月亮代表我的心 (My Love Reaches to the Moon) English Ver. | Jazz Cover

This song is a little older than the ones I usually cover, but as a channel called "cpopcovers", I feel like it would be weird if I didn't cover one of the most famous Chinese pop songs of all time. Everyone who is Chinese has probably heard this song at some point in their life, and countless non-Chinese people around the world as well. It's so popular that it's been covered in many different languages, and you can find a lot of English translations and English versions of the song out there. One thing that always struck me with the other English versions is the title and main hook is usually translated literally as "The Moon Represents My Heart". While this of course is the most accurate translation, the phrasing of it when sung aloud has always sounded awkward to me. Not only is the phrasing awkward, I don't think the metaphor really lands in English like it does in Chinese. After adapting so many Chinese songs, the Moon is definitely one of the top 3 reoccurring motifs (the other two being rain and sunsets lol), probably because there are centuries if not millennia of songs and poems in Chinese using it as a metaphor for love, longing, and romance. Thousands of years of literary context is captured in the simple sentence 月亮代表我的心. Although it's not exactly hard to decipher this simple metaphor when presented in English, I didn't think the line lands in quite the same way. This, plus the awkward phrasing, gave me some motivation to cover an already over-covered song. My inspiration for the line "My Love Reaches to the Moon" comes from a very popular children's picture book called "Guess How Much I Love You", written by Sam McBratney and illustrated by Anita Jeram. It was published in 1994, so anyone who had kids after that year might be familiar. The book is a tender story about a little hare and a big hare trying to measure the immeasurable depth of their love for each other, with the little hare seemingly winning the contest by saying that his love, "goes right up to the moon". It's a super sweet little story, and anyone who's read it (and as a parent) knows that the last line is the one that hits the hardest, when the big hare tucks in the little hare and responds, "I love you right up to the moon...and back". Anyway, thanks for listening and thanks to anyone who's still reading another overlong description of an otherwise straightforward cover of one of the most iconic and classic Chinese songs! Side note: I didn't know this until looking into the origin of the song, but 月亮代表我的心 was originally recorded in 1973 by Taiwanese singer 陳芬蘭 (Chen Fen-lan), but it became a pan-Chinese classic after Teresa Teng recorded it in 1977. _______ My Love Reaches to the Moon Based on 月亮代表我的心, originally performed by 鄧麗君 (Teresa Teng) Composed by: 翁清溪 (Weng Qingxi) Chinese Lyrics by: 孫儀 (Sun Yi) English Lyrics by: glossybaby You ask me if my heart is true Just how much I love you From the ocean deep, to the sky so blue My love reaches to the moon You ask me if my heart is true Just how much I love you My heart will never change, you’re the one I choose My love reaches to the moon A soft and gentle kiss And my heart begins to melt A love so deep and pure Has me captured in your spell We were meant to last, you don’t have to ask Love you to the moon and back