Sodagreen's 'Peeping'

Sodagreen’s first recorded song is ‘Peeping’, and it’s earliest recorded version can be found on 2001’s collaboration album ‘Taiwan Independent Compilation 2001/Nation of Youth (少年ㄞ国)’. Another notable band that contributed to this album is Echo (later also signed by Willlin Music). Another version was recorded in 2004/2005 for sodagreen’s debut album with a lusher guitar arrangement and Tsing-Fong singing in a more polished voice. There were also slight tweaks to the melody of the song, most notably in the bridge.

This song is also Tsing-Fong's first song. It is musically simple with only three chords. Its lyrics, though as beautiful and equally cryptic at times, are relatively plain compared to the band’s later, more ornate offerings. It is a pop rock song, starting with a piano lick which leads into a distorted electric guitar opening. Guitar feedback is heard prominently in the song before everything quietens down for the slow bridge, which repeats four times before the last two choruses. According to the lyrics posted by Tsing-Fong on PTT in 2004, the lyrics go like this:

***

我看著你的表情就快成雨季

拿出了紙和鉛筆也無法算計

把太陽一口吹熄找不到邏輯

反正這世界本來就沒道理

你皺紋讓我質疑像預報天氣

在你指縫間我繼續遊戲

忍不住超速看不太清晰

我放棄謙虛無所謂收集

也許我臉孔全都荒廢  猜忌你想起忘記誰

可能廉價的沒有滋味  欺騙了誰與你相隨

(不介意再設下一回  輕易就剝離了安慰)

放一顆星球  在你的眉頭

等你開口  再長出宇宙

要我伸出手  在你的背後

讓你揮霍  哪一隻脆弱

Seeing the expression on your face quickly turning into a rainy season
I take out paper and a pencil, but still cannot calculate it
I cannot find the logic in blowing out the sun in a breath
This world is illogical to begin with, anyway

Your wrinkles, like the weather report, makes me suspicious
Between your fingers, I continue to play
I can’t help but go faster, I can’t see clearly
I get rid of my shame and collect the things that don’t matter

Perhaps my face is all a wasteland, being suspicious of who you think of and who you forget
Perhaps cheap things have no taste, who did I cheat to be with you
(I don’t mind setting up another round, easily stripping away comfort)

Put a planet in your brows
When you open your mouth, out grows a universe
Wanting me to stretch out my hand and put it around your back
Letting you squander a kind of fragility

***

Tsing-Fong hasn’t said much about the song in public. However, sodagreen’s website in 2006 mentioned the song quite a few times in the member profiles, according to excerpts preserved in a board in Baidu Tieba from the same year. With the advent of sodagreen’s new .com address, the member profiles have also been taken down. Here are the references to ‘Peeping’:

In Tsing-Fong’s profile:

"高一高二每次附中天韵奖，大概都帮10个左右的人伴奏。到了高三自己参加，拿到了独唱组以及创作组冠军。那时候独唱唱的曲目是蔡健雅的「记念」，记得是所有竞争对手中被认为最平淡、最不被看好的歌。当时是馨仪帮我钢琴伴奏。(高二认识馨仪，连两年都一起参加天韵奖重唱组，但都没得名。当时帮他取了「壮士」的绰号，沿用至大学毕业。)也因为这次的天韵奖，写出人生第一首歌「窥」，要不是得奖应该以後也不会再写歌了。 "

"When I was at the Affiliated High School in Year One and Year Two, there was the 'Heavenly Rhythm Award (Tianyun Jiang)' competition, and each year I would help around ten people with the musical accompaniment. When I was in Year Three, I took part in it on my own, and I was the champion for both the solo singing category and the composition categoy. At that time, my solo performance was of Tanya Chua's 'Memory', and I remember that it was thought of as the blandest song, the song with the least chance of winning. At that time, it was Claire who played the piano accompaniment to the song. (I met Claire in Year Two, and in both years we competed together in the group singing categories, although we didn't win anything. Around that time, people gave her the nickname 'Warrior', and we used this until we graduated from university.) It was because of the competition that I wrote the first song in my life, 'Peeping', and had I not won I doubt I would've ever written a song again."

Good thing for us sodafans that he won. And later:

"高三最後一个月因为写了「窥」得奖，尔後写了「後悔莫及」、「降落练习存在孪生基因」、「迟到千年」等九首歌。"

"In the last month of high school, because of my winning the award thanks to 'Peeping', I wrote nine songs, including 'Too Late for Regrets', 'Twin Genes in a Landing Practice', 'Late for a Thousand Years'."

After that, he wrote:

"2001: 和馨仪、新哥(第一任吉他手)一起上政大，又认识小威，於是组成「苏打绿」，带著仅练过的一首歌「窥」，就上了金旋的舞台。"

"2001: I went to the National Chenchi University with Claire and Xin-ge (our first guitarist), and I got to know Xiaowei, and we formed sodagreen. With the only song we practiced, 'Peeping', we took part in the Golden Melody Cup."

The interesting thing about this song is Tsing-Fong's (as well as the rest of the band's) dislike for the song; or rather, his dislike for the music video in particular. The only time I watched it was on Tudou, where someone videotaped a low quality version of the MV at a KTV lounge. At the time of shooting, sodagreen had only four members- Tsing-Fong, Claire, Xiaowei and Xin-ge. Tsing-Fong was nineteen at that time and very skinny. Xiaowei looked much slimmer than now. It involved mainly Tsing-Fong singing at the camera at the gate of someone's house, intercut with scenes of the band performing and playing football on a school pitch. The video ended with the band dragging Tsing-Fong away from the camera and beating him up. A few people say that the MV brings back painful memories of Xin-ge's time in the band, but most comments I've read say that the band dislikes the MV as the director had misintepreted the song and forced them to act in a way they did not like.

Part 2, Rule 2 of sodagreen's PTT bulletin board states (Version 9, as of 20/5/12):

"請勿在本板討論任何相關於「窺」MV的內容。(原因：被拍攝的當事人不希望此事再被公開討論，請尊重當事人感受。)"

"Please refrain from discussing anything related to 'Peeping''s MV on this board. (Reason: the subjects of the film do not wish for the matter to be publicly discussed anymore; please respect their feelings.)"

In 2004, a PTT user by the name of imyours posted a topic called 'Peeping'. He/she wrote:

"一直都很喜歡 窺 這首歌    雖然不是我聽蘇打綠的第一首歌

對於一個高中生的第一首歌竟能做出這樣的歌曲我想只能說是訝異

有 超厲害 的感覺

不過我想接下來要說的可能是青峰不太想聽的XD

晚上跟朋友去唱歌(大概已經知道我要說什麼了)

想到之前板上有說過在KTV可以點到這首歌

記得之前版友說點出來後拼命著跟朋友解釋蘇打綠不是這樣的

也記得青峰拜託大家以後再也不要點這首歌了據說恨mv的導演是嗎

一直都沒有辦法想像到底是什麼樣子的mv

尤其是在看過像air那樣高品質的mv

終究我仍是敵不過好奇心(當然還有對於蘇打綠的熱愛)最後還是點了"

"I've always liked 'Peeping', although it wasn't the first sodagreen song I heard. For me, the idea of a high schooler could come up with a song like this his first time was shocking. I felt that it was wonderful. However, what I want to say would, perhaps, not be what Tsing-Fong wants to hear XD. At night, I went to sing with my friends (by now you should roughly know what I'm about to talk about). I recalled that someone on the board once said that the song could be picked at KTV, and how that guy said that he had to frantically explain to his friends that sodagreen were not like that after picking the song, and how Tsing-Fong pleaded with everyone not to pick the song anymore, because he hated the MV's director? I never was able to imagine what the MV was like, especially after watching high quality MVs like that of 'Air'. In the end, I was unable to supress my curiosity (despite my passion for sodagreen) and I picked the song in the end."

"突然地我完全就了解之前版友在敘述的到底是怎麼樣的情況

了解青峰為什麼不想要大家看那個mv

真的是一目了然  我想喜歡蘇打綠的人看到以後都會跟朋友說

" 相信我 蘇打綠真的不是這樣的團!!"

mv出來後我除了拼命要唱歌以外 當然還一直重複著上面的字句

朋友默默地說

" 這首歌好好聽 不過這就是妳熱愛的青峰嗎???  怎麼跟照片差好多?"

(之前給朋友看過單曲封面的照片)

最後在我堅持下朋友跟我回家聽蘇打綠的兩張單曲  當然是著迷"

"All of a sudden, I fully understood the situation that user was in. I understood why Tsing-Fong did not want us to watch the MV. It really was eye-opening. I think that after watching the MV, all sodagreen fans would turn to their friends and say, "Believe me, sodagreen really isn't this sort of band!" When the MV appeared, apart from singing the song, I kept repeating the above sentence. My friend said softly, "This song sounds good. But is this the Tsing-Fong you love??? Why does he look so different from the photograph?" (Before that, I let my friend see the cover of the single.) In the end, I insisted that my friends come home with me and listen to sodagreen's two singles. Of course, they were hooked."

"哈哈青峰對不起提起你討厭的事

只好說人不輕狂枉少年(結果並沒有安慰的作用是嗎)

馨儀在mv裡也超酷的(沒有看錯人吧?)

總之蘇打綠趕快拍新的mv讓大家看吧^^"

"Haha, Tsing-Fong, sorry for bringing up your most hated topic. The only thing I can say is that if you were not frivolous, your youth was in vain (I guess this doesn't comfort you?). Claire was super cool in the MV (I didn't see wrongly did I). All in all, I hope that sodagreen would hurry and makes a new MV for all of us to see. "

To which Tsing-Fong (cellur) replied:

"推 cellur:侯~~不乖打屁屁!!!!!                              218.35.64.107 08/24

推 cellur:我看到文章標題就有預感了~!!!                     218.35.64.107 08/24”

“(Push) cellur: Oho! You've been naughty and should be spanked!!!!!
(Push) cellur: When I saw the topic name I had a (bad) feeling about it already~!!!"

Interestingly enough, he 'voted up' the topic. Seems like he approved of the writing.

2012 Golden Melody Awards

Sodagreen has been nominated for two awards: the Best Band Award and the Best Music Video Award (Bird's Nest). Below is the nominated music video, directed by Jimmy Cho (卓威志):



Personally, I'm a little surprised that neither 'Bird's Nest' nor 'Enjoy Loneliness' garnered nominations in the songwriting categories. Although 'What is Troubling You' is (admittedly) not as strong an album as 'Incomparable Beauty', I felt it deserved more nominations that the two given to it. I hope they win both awards though! The music video for 'Bird's Nest' is very subtle and quietly artistic, with director Cho's experience in 3D animation design obviously helping him here. As for the Best Band Award, sodagreen are against Tizzy Bac and Mayday, two of the other big bands from Taiwan. Tizzy Bac's 'The Tell Tale Heart' was a great album and I was surprised that it too did not garner more nominations than it did. Mayday's 'Second Life' seems poised to be a big winner, with its main plug 'Noah's Ark' nominated for Song of the Year and Best Composer (Masa).