Rare Songs – Peanut Show (Fashion Show)

“Peanut Show”* (花生骚) is a duet with Anita Mui (梅艳芳 Mei Yanfang) and Faye Wong (王菲). Click on the audio below to listen to it. It’s the third track in Anita’s album, With, released 16 March 2002. (She died on 30 Dec 2003 of cancer.) Anita was a major force in cantopop in the late-80s, famous for her decision in 1990 to no longer accept music awards to give younger singers a chance to win. “Peanut Show” was composed by Terry Chan, and the lyrics were written by Lin Xi (林夕). With is a tribute album commemorating Anita’s twentieth anniversary in entertainment, featuring Anita with eleven Hong Kong artists, including Faye, Leslie Cheung (张国荣), Jacky Cheung (张学友), Kelly Chen (陈慧琳), Sandy Lam (林憶蓮), and Sammi Cheng (郑秀文).

I really like this song, which is just another example of how well Faye blends in with other singers even when their voices are very different. According to Casper Snoopy, who reviewed the album in June 2004, “Among the eleven songs, Ah Mui’s duet [Peanut Show] with Faye Wong attracts most focus. It is because the pitch of both 

singers differs greatly. But Ah Mui likes this song very much. She said the lyrics are about a fashion model, who is admired by people when she does the catwalk. But she is just like the gold fish in the aquarium, everybody can just look at her. She doesn’t have any sense of security.”

* The title, “Peanut Show,” is a literal translation of 花生骚. See Dan’s comment, attached to this post, suggesting a correction to “Fashion Show.”  As I’ve explained to Dan, I’ve seen it as “Fashion Show” in Josh’s website, YesAsia, etc., but it was literally translated as “Peanut Show” in the Mui-times website and Mingpao news. (added 22 Aug 2008)