The song "Men Should Strive for Self-improvement" was originally released by the famous Hong Kong singer George Lam on 1990. The lyrics of this song can be sung in Mandarin and Cantonese at the same time, without any sense of disobedience. It's a classic among classics!
This song is adapted from the ancient song Your Legend, and it is also the theme song of Jet Li's Hong Kong films Top Gun in Huang Feihong and Second Man in Huang Feihong. The Mandarin version was sung by Jackie Chan.
In the 1990s, Tsui Hark took the crew to shoot on the beach in Xiamen. In the cold weather, the music "Your Legend" played by the tape recorder excited the crew. Later, at the request of Tsui Hark, David Henry Hwang began to adapt the ancient song "Your Legend" into "Men Should Strive for Self-improvement". When recording this song, Huang Hong found George Lam to cooperate.
When recording this song, Huang Jianxun asked George Lam to sing to his heart's content, and he also added modal particles like "Hum, Ha". George Lam was so devoted that he even took the initiative to sing an octave high note. The lyrics are as follows:
Proud smile, waves, blood wins the red sun.
Heroic as fine steel, broad-minded as Wan Li.
Swear to strive for self-improvement, be a good person and strive for self-improvement every day.
Hot-blooded man is hotter than the sun, let Haitian gather energy for me.
Open up the world for my ideal and see the blue waves shining high.
Seeing the blue sky is vast and magnificent, a man should strive for self-improvement.
Be a good person, warm your heart with blood, stand up and stand out, be a pillar, be a good person.
Use my 100% heat to shine 1000% and be a good person.
Hot blood warms the intestines, and heat wins the red sun.
Be a good person.
Song appreciation
The lyrics of "Men Be Self-reliant" are full of blood, and the high-spirited momentum and chivalrous spirit in the song make people identify with the image of Huang Feihong in the film and bring out the best in each other. This song has an identity tag to remind the lost people to remember "who I am" and "constantly strive for self-improvement", just like the three moles on the soles of the feet of Supreme Bao in the movie A Chinese Odyssey.
The song expresses the expectation of the future with the melody of striving for progress, and the sentence "Men should strive for self-improvement" has become a famous saying of men's self-motivation. George Lam's sonorous voice is full of heroism and passion, which makes people excited.
The theme of the song is "Heaven rewards diligence", which tells us that only constant efforts and efforts can be rewarded. The lyrics also mention "sharpening the knife and tempering the hero" to encourage men to experience setbacks in order to become real heroes.