Samuel Hui's Greatest Hits

In the pop arena, America had Elvis, England had the Beatles and Hong Kong had Sam Hui. I think there's more to him than that generalisation though. Many well established artists stick to a certain style mostly, but Sam likes to show what a multifaceted person he is who can do it all by adopting all the colours of the rainbow. There's humour, philosophy, politics, culture, romance, adventure and melancholy in his work. All done with aplomb and in good taste.

My first memory of Sam was when my bff's dad brought some audio cassette tapes (remember those?) to listen at my home and even as a youngin with little in the way of musical knowledge, I thought it sounded pretty cool. The music I could remember the most then was the theme song for The Contract, I don't like it as much nowadays, it doesn't compare well with his other more timeless tracks but it's a good slice of sunshine pop. After his initial retirement in 1992, I've never heard from him again. My family never listened to his music so up until my rediscovery he was just a vague memory similar to what happened with Danny Chan.

When I finally had the Internet, it opened up a world of content that was previously denied to me not least of which was Sam's music. His lyrics were unlike anything I've ever heard of in Cantopop and I still feel that way even now. It was not only highly erudite but full of wordplay. This wasn't simply Chinese at distinction level, there's a lot of idiosyncratic rhetoric in his use of the language and he coined many colourful phrases in the process. In fact my proficiency in Chinese was increased several folds just through listening to his music. I owe him and wuxia writer Jin Yong a debt of gratitude. Even with some Chinese school education under my belt, I was never able to read properly, but with their help, I can actually read and understand Chinese syntax for once. I was consistently top of the class as well, attaining full marks for dictation tests and even have the certificates to show for it. But that adds up to nothing when all it is is rote memorisation and the sheer tedium and banality of the classes and revision meant no meaningful learning came out of it.

I also admire his work ethic, compared to other music artists I'm willing to bet that he has the most Cantopop classics to his name. Hence why he is officially declared as the "God of Songs". There have been other singers who've been referred to in such a way like Jacky Cheung and Eason Chan. But since he actually wrote and composed his songs so therefore was the true author unlike the aforementioned, he can wear that moniker with the most pride.

As far as my favourite song of his goes, it's definitely the theme song to "Private Eyes," which highlighted the plight of the working man. Those familiar with Sam's work may be wondering why 天才白痴夢, 浪子心聲 and 沈默是金 are not included. I just found them far too didactic to get any enjoyment out of no matter how well-written they are.

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