Cinderella - A Tale of Laughter and Tears - Music Box

Artist: Sandra; Record Label: Entertainment; Release Date: 1974

01. A Tale of Laughter and Tears
02. Send him off
03. Missing My Love
04. You and me
05. The Singing Girl
06. Jinlian sighed.
07. A Tale of Laughter and Tears (Theme Song)
08. Luckily, it's Sunday again.
09. In my dreams I express my longing.
10. Tears of Longing
11. Congratulations on your fortune!
12. The bitter wine has been thoroughly tasted.
13. The Flower of a Short Life
14. Mutual gratitude between two places

• The rise of Cantonese pop music began in the 1970s. Before that, Cantonese songs were perceived as out of fashion and vulgar, thus considered unsuitable for mainstream audiences and even subject to severe discrimination. Under the dual pressure of Mandarin songs and Western music, the status of Cantonese songs became even more humble, until this situation began to change in 1974.
• The songs "The Story of Laughter and Tears" and "Games Gamblers Play" from 1974 are considered a watershed moment in the development of Cantonese pop music. The voices of Sandra Ng and Sam Hui changed people's prejudices against Cantonese pop music.
• In 1974, the theme song of the TVB drama "The Story of Laughter and Tears" opened a new chapter in the development of Cantonese pop music in Hong Kong and became an important milestone in the rise of Cantonese pop music.
• On March 11, 1974, the TV series "The Story of Laughter and Tears" written and directed by Wong Tin-lam premiered on TVB, starring Lee Sze-kei, Chan Chun-wah, Au Ka-wai, and Chan Yau-hou. Many of the theme songs in the series were composed by Joseph Koo and sung by Sandra.
• In 1974, Entertainment Records released the album "A Tale of Two Cities" for Sandra, which included seven theme songs, incidental music, and main theme music. Joseph Koo used the innovative concept of "using foreign elements for Chinese purposes" to create the music. Although the melodies were Chinese, he used...
• It features Western chords, making it sound fresh and unconventional. It was this song, "The Fate of Tears and Laughter," that established Joseph Koo's pioneering status in the Hong Kong music scene, and he was the first recipient of the "highest honor award" in the Hong Kong music industry, which was first awarded in 1982.
• Joseph Koo's compositions are characterized by their natural, flowing melodies, simplicity, catchiness, and ease of listening. Starting with the first Top Ten Chinese Gold Songs Awards, his works have been listed for seven consecutive years, with five songs featured in the fifth edition. He has collaborated with almost every popular singer.
• Having sung English songs for many years, Sandra employed falsetto and breathy vocals when singing Cantonese songs this time, resulting in a noticeable difference from her previous traditional Cantonese singing style. Her performance was calm and composed, with perfectly balanced emotions, bringing a poignant melancholy to the song. In the late 1960s, Sandra and Amina formed the female vocal duo The Chopsticks, primarily singing Western pop songs, and released four English albums with Entertainment Records.
• The interlude "Thinking of My Love" and the theme song "A Tale of Tears and Laughter" are the same melody but different lyrics, both written by Yip Siu-tak. He began writing songs for films in the 1950s and has long been dedicated to Cantonese opera creation. "The Unfortunate Flower" and "Longing for Each Other in Two Places" were adapted and rewritten by Yip Siu-tak. Both songs are based on old tunes from the Mandarin era, and his lyrics are artistic with a Cantonese opera feel, which is his characteristic.
• Wong Jim was responsible for writing the lyrics for four songs. His lyrics could be artistic like in "The Singing Girl" or popular like in "Lucky It's Sunday Again," and his versatility earned him the reputation of a "genius." The emergence of "A Tale of Laughter and Tears" marked the beginning of widespread acceptance of Cantonese pop songs across all levels of Hong Kong society. After its release, Hong Kong people stopped discriminating against Cantonese songs, and a series of classic works emerged, finally allowing Hong Kong music to find its footing.
• They developed their own unique voices. Famous lines from Cantonese pop songs became common sayings and integrated into the lives of Hong Kong people. Cantonese pop songs began to truly become popular and entered the ears of the masses.
• Besides changing Hong Kong people's listening habits and eliminating their discrimination against Cantonese pop songs, "The Story of Laughter and Tears" also established the tradition of "music first, lyrics later" for future Hong Kong pop song creation.