Oh, Peter
- Peter K F Cheung SBS
- Oct 7, 2020
- 3 min read
FADE IN.
Act 1
INT. SLEEPING ROOM - NIGHT
PETER goes to bed. We hear easy-listening music.
PETER (V.O.): Every night. I love listening to All the Way with Ray. I've been listening the programme since the 1980s.
After some folk guitar introductory riffs, we hear the DJ speaking: Leaving on a Jet Plane, by Peter! Paul & Mary.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Uncle Ray emphasizes on Peter. He's talking to me, believing I'm listening.
FLASHBACK
INT. SLEEPING ROOM - NIGHT
Lying against the bed back, Peter is calling someone.
PETER (to phone): Hi Uncle Ray? This's Peter Cheung calling.
UNCLE RAY (O.S): Who?
PETER (to phone): I'm Peter.
UNCLE RAY (O.S.): Err...
PETER (to phone): Peter, as it Peter, Paul & Mary.
UNCLE RAY (O.S.): Oh, Peter! Peter, what song can I play for you?
Act 2
INT. SLEEPING ROOM - CONTINUOUS
PETER (to phone): Can you play Charles Chaplin's Smile for me?
UNCLE RAY (O.S.): Charlie Chaplin's...Smile? There's such a number?
PETER (to phone): Yes.
PETER (V.O.): I can have access to all songs over the Internet these days. I just want to engage him. I haven't called for years. He's 95.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.)(Cont'd): I couldn't think of any song that sounds special to me. And then, the Charlie Chaplin song Smile - yes not Charles Chaplin - came up to my mind.
END FLASHBACK
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Instead of playing the song Smile with lyrics, he played Mantovani's musical instrument version of Smile for me. That was a few months back.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Since then, Uncle Ray has played the song Smile with lyrics many times.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Today, I accidentally mined a 2020 story behind Charlie Chaplin's song Smile.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Apart from acting and directing, Charlie Chaplin wrote screenplays and scores. The melody of the song Smile was adapted from his film Modern Times 1936.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Charlie Chaplin hired a musical secretary to interpret his musical ideas.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): The musical secretary jotted down the chords and the little tunes Charlie Chaplin played.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): It's said that Charlie Chaplin would play with two fingers at the piano.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): It's also reckoned that Charlie Chaplin had nice ideas but didn't know how to extend or develop them. That was the job for his music secretary.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): It's said that they talked through the song and that was how the song got written.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): The musical secretary or arranger admitted that he didn't assert co-authorship.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): The lyrics of the song weren't written by Charlie Chaplin.
Thinking.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): I've found the style of Smile so different from Charlie Chaplin's film scores.
Thinking.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): The insider's story solves the mystery.
Thinking.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): I was hoping that I could come up with a song like Smile out of the blue.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Creativity isn't luck.
Act 3
INT. SLEEPING ROOM - CONTINUOUS
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): My composition style has been folk-pop. I'm learning to extend and develop my style. I want to write better melodies and lyrics.
Thinking.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): John Denver wrote the song Leaving on a Jet Plane, but it was famously recorded by Peter, Paul & Mary.
Reflecting.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): The other day, I saw a jet plane taking off and had the urge to take a photo of it. Flying isn't easy these days. I haven't flown since March this year.
Reflecting.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): In fact, I like the band Peter & Gordan more than Peter, Paul & Mary.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): In 1966, I named myself as Peter, as I like Peter & Gordan, the duo's recording of Five Hundred Miles.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): But if I said to Uncle Ray, Peter, as in Peter & Gordan, I didn't know if he would get it.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Anyhow, he remembers me well. I can feel that.
Peter sleeps.
FADE OUT.
THE END
Comments