The first time I heard 许巍 Xu Wei's music was when I first arrived in China, in August of 2004. His music immediately moved me and ever since has been
my constant daily companion. 许巍's music is the perfect combination of deep and tender vocals, angelic-like guitar work and sensitive, moving
lyrics. I'm using this web page as a way to introduce 许巍 and his music to those who have never before heard it. I hope you will enjoy his music as much as I
have.
On this page you can look at 许巍's photo album, read his biography and listen to his music. His albums can be downloaded from this page or from the Downloads page.
许巍 is one of China's most prolific and successful rock musicians. He has had a musical career spanning over 20 years and to this date continues to
create music. My purpose in writing this is to help people understand 许巍, the person behind the music.
许巍 was born on July 21, 1968 in Xi An 西安 (xi1an1), a northwestern province in China. His father was an avid reader of Confucius
儒家 (ru2jia1) and their home had a large collection of these books. As a child, as a way to encourage his son to adopt good literary habits, his father would have him recite
Tang dynasty poetry 唐诗 (tang2shi1). 许巍's deepest impression is when it was time to eat lunch, his parents would have him first recite a poem. Only
after the poem was recited could everyone then eat. At that time, the only choice was to read, but for the young 许巍, he just wanted to be carefree and
play.
One time, his mother gave him a book called 《一千零一夜》 "1,001 Evenings" (yi4qian1ling2yi2 ye4). The book's
story was fresh and magical and it was almost as if 许巍 had found a brand new world. Although at that time he could not completely understand the content, curiousity would not
let him put the book down, and little by little he became infatuated with the world inside. His mother was a school teacher and once a week she would take the young 许巍 to
the school library. It was during that time he read books such as 《杨家将》 "The Yang Family Generals" (yang2 jia1 jiang1),
《水浒传》 "All Are Brothers" (shui3 hu2 chuan2), 《敌后武工队》 "The Armed Forces Behind Enemy Lines" (di2hou4
wu3gong1dui4) as well as many Nobel-prize winning books.
But after a while, the books in the library could no longer attract 许巍 and he turned delinquent. In his freshman year of high school, he
would always get into fights and was often sent to the police station. His father was deeply distressed over this, and so in 1984 at the age of 16, bought his son a
guitar. He hoped it would give him something to do and that he wouldn't again want to get into trouble. No one could have ever imagined that the guitar would change
许巍's life in the way that it did. He would practice guitar incessantly, so much that the time he spent with his guitar was more than that he spent with his
family.
Two years later in 1986, 许巍 entered a guitar/vocal music competition in Xi An and took first place in the duet category. After this, he wrote his
first song ever and from here began a zealous persistence for music. It was also in this year that 许巍 abandoned his college entrance exams...
(This article is still in progress...这篇文章正在建设当中...)
许巍 has six album releases plus a collection of singles. Each album is listed below; you can click on the album cover to download the entire album (in ZIP file format). In some cases, I have taken the original Chinese lyrics and translated them into English. In that case, you can also click on the lyrics link to download and read the lyrics. As time permits, I'll add more of his song lyrics to this web page.
1. 《在别处》 "At Another Place" - 1997 (zai4 bie2chu4) Song
Title:
Lyrics:
1. 我的秋天 My Autumn
2. 在别处 At Another Place
3. 我思念的城市 The City I Miss
4. 树 Tree
5. 永恒 Perpetual
6. 青鸟II Bluebird II
7. 水妖 Water Sprite
8. 路的尽头 The Road's End
9. 悄无声息 Quietly Silent
10. 遥远 Far Away
2. 《那一年》 "That Year" - 2000 (na4 yi4nian2) Song
Title:
Lyrics:
1. 青鸟 Bluebird
2. 两天 Two Days
3. 今夜 Tonight
4. 简单 Simple
5. 故乡
Hometown
o
6. 九月
September
o
7. 方向 Direction
8. 流淌 Flow
9. 温暖 Warm
10. 闪亮的瞬间 Light Of The Twinkling Space
11. 情人
Lover
o
12. 那一年 That Year
3. 《时光漫步》 "Through Time" - 2002 (shi2guang1
man3bu4) Song
Title:
Lyrics:
1. 天鹅之旅 The Swan's Travels
o
2. 完美生活 Perfect Life
3. 时光 Time
4. 蓝莲花 Blue Lotus
Flower
o
5. 一天 One Day
6. 礼物 A Gift
7. 漫步 Roaming
8. 星空 Starry Sky
9. 夏日的风 Summer's Day Wind
10. 平淡 Flat
4. 《每一刻都是崭新的》 "Every Moment is New" - 2004 (mei3 yi2ke4 dou1 shi4 zhan3xin1 de) Song
Title:
Lyrics:
1. 纯真 Pure, Sincere
2. 旅行
Journey
o
3. 曾经的你 The Former You
4. 喝茶去 Go To Drink Tea
5. 坐看云起 Sit And Watch The Rising Clouds
6. 秋海 The Autumn Sea
7. 温暖的季节 Warm Season
8. 每一刻都是崭新的 Every Moment Is New
9. 永远自由的心 Heart Forever Free o
10. 小鱼的理想 The Fingerlings Ideal
11. 悠远的天空 Remote Sky
5. 《在路上》 "On The Road" - 2006 (zai4 lu4 shang4)
This album is a compilation of songs that he wrote primarily for other artists to perform. Song
Title:
Lyrics:
1. 晴朗 Sunny Day
2. 彩虹 Rainbow
3. 你 You
4. 像风一样自由 Free Like The Wind
5. 那里 There
6. 丁香 Lilac
7. 纯粹 Pure
8. 自由自在 Free and Easy
9. 幻觉 Hallucination
10. 执着
Persistence
o
11. 青鸟 Bluebird (alternate version)
12. 两天 Two Days (alternate version)
6. 《爱如少年》 "Love Is Like Youth" - 2008 (ai4 ru2
shao4nian2) Song
Title:
Lyrics:
1. 爱 Love
2. 彩云之巅 Rosy Clouds Peak
3. 故事 Story
4. 我们 Us
5. 家 Home
6. 美丽的女人 Beautiful Woman
7. 幸福 Happiness
8. 天使 Angel
9. 道路 The Road
10. 难忘的一天 Unforgettable Day
11. 四季 The Four Seasons
12. 少年 Youth
13. 风行 Quickly
7. 《黄金十年》 "A Decade of Golden Hits" - 2007 (huang2jin2
shi2nian2)
The following singles were released on this album. Song
Title:
Lyrics:
1. 光明之门 The Door of Promise
2. 礼物 A Gift *
3. 变行记 A Record of Changes
4. 想念 Longing
5. 执着 Persistence (alternate version)
* a different song from that of "礼物 A Gift" found on the album 《时光漫步》 "Through Time"