Hong Kong had long been a British colony. Western cultural influences started early and seeped into people’s daily life as early as the 1920s.
Cultural influences from the West took an upward turn in the 1950s, firstly through films. During the time when Wong Jum-sum grew up, the number of Western films on show every year was never less than 200. The West was also prominent in radio broadcast. Thanks to the work of progressive radio show hosts like Aileen Woods and Uncle Ray, a whole generation came to be exposed to all styles and genres of Western pop music. They helped to nurture a world where one could embrace simultaneously the diverse sound and sentiments of Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley and Benny Goodman. A new collective outlook was thus embodied in the skin and bone of the baby boomer generation.
Composer: Lionel Newman
Lyricist: Ken Darby
Vocalist: Marilyn Monroe
Mmm… if listen you can hear river call… wail-a-ree...
There is a river
Called the River of no return
Sometimes it's peaceful
And sometimes wild and free
Love is a traveler
On the River of no return
Swept on forever
To be lost in the stormy sea
(Wail-a-ree)
I can hear the river call
(no return, no return)
(Where the roaring waters fall)
Wail-a-ree
I can hear my lover call come to me
(no return, no return)
I lost my love on the river
And forever my heart will yearn
Gone gone forever
Down the River of no return
Wail-a-ree, Wail-a-re-e-ee
(Wail-a-ree)
You'll never return to me
(no return, no return)
