The struggles of Cao Cao depicted in JJ Lin's song
Tutorial Group D1 Team 6
Introduction
歌曲：曹操 (Cao Cao) Song name
作词：林秋离 （Lin Qiu Li）Lyricist
作曲：林俊杰 （JJ Lin）Composer and Singer
“Cao Cao ” is a song sang by Singaporean Mandopop singer JJ Lin. It was first released on 17 February 2006 by the Ocean Butterflies Music. It is the title track of JJ Lin’s fourth Mandarin studio album Cao Cao. The song won one of the Top 20 Popular Songs at the 6th Chinese Music Billboard Awards and the Song of the Year at the Chinese Song List.
According to JJ Lin, he was inspired by the story of the Three Kingdoms. He had been interested in the history of the Three Kingdoms from a young age. He often played the characters of the Three Kingdoms in video games. Cao Cao was the character that mostly impressed JJ. Therefore, as a musician, he wished to create a song to tell the story of Cao Cao as well as the Three Kingdoms.
The song actually shows JJ’s eagerness to conquer the audience in Mandopop industry. In an interview, JJ mentioned that he got to know of Cao Cao in a cartoon. He said that people are used to associating Cao Cao with a negative image due to the novel "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" and many folk stories which tends to depict Cao Cao as the antagonist. Despite that, to JJ, Cao Cao was not only a person who had high intelligence but also a talented leader. From what he has learnt from history, JJ believes that Cao Cao is a person who has high expectations on himself and hence he sees a Cao Cao in himself. Since, he has stated that he also has a high expectation on himself and the music he creates. He had and still has the ambition to bring his music to greater heights and hence hopes that his music will continue to progress and evolve through the years. This led to JJ wanting to depict Cao Cao’s strong ambitions of unifying China in his song, hoping that it can touch the hearts of his listeners.
The Music
The song was made when JJ traveled to New York to produce his fourth album. He was trying to adopt more musical styles as well as to make significant breakthrough in this album. Thus, there are many new attempts in the musical styles of this song as compared to his previous songs.
In this fourth album, JJ establishes his own musical style - J Fusion, which consists of Funk, Hip-Hop, Soul, New-Age, Rock and some Chinese R&B. The song “Cao Cao” is associated with some American Rock styles. Beginning in the late 1960’s and carrying through the “punk rock” phase in the early 2000’s, rock music had a major impact on American music and, evidently, this song. This song seems to take a more punk rock style, heavy-hitting electric guitar with soft vocals. At the time JJ visited New York, the popular band Blink-182 had just past its peak of popularity and the band Linkin Park was achieving its pinnacle of fame. In fact, Linkin Park and American rapper Jay-Z released a collaborative album during this time, Collision Course, closely resembling the rock/hip-hop style that JJ takes on in this song. It is the first time JJ attempts the Rock style and it achieved great success in Chinese pop music.
In the composition itself, the distinguishable instruments are the electric guitar, electric bass, the drums and piano in the backdrop. There does not seem to be any trace of Chinese instruments contained within the song itself.
The musical arrangement incorporates Han Folk Music. Han Folk Music had many aspects to it regarding its meaning, feelings, and tonality. This genre of music, in a sense, is similar to the Chinese language. This relationship is made by tones, sliding from higher tones to lower tones, or lower to higher tones, or a combination of both.
In the song, the lyrics seem to also be telling a story. The tone follows the curve of the story; as the events in the lyrics unfold, the song’s tone dissipates and builds to create musical lulls and climaxes.
Han Chinese people’s feelings are displayed through a poetry-like feeling with slow soothing tempos that express feelings and connect with the audience. Han Folk is delivered in a way that uses silences to alter the song’s meaning, creating a tempo and rythm similar to that of poetry.
Similarly, as we hear in JJ Lin’s Cao Cao, there are brief moments in which the music slows, and even at some points nears a standstill. However, for a majority of the composition, Cao Cao maintains a fast paced and energetic tempo, likely influenced by pieces of American Rock music.
The Lyrics
Chinese song lyrics and English translation [2]:
不是英雄 不读三国
If you’re not a hero, you wouldn’t read about the Three Kingdoms.
若是英雄 怎么能不懂寂寞
How can you not understand loneliness if you are a hero.
独自走下长坂坡 月光太温柔
Walking down Changban Slope alone, the moonlight was too gentle.
曹操不啰嗦 一心要拿荆州
Cao Cao didn’t nag, he wanted to acquire Jingzhou wholeheartedly.
用阴谋 阳谋 明说 暗夺的摸
He used conspiracy, overt tactics, openly talks and secretly seizure.
东汉末年分三国 烽火连天不休
In its ending years, the Eastern Han Dynasty (25 -220 AD) was split into three kingdoms, the flames of beacon fire reached to the sky and burned ceaselessly.
儿女情长 被乱世左右 谁来煮酒
Affectionate love between boys and girls was influenced by the chaotic world, and who will cook the wine?
尔虞我诈是三国 说不清对与错
Mutual deception among the Three Kingdoms, it is hard to tell who was right and who was wrong.
纷纷扰扰 千百年以后 一切又从头
After thousands and hundreds years of chaos and disturbance, everything starts all over again.
The song title, “Cao Cao”, refers to the Chinese cultural figure Cao Cao (曹操) (155 - 220 AD), courtesy name Mengde (孟德), founder of Cao Wei (曹魏) of the Three Kingdoms. He is one of the central figures of the Three Kingdoms period along with Liu Bei (刘备) and Sun Quan (孙权). Cao Cao built the foundation of Cao Wei. After he died, he was honoured as "Emperor Wu of Wei" (魏太祖武皇帝). His historical image is often quite negative, with many historians deeming him a cruel and brutal leader. However, in other accounts, Cao Cao is a well known militarist and a brilliant patriarch who treated his subordinates like subordinate family. During the fall of the Eastern Han dynasty, Cao Cao demonstrated this leadership genius by securing the most populated and prosperous cities of the central plains and northern China. Previously the Han chancellor, he usurped power by holding the emperor Liu Xie (刘协) as a hostage and acting in his name. His act was heavily criticized and resulted in a continued and then escalated civil war. His enemies were mainly Liu Bei and Sun Quan during that period. These three forces continued to cultivate ceaseless war. Besides his image of war, caused by war weariness of his people, Cao Cao also proved skilled in poetry, martial arts, and wrote many war journals.
The Three Kingdoms (220–280 AD) refers to the tripartite division of China between the states of Wei (魏), Shu (蜀), and Wu (吴), following the Han dynasty (汉朝) and preceding the Jin dynasty (晋朝). The literal meaning of “Three Kingdoms" is not a proper translation in this case. The “three kings” was used to be the legitimate succession from the Eastern Han Dynasty. Thus, they are not the kings from nowhere; in fact they are the emperors in each state. Nevertheless, the term "Three Kingdoms" has become standard among sinologists. As these three states may have similar names from other historical Chinese states, therefore historians have added another character to indicate their specific states: Wei is also known as Cao Wei (曹魏), Shu is also known as Shu Han (蜀汉), and Wu is also known as Dong (or Eastern) Wu (东吴).
Academically, the period of the Three Kingdoms refers to the period between the foundation of the state of Wei in 220 AD and the conquest of the state of Wu by the Jin dynasty in 280. The earlier, "unofficial" part of the period, from 184 to 220, was marked by chaotic infighting between warlords in various parts of China. The middle part of the period, from 220 and 263, was marked by a more militarily stable arrangement between three rival states of Wei, Shu, and Wu. The later part of the era was marked by the conquest of Shu by Wei (263), the usurpation of Wei by the Jin dynasty (265), and the conquest of Wu by the Jin (280).
The Three Kingdoms period is considered one of the bloodiest and chaotic period in Chinese history. The lyrics “烽火连天不休” well describe the violence of fierce war happened at that time (“烽火”, which means beacon fire, was widely used in border defense and military communication in ancient China, the ignition of beacon fire indicated the outbreak of war). A nationwide census taken in AD 280, following the reunification of the Three Kingdoms under the Jin shows a total of 2,459,840 households and 16,163,863 individuals which was only a fraction of the 10,677,960 households, and 56,486,856 individuals reported during the Han era. While the census may not have been particularly accurate due to a multitude of factors of the times, the Jin in AD 280 did make an attempt to account for all individuals where they could.
Changban Slope was the famous battlefield of Three Kingdoms period. It is located near Dangyang (丹阳), Jingzhou (荆州, which is a historical prefecture in Shaanxi, China. It is situated in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, which has been a strategic location of military importance since ancient times). At the Changban Slope, Cao Cao defeated his enemy, Liu Bei (刘备) (161 - 223 AD). Liu Bei, style name Xuande (玄德), was a warlord in the late Han Dynasty who founded the state of Shu Han in the Three Kingdoms period and became its first ruler.
According to Lo, K.C (2002), at the Changban Slope, Cao Cao's cavalry caught up to Liu Bei's congregation at Changban, Dangyang Commandery, and Liu Bei had to flee for his life, galloping away south with Zhang Fei (张飞), Zhao Yun (赵云) and Zhuge Liang (诸葛亮), while leaving his family and the populace behind. Cao Cao's forces captured all his army and his baggage. Xu Shu (徐庶), a friend of Zhuge Liang who was also serving Liu Bei at the time, requested leave from Liu and left to serve Cao Cao after learning that his mother was captured by Cao's men. Liu Bei's two daughters were also captured by Cao Chun (曹纯) in the battle. Zhang Fei commanded 20 horsemen as rearguard. He held the river and broke the bridges down; looking fierce and shaking his lance, he shouted, "I am Zhang Yide (张翼德) (Zhang Fei’s courtesy name). Come and battle me to the death!" None of Cao Cao's men dared to go near him, buying time for Liu Bei to escape. As Zhang Fei retreated with Liu Bei, Cao Cao ordered his men to build pontoon bridges and launch an assault, but a timely arrival of Guan Yu (关羽) and his forces prevented Cao Cao from fully attaining victory.
“尔虞我诈” means you hoodwink me and I cheat you; fig. Mutual deception/each tries to outwit the other. The idiom is originated from 左传 Zuo Zhuan (generally translated as Zuo Tradition), “我无尔诈，尔无我虞”. The Zuo Tradition is an ancient Chinese narrative commentary on the ancient Chinese chronicle Spring and Autumn Annals (Chunqiu 春秋). It comprises thirty chapters covering a period from 722 to 468 BC, and focuses mainly on political, diplomatic, and military affairs from that era. The Zuo Tradition is famous for its "relentlessly realistic" style, and recounts many tense and dramatic episodes, such as battles and fights, royal assassinations and murder of concubines, deception and intrigue, excesses, citizens' oppression and insurgencies, and appearances of ghosts and cosmic portents. The Zuo Tradition was, for many centuries, the primary text through which the Chinese gained an understanding of their ancient history.
“煮酒” (Who will cook the wine) refers to the famous historical scene when Cao Cao talked about heroes with Liu Bei (Luo, 2014). Cao Cao wanted to find out whether Liu Bei had the potential in becoming a threat to him. He discussed with Liu Bei about who, in their time, was able to take on the title of “Hero”. Liu Bei, realising Cao Cao’s real intention, only talked about other people who he deemed as heroes. Cao Cao disagreed, and said that only Liu Bei and himself is deserving of that title. Liu Bei was shocked to hear that as he feared that Cao Cao would execute him. Coincidentally, at that moment in time, there was a loud crash of thunder. Liu Bei hence pretended to drop his chopsticks as if he was afraid of thunder. Upon seeing Liu Bei’s cowardly actions, Cao Cao was deceived into thinking that Liu Bei was not a person who had huge ambitions, deeming Liu Bei to be of no threat to his goal of unifying China and hence, decided to spare Liu Bei’s life.
Conclusion
The segments of the song that was composed entirely of the piano melody provides a melancholic feeling for the listeners. This downtrodden emotion correlates with how the lyrics depict Cao Cao as a Lonely Hero in the 2nd verse. Even in the gentle moonlight, he was contrastly cunning and vicious in order to achieve his true goal of uniting China.
However, after the rock elements which comes from the drums and electric guitar displays itself, there is a feeling of “strength” in the song. This feeling of strength gives listeners an image of war and triumph. It alludes to how Cao Cao lived through the chaos with strong ambitions. Approaching the climax of the song, the music increases with intensity and emotion. This gives the audience a feeling of great momentum and strength.
While the lyrics depict a Chinese historical character, the melody sounds Western. He achieves this with the use of western instruments such as drums, electric guitar, electric bass and the piano. However, the combination of Western music and Chinese elements does not give us a sense of violation. Instead, these two styles are perfectly matched into the song. With the wonderful voice that JJ Lin produces, we feel like we are present in a concert under the edification of both Western and Chinese music.
Overall, the song is telling the story of Cao Cao as well as the Three Kingdoms. On the other hand, it also mentions the loneliness of being a hero during the Three Kingdoms period. During such periods of war, soldiers were either voluntarily or forcefully drafted. In order to protect their family and their homeland, all the men had to leave behind their loved ones, become soldiers and join the war. So as a listener, we sympathize with all the people involved in the war while treasuring the times of peace we now have.
The song definitely gives a certain notion of “Chineseness” as the song revolves around Cao Cao, an important historical figure in Chinese history during the the Three Kingdom period. He is someone every Chinese person knows. Although Cao Cao has been criticized a lot for his brutality, JJ thinks of him as a true hero of the Three Kingdoms period. JJ admires Cao Cao being a decisive person in leading the war despite his despicable means. Cao Cao was also a charismatic leader who aimed to unify the country. The lyrics mentions that it is hard to tell who was right and who was wrong during that period. As a hero, Cao Cao was lonely, he lived in the chaotic period where he wasn't able to fully trust anyone and hence could only treat everyone as an enemy. However, his story, his great achievements have been remembered and mentioned repeatedly by the later generations. Therefore, the song does indeed project a certain notion of “Chineseness” in the way that it combines Chinese history into popular music to give the listener a strong sense of history.
The quality of Chinese popular music has been improved a lot by the introduction of Western musical styles as well as Chinese historical elements. After the analysis of the song “Cao Cao”, we realize that there is a huge connection between Chinese pop music and Chinese literature in this Chinese style song. With knowledge of Chinese literature, we are able to tell the story depicted in the lyrics and further understand the emotions that the singer wants to express through the rhythm and melodies.
References:
[1] Týche (2010). 林俊傑 (JJ Lin) - 曹操 (Cao Cao) [with lyrics: english, chinese] HQ. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/MIR8bUachiQ
[2] Learn Chinese Help (2013). A song of heroes. Retrieved from http://www.chinesetolearn.com/jj-lin-%E6%9B%B9%E6%93%8D-cao-cao-hero-song
[3] Lo, K.C (2002). Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Son kuo chih yen-I, Vol. 1, 464-485.
[4] Luo, G. Z. (2014). The Three Kingdoms: The Sacred Oath, The Epic Chinese Tale of Loyalty and War in a Dynamic New Translation, Vol. 1, 409-414.
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