Street busker in Tokyo sung this 90s Beyond song in Japanese and moved a girl to tears

“今天我　寒夜里看雪飘过
怀着冷却了的心窝漂远方
风雨里追赶
雾里分不清影踪
天空海阔你与我
可会变(谁没在变)”

Familiar?

These are the opening lyrics to the song 《海阔天空》(literally translated as “Wide Ocean, Vast Sky”) by canto-rock band, Beyond.  The song was first released in 1993 and is written by the lead singer and centre figure of Beyond, Wong Ka Kui (黄家驹), who fell to his death in a freak stage accident in the same year.

This song is full of memories for many, bearing witness to various historical moments in the past few decades.

Other than being the last song from Wong Ka Kui in the 90s, it was used as a rallying song for the Sze Chuan Earthquake in 2008, the protest song for the 2014 Umbrella Revolution in Hong Kong, and the career revival of another Beyond bandmate, Paul Wong (黄贯中), when he sung the same song in a reality singing competition in China.

Sze Chuan Earthquake:

Umbrella Revolution:

Paul Wong’s Career Revival:

When I was working away from home and alone in China in 2014, I could feel a strong surge of emotions whenever I hear the hotel pianist play this song in the morning when I am having breakfast. It makes me miss home and appreciate what I have experienced in life which brought me to where I am.

Recently, a video surfaced online of a street busker in Tokyo, Japan, singing the Japanese version of the song to a small audience, including a Chinese girl. Midway through the video, you could hear the Chinese girl singing along in Cantonese and starting to tear. The singer then switched to singing in Cantonese spontaneously and the girl teared uncontrollably from there.

The story?

Chinese netizens got in touch with the busker, whose real name is Wang Xiao Kang (王小康). According to Wang, the video was taken in 2016 during the Christmas period at Shinjuku.

“At first I didn’t know that one of the audience was from China. It was till she begun singing in Cantonese during the chorus that I realised it. Since she sung in Cantonese, I switched to Cantonese too. At the point, she started tearing uncontrollably.” Shared Wang.

Wang went on to talk to the girl after the performance and found out that she got married and moved to Japan 16 years ago. She really missed China and never expected to hear such a familiar song play to her ears on the streets of Tokyo.

Wang added that he is a big fan of Beyond and he is very thankful to Wong Ka Kui for writing this song. Originally from Hainan, ,China, Wang hopes to be able to bring Beyond’s songs to perform in all parts of the world, spreading the Beyond spirit and music.

Gosh I love this song.

I heard in live in 2009 when Beyond performed at Lunar Bar in Singapore:

I wish I can have the chance to hear it live again by the surviving Beyond bandmates, somewhere, sometime:

今天我　寒夜里看雪飘过
怀着冷却了的心窝漂远方
风雨里追赶
雾里分不清影踪
天空海阔你与我
可会变(谁没在变)

多少次　迎著冷眼与嘲笑
从没有放弃过心中的理想
一刹那恍惚
若有所失的感觉
不知不觉已变淡
心里爱(谁明白我)

原谅我这一生不羁放纵爱自由
也会怕有一天会跌倒
背弃了理想　谁人都可以
那会怕有一天只你共我

今天我　寒夜里看雪飘过
怀着冷却了的心窝漂远方
风雨里追赶
雾里分不清影踪
天空海阔你与我
可会变(谁没在变)

原谅我这一生不羁放纵爱自由
也会怕有一天会跌倒
背弃了理想　谁人都可以
那会怕有一天只你共我

仍然自由自我
永远高唱我歌走遍千里

原谅我这一生不羁放纵爱自由
也会怕有一天会跌倒
背弃了理想　谁人都可以
那会怕有一天只你共我

背弃了理想　谁人都可以
那会怕有一天只你共我

原谅我这一生不羁放纵爱自由
也会怕有一天会跌倒
背弃了理想　谁人都可以
那会怕有一天只你共我