Introduction:
“Cao Cao” is a song performed by Singaporean Mandopop singer-songwriter JJ Lin. It was released on 17 February 2006 in Taiwan under the Ocean Butterflies Music record label. “Cao Cao” is the title track of JJ Lin’s fourth studio album Cao Cao. The album contains a total of 11 tracks and it was the 8th best selling album in 2006, with 70,200 copies sold in Taiwan alone.
Since his debut in 2003, JJ Lin has released a total of 12 studio albums, 1 compilation album, and 3 World Tour DVDs. At the 2006 Beijing Music Awards, the same year Cao Cao came out, JJ Lin was awarded the prestigious title of “Most Popular Male Artist” and “True Hero”. Also In 2006 JJ Lin’s feats span from winning “Singapore HITO Overseas Singer” award at the Taiwan Hito Pop Music award to “Taiwan’s Best Singer” award at the Sprite China Original Music Billboard to “Award for Best Young Local Songwriters” in the 11th Singapore songwriter Rights Association Awards to “Most Popular Male Singer Award of the Year” in Music Radio China TOP ranking.
With such great success, it’s no surprise that Cao Cao was also recognized as a triumph for Lin. At the 6th Global Chinese Music Awards, he won the “Most Popular Singer” award and the song “Cao Cao” won the “Top 20 Annual Golden Melody Award”. The Cao Cao album, in particular, won for “Best Album” and “Best Producer” at the 2006 Beijing Music Awards, while the title track “Cao Cao” won the ‘Top Twenty Golden Melody’ award. Between 2006 and 2007, the album won “Taiwan Golden Melody award of the Year” at the 2006 Sprite China Original Music Billboard, “Album of the Year Award” and “Annual Golden Melody Awards” at the 2nd Beijing Pop Music Awards, and “Best Male Artist (based on album sales)” TOP list of The Song of Music Awards.
This highly celebrated and honored 4-minute song is composed and sang by JJ Lin, with lyrics written by Eric Lin and arranged by Kenn C. JJ Lin’s song is an homage to the stories written in Romance of the Three Kingdoms (San Guo Yan Yi) written by Luo Guanzhong, which had a profound impact on Lin. Since he was young, JJ Lin has been a big fan of the histories and stories in the Three Kingdoms (San Guo). Even in video games, he would play the characters of San Guo. JJ Lin mentioned that Cao Cao is depicted as a person with great confidence and power, which led him to make a song about Cao Cao’s stories. After further thought, he wrote the Mandopop song “Cao Cao” which employs both Western rock and Chinese elements. To create the various special effect, JJ Lin’s record label company Ocean Butterflies Music spent NT$2.5 million on the making of Cao Cao music video, which was directed by Goh Zennon. They hired a group of 3D animators to recreate historical war scenes depicting scenes of war with realistic images of hordes of troops and soldiers fighting which is similar to what happened during that era.
Music Style:
The genre of the song “Cao Cao” is evidently emulative of rock n’ roll. It contains classic rock music elements with the help of various Western instruments, such as its heavy reliance on electric guitar and drums. Rock n’ roll is a popular genre that originated and was popularized in the United States in the between the 1940s to 1950s. Its revolutionary nature enabled it to galvanize youth and spread rapidly across the world, eventually flooding our speakers here in Singapore.
The song “Cao Cao” uses a fast-paced melody, as is customary of rock n’ roll, to bring excitement to its lyrics which are based on the image of Cao Cao in Romance of the Three Kingdoms. It was the first time for JJ Lin to dabble in styles from R&B to rock. In the song JJ Lin harmoniously combines Western rock music with Chinese historical elements, empowering the record with aggression, courage, and strength. The image of Cao Cao in the period of three kingdoms (220-280 BC) was fully exemplified and brought to life by this song.
As mentioned, JJ Lin has said that he became familiar with Cao Cao from the video games he played. Cao Cao’s reputation is inconsistent among people's’ general opinions, varying from one person to another. Some feel fondly while others express disdain. However, JJ Lin really appreciated him in terms of his personality and character. As far as he is concerned, Cao Cao is assertive, dynamic, intelligent, as well as full of thoughts and charms. Cao Cao fought to unify the whole nation while JJ Lin longed to put his all into his music, never falling victim to any degradation of quality. Though they have many differences, Cao Cao and JJ Lin share ambition and high expectations.
In this piece, various elements of music were used in the creation of this pop song. We can clearly hear features like the rock band accompaniment and piano solo. However, although JJ Lin used these rock band elements in some parts of the music, we feel that the song itself cannot be fully classified as a rock song. As a Mandopop Chinese singer, JJ Lin’s illustrated style, melody and singing method, along with the lyrics written, lean more towards the pop music genre. In addition, the song was well-received by many (as is apparent by its roster of awards) and appealed greatly to teenagers. This shows that “Cao Cao” is a Mandopop song that has combined both Chinese and Western cultures with things like the element of rock music.
The melody of the song does not have any distinct Chinese music element. However, the lyrics of the song allude to the Three Kingdom period when Cao Cao attacked JingZhou. The composer of the song adopts the blend of modern Western pop music elements and Chinese historical stories, producing the interbred nature of the song. Consequently, history is presented to the audience in a unique and distinct method. The complicated history that accompanies the Three Kingdom period has been simplified and summarized in the lyrics of the song, allowing listeners that are not familiar with such historical events to understand it better through music. Thus, music has been an important platform to promote and spread important Chinese history.
JJ Lin chose to use rock band accompaniment to match the tone of Cao Cao attacking JingZhou for two reasons. First, it highlights the increasing intensity of the scenario establishing the high stakes that were present. Secondly, it provides better imagery for the listeners as the beats build in a manner that creates more palpable tension. Although the song did not include chinese traditional instruments such as Erhu, Pipa, Dizi, or Suona, the terminology in the lyrics coupled with the marriage of rock and pop elements from the Western world made for a good balance between East and West. Furthermore, as JJ Lin is a Singaporean, he was able to release a song explaining Chinese history and be met with praise internationally despite him not being from China.
Lyrics:
Romance of the Three Kingdoms is one of the four famous Chinese classical literature. This literature is written by a famous novelist Luo Guan Zhong in the late Yuan and early Ming Dynasty. Additionally, there is another work named The Three Kingdoms, but it is a work from an author from the Western Zhou Dynasty, Chen Shou. It illustrates the history of the Three Kingdom period, and this work was also highly regarded as the best among the twenty-four literatures during that period.
There are a lot of published studies and research in the earlier years (Han Dynasty), but people decided to further study the story behind the Three Kingdoms and what was later written was a novel. However, in order to enhance the understanding of the history during the Three Kingdoms period, it is imperative to study the novel The Three Kingdoms because the time of composition is quite close to the actual history, giving us a more accurate account of the events that unfolded.
JJ Lin chose a notable historian figure from the novel to include in his song: Cao Cao. Although Cao Cao is often portrayed as a cruel and merciless tyrant in literature, he has also been praised as a brilliant ruler, a military genius, and a strategic planner. In the lyrics, there is mention of the Changbasi slope. Cao Cao aims to take down Jingzhou and seeks to catch up with Liu Bei right after that. Subsequently, he succeeds in defeating Liu Bei and taking control of Jingzhou. There were relentless wars during the Three Kingdom period and the countries spent most of their resources on combat. A lot of money was spent and the lives of many soldiers were sacrificed.
Generally, the lyrics of the song are rather simple. It tells a more comprehensible story of Cao Cao during the Three Kingdom Period. Below, we will take a deeper look at the lyrics, analysing and dissecting their meaning.
Not a hero, neither a reader of the Three Kingdoms.
If I am a hero, how can I not understand the solitude
These are the song’s opening lyrics. They subtly portray a boastful image but also suggest that JJ Lin is able to understand Cao Cao’s feeling of loneliness. As a Prime Minister, Cao Cao established his overlord position by effectively helping Han Emperor Xian succeed the throne, thus gaining the emperor's trust. For that reason, he had the strong backing of the royal family. Everyone may wonder why Cao Cao feels lonely as his life is ripe with power, wealth, and even beauty. But in fact, a hero is the most solitary person in the world. This is especially true for someone like Cao Cao who belongs to the country and to war. His duty is to put everything aside in order to succeed in fighting a battle, rendering him unable to enjoy the luxury of true friendship and meaningful relationships. People around him can only be judged by their value and the more useful or resourceful you are, the higher your “value”. Friends in wars were often made use of and even the relationships within and outside the family may be destroyed at any time. To win the war, heroes resort to all means necessary, even if kinship and friendship is sacrificed. Therefore, a hero can only survive in a position of chaos if he is willing to give up what he has. On top of this, he grows wary of people around him as he does not know when one might betray him; he is exposed to many enemies around him. For all of these reasons, JJ Lin believes that all heroes are solitary and isolated creatures. He is able to understand why Cao Cao feels lonely.
Walking down the slope, with the gentle gaze of the moon
Here, JJ Lin starts to explain in detail the reason why Cao Cao, as an excellent statesman and militarist, feels solitary. The gentle moonlight shines on him, reflecting off his helmet and armour. Chang Ban Po was the place where Liu Bei was defeated, therefore it is a site full of memories as Cao Cao also held Liu Bei’s wife hostage here with him. Cao Cao came here alone although it was the place which he won a perfect victory. The tender moonlight accompanies him. In other words, he is fighting alone all the time. JJ Lin was able to make use of imagery to allow the listeners to picture the character of Cao Cao walking down the path by himself and creating the visual image of loneliness.
Cao Cao is straight to the point and wants to conquer.
Uses all sorts of methods to get what he wants
Cao Cao, being a straight forward person, would inevitably offend many people. In addition to the harsh titles many have given him, he was also labelled a traitor and was not well liked. It is well-known to us that Cao Cao was ambitious, sometimes excessively so. He had his heart bent on owning Jingzhou. Jingzhou not only has a unique and dominant strategic location, but it was also owned by Liu Bei who was Cao Cao’s arch enemy. As a result, he resorted to methods, whether proper or not, to get Jingzhou. What JJ Lin intends to tell people here is that Cao Cao is a man of great drive and purpose, prepared to resort to any means to get what he wants. After countless victories, Cao Cao did not stop; he wanted to conquer more cities and Jingzhou was his next target.
In the second line, the lyrics are in Chinese rhymes as JJ Lin made use of the “Yun jiao” in order to make the lyrics smoother. The last word “mo” actually has no special meaning to it, so it is more of a ‘decorative’ word that rhymes with the previous “mou”. In English songs, lyrics may be made to rhyme which allows the song to flow more fluidly or emphasize a word. But for Chinese language, due to its complexity in pronunciation, “yun jiao” is used where is it fairly similar to rhyme; it makes use of the way the word is pronounced instead of just the actual spelling.
The three kingdoms continuously fight in division
A long emotional story twisted around in fate
The late Eastern Han dynasty period were definitely war-ridden years. Heroes have no time to be immersed in love. These lyrics emphasize Cao Cao’s anxious and lonesome emotions again. JJ Lin believes that Cao Cao has a soft side despite his arrogant and cruel characteristic. There is a story “Judging Heroes as Cooking Wine” behind the lyrics. As the story goes, Liu Bei, another character in the Three Kingdom, was a famous monarch who eventually founded Shu. One day he was invited by Cao Cao to use grape wine to prepare a meal and enjoy the beautiful scenery in the garden. Then Cao Cao posed a question to Liu Bei: "Who do you think are the true heroes recently?” There were many distinct monarchs in China during that period, and each of them had their own land and army. China was separated into many parts. Cao Cao was just one of the powerful monarchs while Liu Bei's strength was much poorer, so he had to pretend to follow Cao Cao. Liu Bei enlisted many of the monarchs in that period, who were all regarded as insignificant or powers that were not to be feared. Then Liu Bei asked Cao Cao who would be called a hero. Cao pointed at Liu and then pointed at himself, saying: “The true heroes in the world are just you and me." Liu Bei was so surprised by what Cao Cao said that he failed to hold his chopsticks firmly. Coincidentally a thunder struck when Liu Bei's chopsticks fell to the ground. He promptly excused his actions by pretending that he was afraid of the thunder. Cao Cao laughed at his fear of the thunder and did not suspect him anymore. We can conclude from the story that Cao Cao was a man with a sharp eye who was also wary of his surroundings. He knew that Liu Bei would be a worthy opponent or in fact his biggest enemy in life even though he was not very powerful at that point in time. He showed his foresight to predict the future.
If I were there, I would not be able to differentiate right from wrong
Centuries later, we begin this drama again.
This is the conclusion of the three kingdoms and Cao Cao. He is famous in the stories for having said, "I would rather betray the world than have the world betray me." That extremely egotistic statement makes him stand out in a Confucian world, one where sacrifice to communitarian good is always the ostensibly nobler path. Some people classify him as a hero, while others regard him as an ambitious scoundrel. He was probably a paradoxical individual in history. He is intelligent but sometimes foolish; open-minded, but extremely suspicious. These complex characteristics have been fully reflected on him. In addition, he has never hidden his ambition to rule the whole land. JJ Lin believes that it may be wrong to judge Cao Cao from one perspective. Despite him having a negative image in history, his great achievements could not be undermined. JJ Lin would not judge whether Cao Cao was right or wrong. During that time of disorder, there were many things that did not lend the opportunity of choice. Regardless, Lin admires the boldness and intelligence of Cao Cao. It is similar to the approach he takes with his music. His expectations and attitude towards music has been expressed through the lyrics. Nothing is absolutely correct or wrong. As the time goes by, everything seems to be just a cycle where there are no definite winners.
Looking at the literary text and the song lyrics, there is no prominent contrast between the two. The song “Cao Cao” is rather a more distilled version of what happened in the text. We are unable to find any significant difference in the portrayal of Cao Cao in the song and the text.
Conclusion:
Overall, our impression of the song as listeners is that it is strikingly powerful. To start, the use of rock n’ roll features such as hard drums, loud electric guitar, and prominent vocals make the sonic nature of “Cao Cao” very hard-hitting and intense. Layered on top of that are lyrics depicting a hero, his emotional turmoil, and the consequences of war. These accompany the already impactful melody with substantial storytelling, thus elevating the intense nature of rock n’ roll with the rich imagery of combat. The song makes you feel empowered, passionate, and spirited, not just due to the music or the lyrics but as a result of the combination of the two.
As discussed in the previous section, the song projects a notion of Chineseness in its lyrical content. The imagery of war and the storytelling of an iconic hero of the Three Kingdoms period brings to light a slice of Chinese history. While some may not know or are less well-versed in this era of Chinese history, the song is able to convey the life and hardships of a prominent figure and allude to the life he led at the time. By doing this in tandem with Western music style, the song appeals to younger generations and possibly enlightens those who are less educated on staples of Chinese historical events.
By analyzing JJ Lin’s “Cao Cao,” our group has come to grasp the qualities of Chinese popular music. First of all, this song, in particular, shows a strong connection between Chinese popular music and Chinese literature, as is so prevalent in Chinese popular music. In class we learn about many different songs from many different time periods, however, a common theme among them is their incorporation of Chinese literature and the allusions to Chinese heritage, imagery, and more. As well, this song’s analysis has helped us grasp just how much Western style affects Chinese pop music. “Cao Cao’s” use of rock n’ roll components exemplifies this foreign musical style. It informs our understanding of Chinese popular music in general as it shows how popular music here can be somewhat of an imported good, although it has also been localized to appease its creators and audience (which is shown in the lyrical content).
References:
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