4 versions of When Will You Return?

When the opening song came up in Crazy Rich Asians, I was overwhelmed by nostalgia. It was When Will You Return? (何日君再来) a song introduced by Chinese singer Zhou Xuan in a 1937 film. She was Shanghai based, an immensely popular singer and actress, perhaps the most of that era, and her songs were well known throughout Asia. When I was a kid this song was often heard and my father had an album of her songs. Her early death at 39 in 1957 may have inspired another wave of fandom when I was growing up.

The opening lines translate as:

Lovely flowers don't bloom often
Beautiful scenes aren't always there
Worries dissolve smiles
Memories of love bring back tears
After you leave tonight
When will you come back?

Zhou Xuan's version is in tango rhythm, the martial pace suggesting the dark days of the Japanese occupation of China. One imagines the singer addressing a lover who must leave imminently. The question may be rhetorical. After the PRC was established the song was censored for being too decadent.

Four decades later, Teresa Teng, a Taiwanese singer hugely popular throughout Asia, sang this version. She too had a troubled love life and died early at 40, which makes her interpretation poignant.

Lisa Ono, a Japanese singer who spent her childhood in Brazil, did a bossa nova flavoured cover in 2010 on an album featuring songs of Asia. Her throaty rendition conjures up a band performing in a cozy jazz venue.

Finally, for the Crazy Rich Asians soundtrack, Jasmine Chen has brought the song back to Shanghai, which is decadent again, in an ebullient jazz flavoured cover. The title has been changed to Waiting For Your Return, suggesting anticipation rather than resignation. It abounds in optimism and energy, matching the groundbreaking film.

The film it first appeared in, Three Stars by the Moon, was one of the last silent Chinese films, and the song track provided by a synchronised gramophone which is odd as that version is over 5 minutes. 78 RPM records held just over 3 minutes per side, which explains the normal length of a pop song. Perhaps in the middle the operator restarted the side from the beginning. There are spoken lines, by a male voice, proposing toasts to the singer. In later versions the singer speaks lines urging the lover to drink up.

The translated lyrics (scroll to bottom) illustrate how compact Chinese sentences are, and Chinese poetry more so, the reason being that Chinese usually elides pronouns and articles. The key line is 10 syllables:

今宵离别后，何日君再来?

Grammatical translation:

After you leave tonight, when will you come back?

Literal translation:

This night parting after, what day gentleman again come?

君 translates to gentleman but is a polite you.