Wither was born out of his own experience, as someone looking for love in the early 1990s, he said.
Ng, who has penned lyrics for Mandopop superstars such as Na Ying, Aaron Kwok and Andy Lau and authored 24 books, recalled: “Back then, I kept falling for the wrong people, who could not love me back. One night, while on holiday in Genting Highlands, I thought of writing a song about this sense of frustration and the lyrics poured out of my heart.”
Ng, who is now in a long-term relationship, then shared the lyrics with Lee, his friend of more than four decades.
Lee, who has also composed for Gigi Leung, Stefanie Sun and all four Heavenly Kings Cheung, Lau, Kwok and Leon Lai, said: “King Kang faxed them to my house, and I could really sympathise with the protagonist’s sad situation. I composed the melody in a minor key, and also drew inspiration from the classic song Why Is Spring Late?”
After Wait Until Flowers Wither was completed, Lee floated it to Cheung’s music producer Michael Au, who liked it so much that he passed it on to the superstar – and the rest is history.
Other singers have covered it too, such as Taiwanese diva A-Lin during the third season of Chinese reality singing show I Am A Singer in 2015. That same year, Chinese singer Geng Sihan performed an electronica version on Chinese television programme The Playlist.
Lee credits its enduring popularity to the universality of its theme, saying: “It is quite common to feel lost in love, and I think many listeners can identify with the feeling of having to wait and wait for someone. I am glad this song has given comfort to so many people over the decades.”
Compass Awards’ Top Local English Pop Song went to Stronger Together by Don Richmond, while Top Local Malay Pop Song was awarded to Bila Takbir Bergema by Kassim Masdor.
Home-grown singer JJ Lin won Top Local Songwriter of the Year and Top Local Artiste of the Year, while Ashidy Ridwan was named Young Local Songwriter of the Year.
Singaporean singer Ramli Sarip, who was honoured with the Lifetime Achievement Award, took the stage to perform Malay rock numbers Kekasihku and Sejuta Wajah.
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