"長者" (Senior Citizen)
- Peter K F Cheung SBS
- May 17, 2019
- 1 min read
"長者" (Senior Citizen) is the Cantonese version of "At 65". "At 65" was conceived and written in English on May 14, 2o19. My practice has been that if I want to have a Cantonese song, I would conceive and write it in Cantonese first.
While I was swimming on May 15, 2019, I cooked up the idea to make a Cantonese version of "At 65". Immediately, my mind was in sharp focus. Before I finished my swimming session, I had the rough Cantonese lyrics.
Within hours, I recorded "長者" (Senior Citizen) and thought it was Okay. While I was making the music video, listening to the take again, I couldn't accept it. As nobody would care about a possible Cantonese version, I put it aside.
I should say that once I put a project aside, I might not revive it. Such has happened to many of my other songs written since 2011. But on the morning of May 17, 2019, I got inspiration as to how I could make the version better.
The initial recording on May 17, 2019 was so unsatisfactory that I had thought about abandoning it. After re-listening "At 65", I adjusted the tempo and enriched the introductory riff. The published version, like the original, was the 7th take!
Original video clips depict scenes in Hong Kong, Shanghai, Taipei, Nagasaki, Tokyo, Sydney and Gold Coast 2018-2019. The tall fighter in the last scene is Peter's son Zeno. The music video was first published on social media on May 17, 2019.