和你在一起


I am in Florida with the family on vacation, and put myself in web-free mode last Sunday.

Tuesday afternoon, as an older gentleman was helping us getting to our car, I commented on his New York accent. He said he had left his native NYC for a long time, and has been to many places, but didn’t seem to lose his accent. I told him that I will never lose my dialect either, though I speak good Putonghua, and can even occasionally pose as a native Beijinger. It was at that time that he told me that there was a big earthquake in Chengdu.

I quickly scanned that day’s newspapers when I got a chance at a store, and didn’t see anything reported on the front page of the New York Times, among other papers. (I stopped being a regular newspaper reader a few years ago. I do visit some papers’ web sites.) So I didn’t think too much about it.

On Wednesday I checked the web, and understood what happened in Wenchuan, Sichuan Province, China. Just totally shocked, saddened, and cried quite a bit. At the same time, I am really heartened by the overwhelming response from all across China.

One of my favorite rock songs is John Lennon’s rendition of Stand By Me. I translated it as Stand By You in Chinese as the title of this post, in a reverse sort of way. I just want to list it here to show my solidarity to people who are affected and all the rescue workers.

When the night has come
And the land is dark
And the moon is the only light we see
No I won’t be afraid
No I won’t be afraid
Just as long as you stand, stand by me

And darling, darling stand by me
Oh, now, now, stand by me
Stand by me, stand by me

If the sky that we look upon
Should tumble and fall
And the mountain should crumble to the sea
I won’t cry, I won’t cry
No I won’t shed a tear
Just as long as you stand, stand by me

And darling, darling stand by me
Oh, stand by me
Stand by me, stand by me, stand by me

Whenever you’re in trouble won’t you stand by me
Oh, now, now, stand by me
Oh, stand by me, stand by me, stand by me

Darling, darling stand by me
Stand by me
Oh stand by me, stand by me, stand by me


4 responses to “和你在一起”

  1. Really like this song, thanks.
    I came back from Chengdu on 5/7. In the last few days, my eyes are often full of tears, and my heart is non-stop crying for the place I called home town…I visited Wenchuan 4 times before I left China, I love that beautiful and quiet small city so much…

  2. Good to hear from you, Yan0!

    Hope your family are all safe and sound.

  3. Haidong,

    That is a good song, though I do not know that I have ever heard Lennon’s rendition. I have been listening to the news from China all week and the tragedy is just tremendous. I feel a great deal of sorrow for the people there. Just awful.

    -danny

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