Thursday, April 06, 2006

Linguistic Poseurs.

SP Poly Song
Peter Low

We believe that we want to learn and achieve
We believe we can make the goal
We believe in commitment to our quest.
We believe in pride in our best
With soul and heart we'll strive to attain
the heights of human art
and hand in hand with might and verve,
our POLY we will serve.

Chorus:
Shine POLY forever more in visions yet unknown
Shine out your light throughout our land forever may you stand
Shine POLY forever more in visions yet unknown
Shine out your light throughout our land forever may you stand.



SAJC School Song
John Oxenhham

Lives are in the making here,
Hearts are in the waking here,
Mighty undertaking here,
Up and On! Up and On!

We are arming for the fight,
Pressing on with all our might,
Pluming wings for higher flight,
Up and On!

Up Saints! Truest fame
Lies in high endeavour;
Play the game! keep the flame
Burning brightly ever!


Fair before us lies the way,
Time for work and time for play;
Fill the measure while we may,
Up and On! Up and On!

Life and time will not delay,
Time is running fast away,
Life is now today; today;
Up and On!

Up Saints! Truest fame
Lies in high endeavour;
Play the game! keep the flame
Burning brightly ever!


Foes in plenty we shall meet,
Hearts courageous scorn defeat;
So we press with eager feet,
Up and On! Up and On!

Ever onward to the fight,
Ever upward to the Light,
Ever true to GOD and RIGHT,
Up and On!

Up Saints! Truest fame
Lies in high endeavour;
Play the game! keep the flame
Burning brightly ever!


First and foremost, before I rage about the songs, let me tell you what I know about both of them.

First. The SP Song. Sung only once during a student's entire poly life and sounding like a messily-cobbled-together jumble of big words, it appears to be written by someone who grew up Chinese educated and attempted to translate a completely Chinese song wholesale into English. Lacking rhythm, a constant tune or even meaningful words, it reminds me of a weak Communist propagandistic-nationalistic tune, filled to the brim with words of greatness of inspiration, but failing to string them together in any conceivable decent way. Even the rhymes sound thrown-in to save an already broken song. Heck, the rhyming words look like they were manipulated just to rhyme with their corresponding word in the following line. The bold "POLY" words (Yes, the official lyrics has it as caps lock. No kidding.) had me walllowing in incredulity. Which learned man would insert such a vague, childish reference into a song that is supposed to inspire? Those words sound like the school wants to teach its already mature students how to pronounce P-O-L-Y.

"Forever you may stand?" WTH? The poly is a body of thousands of students, an instituition of thought, and not maybe a king or queen or someone afraid of dying and needing to remain alive forever. Maybe the composer wants the school of THOUGHT to stand forever. Even then, saying it that way makes the song sound, firstly, terribly idealistic, secondly, unrealistic, and thirdly, childish, like a child wanting his beloved pet dog to live forever. Sad to say, this reflects the standard of English at most, if not all polys: pretentious.

Second. The SAJC song. Not only sung by SAJC, but by all the 3 St. Andrew's schools (the pri and sec schools are boy's schools, so the words "Up Saints!" becomes "Up Boys!" for those 2 schools). What can I say. This song is composed entirely of short sentences of at most 7 words a line, yet could not be more well written, compared to the infinitely inferior SP school song. It encompasses every aspect of the fire of youth, beautifying them, yet not sounding kitsch and cliched, or unrealistic. This beautiful, almost poetic anthem can bring tears to the eyes of alumni, and exhort anyone who doubts themselves (Lives are in the making here, hearts are in the waking here, mighty undertaking here! Up and On! Up and On! We are arming for the fight, pressing on with all our might, pluming wings for higher flight! Up and On!). This refined coterie of words really, really, REALLY inspires and motivates the school's students to do well and pursue ever higher goals in life. This proves that you dont need big bombastic words to put your point across. If your command of the language you are using is strong enough, the words that flow from your soul would automatically drive home their meaning deep into the hearts of both singers and listeners.

After 4 years of sec school, I was admitted into SAJC, albeit only for the 1st 3 months. Standing on their field for the first time, facing the school's flags with all the other students, singing the same words that I sang 4 years ago (no doubt, without knowing what the words meant... that was primary school!) was the queerest experience I ever had, complete with tHat strange tingling sensation through my body. It was moving, those words, and revisiting them with the ability to interpret what they mean almost welled tears in my eyes. Its not only a song; its an anthem, one that can stay with you throughout your life and form your mantra, guiding you and exhorting you; one that makes students who first step into St. Andrew's say 'Yes, this is where I belong, this instituition will take me to glory.'... "Foes in plenty we shall meet! Hearts courageous scorn defeat! So we press with eager feet,
Up and On! Up and On!"

"Up Saints! Truest fame lies in high endeavour! Play the game! Keep the flame burning brightly ever!"

Yes, I will keep that flame burning, after I graduate; no matter where I am. I will never lose sight of the goals imbued in me, by You. I'll endeavour for greatness, because that's where I belong, not in mediocrity. I'll play the game right, and I'll win, all because You showed me, You showed me how to get started in life, and yet when I floundered and needed help, You were there for me.

In comparison, hearing SP's song made it hard for me not to burst out in laughter fits right there in the auditorium. Already, mocking smiles could be seen on the faces of fellow students, and rightly so. AND it made me worry about my future in a school with a lousy song to kick off 3 years of learning.

Moral of the story? Language is a sword, and if you dont know how to use it, DON'T. Go and learn it well and practise, before you become the laughing stock of others who already master the language and its power. Worst still, if those very masters are your students whom you are (supposed!) to have authority over, they won't respect you at all.

jOhn thought at 5:16 PM