Faye and Teresa – 1,000 Words, 10,000 Phrases

With this post, I’m beginning a series on Faye Wong’s (王菲) cover of hits by the singer she idolized as a teenager, Teresa Teng (鄧麗君, Deng Lijun, 29 Jan 1953-8 May 1995), the superstar from Taiwan who dominated the Asian pop music scene in the ’70s and ’80s. The song is “One Thousand Words, Ten Thousand Phrases” (千言萬語, Quian Yan Wan Yu). The audios for both are below. They were ripped from YouTube posts by Mcorange (5.27.06) and Stunningnuts (7.21.06). Teresa’s version is from a 1977 Taiwan TV performance. Faye’s, nearly two decades later, from a live recording of her Dec 1994 Faye Wong Live In Concert video. I’m not going to try to compare one against the other because they’re from different eras and represent very different styles. Still, it’s fascinating to listen to them both, side by side, singing the same song. Whenever I do, I come away with a renewed appreciation for Teresa’s influence and for the way Faye is able to take a song and make it uniquely her own.

Faye’s version:

Teresa’s version:

Note: Other posts in this series:Faye and Teresa – Where Comes the Wind