There is a very famous Vietnamese song from the 1960s written by Y Vân called “Saigon is Beautiful” (Sài Gòn đẹp lắm). I remember being in Bangkok a few years ago and hearing a Thai version of this song when I was in a restaurant or a taxi or someplace like that (and a reader wrote a while ago that her heard the Thai version once on Internet radio).
At the time I thought it was interesting that a Vietnamese song had been recorded by someone outside of Vietnam.
Today I was listening to some clips of songs that are being digitized by The Cambodian Vintage Music Archive and there is one by the late great Cambodian singer, Sinn Sisamouth, called “Girls Today” (Srey Srey Elov) from 1970 that is clearly inspired by “Saigon is Beautiful.” However, Sinn Sisamouth gives it a distinctly Cambodian flavor.
Finally, I found that Hong Kong singer, Frances Yip (葉麗儀), recorded a version of “Saigon is Beautiful” in 1974. This version of the song was apparently used by Cathay Pacific Airlines for promotional purposes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjUmN1B1Rhs
It’s fascinating to see the international life that this song had.
If anyone can locate the Thai version of this song, please let me know.
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Francis Yip sings in an accented, but very clear Vietnamese. I love the lounge music arrangement – in keeping with the lava lamps in the video image. In the Sinn Sisamouth version it’s apparent that the writer knew and liked Y Vân’s song and then decided if he changed one note out of every five he would have a new song that’s just as good.
I’m also anxious to find out about the Thai version – my impression of hearing it 15 years ago is that the melody was exactly that of “Saigon” and when the words “Sài Gòn” were said in the passage “Sài Gòn đẹp lắm, Sài Gòn ơi, Sài Gòn ơi” the word Krungthep was used.
I believe that “Saigon” dates from 1966 or 1967, There is also the question of precedence – which came first – the Thai song or the Vietnamese song. We don’t know for sure who copied who.
I bring that up because over the past fifteen years or so, there has been great concern in Vietnam over a phenomenon called “đạo nhạc” (is there any Chinese correlate to this term?). This is basically when a songwriter uses somebody else’s melody, and sometimes their arrangement, writes new lyrics and claims it as their song. Usually these have been songs from other countries, meaning that few people may know the original song in order to call out the perpetrator. This has become more difficult to do because the wide availability of free music on the net has made it possible to locate anything (except the Thai version of “Saigon”??).
The accusation of đạo nhạc has been used as a source of shaming – the songwriter Bảo Chấn received the worst of it with his song “Tình thôi xót xa” that closely resembles the instrumental work “Frontier” by Japanese light jazz musician Keiko Matsui. More recently Vietnamese have tried to turn “đạo nhạc” in the other direction saying that Coldplay cribbed Trần Thu Hà’s recording of “Ra ngõ tụng kinh” by Trần Tiến becoming their song “Princess of China.”
http://taybui.blogspot.com/2011/10/muon-hay-cho-vay.html
I happen to think they both cribbed the Atlanta Braves tomahawk chop chant.
Ultimately “đạo nhạc” has a social meaning (stigma) and a legal meaning (plagiarism, theft of intellectual property). But 100 years ago the legal meaning did not exist in Vietnam (or Thailand, Cambodia, etc.) and the social stigma was also non-existent. It was normal perhaps even desirable to use existing words and melodies and adjust them to one’s creative needs. The interesting question is when and how did the stigma start to arise.
In looking around for information about this, I came across a couple of comments in Thai, but no one mentioned a Thai version. One person posted a Vietnamese version and said that this song was very popular in Thailand in the 1960s. That person was also familiar with the Frances Yip version.
I distinctly remember hearing the Thai version though, and like you said, the melody was exactly like the Vietnamese version.
Oh boy, this is right up my ally!
Here is a *better* cover of “Sài Gòn Đẹp Lắm” recorded outside of Vietnam: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TOk8bxQ1Nw0.
This is not the only Vietnamese song that was recorded outside of Vietnam. There are at least two others that I know of. They are:
1) Nắng Chiều (version 1 của Vương Ái Minh: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXieElZM0Bw, version 2 của Phí Ngọc Thanh: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFF9TX6dS48). Version 2 might have been recorded after 1975 so it really doesn’t count.
2) Không (Japanese version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XO3q5-PGHrc, Mandarin version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJMjKsVjyzw)
Good research!!!
South Vietnamese music before 1975 is actually my forte …