Respawn Entertainment: Days of Glory

Chapter 676 River Deep—Mountain High

When they heard this, the whole place burst into amazing shouts and applause.

Music fans have never heard of this song title, but it doesn’t matter, because everyone knows that this must be another new song written by Bian Lang.

As for why he chose this song, it was mainly because, guided by his habitual thinking, Bian Lang recalled all the songs sung by Celine Dion that he could remember, and found this rock-style song.

The main reason is that time is a bit tight and the Rolling Stones can't rehearse well enough, otherwise Bian Lang would have wanted to bring Nightwish out for a walk.

As for how this song appeared in Bian Lang’s mind, it was because he noticed this English song when he was listening to Coco’s concert collection in his previous life.

Then I checked and found out that this song may be averagely famous among Chinese music fans, and may even be considered niche and unpopular.

But this song is very famous around the world. The original singers were Ike & Tina Turner, a blues rock duo composed of rock queen Tina Turner and her ex-husband Ike. They are inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Grammy Hall of Fame.

The original producer of this song was Phil Spector, who had produced the Beatles' four classic songs "Let It Be". It became Ike & Tina Turner's signature work.

"River Deep Mountain High" is firmly ranked 500rd on Rolling Stone magazine's "33 Greatest Songs of All Time".

Even superstars and bands such as Deep Purple, The Animals, Annie Lennox, Celine Dion, Diana Ross and others competed to reinterpret the song and snatched the third place on the British Gold Chart.

In addition to Coco, other female singers from China have also covered this song, including Sally Yeh.

As for Celine Dion, this song is considered one of her most classic live performances during those years in Las Vegas, and it is also one of the few fast songs she sang!

For Silva, this is also the first time in her life that she has challenged rock and fast songs.

Compared to "I Surrender" which she is currently recording, she feels that this song is the most challenging for her.

And from her perspective, this song may be even more successful than "I Surrender"! The key is that she never thought that Bian Lang could play such a pure blues rock that even a European like her doesn't know much about...

In order to best restore the pure blues rock style, the Rolling Stones added external aid for the accompaniment this time. In addition to Lun who played the trumpet, Bian Lang also invited Yuan Hao back to play the saxophone, and asked Lao Yuan to help invite a trombone player.

There are also two keyboard players. In addition to Hua Yan, Su Kan also joined in and started playing the piano, her old specialty.

As for the backing vocals, it was the full lineup of Li, Yang, and Tan who appeared at the Rolling Stones music festival!

After Niu Bo finished his introduction, he returned to the seats for super fans. Then the big screen hiding the stage slowly rose up, giving everyone present a big surprise!

The first thing that rock fans least expect is the stage effect.

The whole thing was in a retro Broadway style, giving everyone the illusion that they had walked into the wrong set.

Not only are there light signs and retro red corduroy curtains in the background, but everyone’s outfits are also in the same style.

Silva's appearance in a tight golden sequined miniskirt, coupled with her natural red hair, immediately brought everyone back to the big stage of the 60s.

Looking at the Rolling Stones again, everyone present was stunned. They had never seen the Rolling Stones dressed as bodyguards before!

From Bian Lang to Dayong, every man was wearing a black suit, with their bow ties and neckties tied meticulously, and the black sunglasses on their faces shining like black diamonds under the light.

And as soon as the three wind musicians holding different wind instruments appeared, everyone knew that the repertoire this time would not be simple.

Looking at Strauss's female dancers, they are all dressed in sky blue dresses, and their image has almost nothing in common with the familiar Rolling Stones.

There was also Su Kan, who was sitting in front of a white grand piano in a silver dress, and for the first time let everyone see her classical temperament radiating from the inside out.

Su Kan did not expect that his first opportunity to play the piano on TV would be with a rock band, and to be an accompaniment for a singer of Silva's level.

Others may not be clear about this, but as a former classical music player, she knows very well the accompaniment band of this national treasure-level female singer.

She knew that when Silva was performing professionally in the concert hall, he was accompanied by a national symphony orchestra. At that time, those who sat in her current position must have been the most outstanding concertmasters in their country. Although they were often ignored by the audience, being able to sit there was a sign of recognition from the industry.

If she was still in the orchestra, Su Kan would never have dared to dream that one day she would be on the same stage with Silva.

Although it was not what she had imagined before, in a formal concert hall with a large orchestra of 100 to 180 people accompanying her, she was now truly the first among Chinese pianists.

Although Comrade Lao Su has changed his mind and no longer blames her for giving up her work in the orchestra, she is still happier just thinking about the opportunity it will give the old man to show off in front of his colleagues, friends, relatives and neighbors!

As for the professional accompaniment musicians who came to watch the performance, they had a lot of thoughts in their minds.

Some envied the Rolling Stones for being able to provide accompaniment for this woman, some thought that this powerful combination was too rare, and some thought that the Rolling Stones really didn't need to provide a stage for this foreign woman just for a show.

Some even envied Silva for having the Rolling Stones accompany her. Of course, those who held this view were not the musicians, but the first- and second-tier singers who attended the event.

As for those idols, it’s useless for them to think about it…

Looking at the professional music fans, those who don’t know the inside story are all shaking their heads in admiration: “The Rolling Stones are the Rolling Stones. No matter what they play, it’s always good.”

For ordinary music fans, the strong visual contrast in appearance alone has already aroused their curiosity and desire to explore!

“Is this going to be blues or jazz?”

"It's OK as long as it's not a pop song, otherwise it would be too weird!"

As Liu Xiaokui stood up and shouted, "The Rolling Stones are awesome!" the superiority of the organized music fans of 100,000 hippies was revealed, and hundreds of people followed suit and shouted, "The Rolling Stones are awesome!"

If the singer was not Silva but a Chinese singer, I wonder if he would be so angry that he would just throw the microphone and walk away.

Liu Xiaokui didn't think too much about it, he just wanted to liven up the atmosphere, but Niu Boyi, who was used to eating and seeing this, had to speak up to smooth things over: "Xiaokui, are you bullying Silva because he can't understand Chinese?"

As soon as Niu Bo made this joke, the whole audience burst into laughter!

But who knew that it was Silva herself who finally resolved the awkward situation. She turned around, gave a thumbs-up to the Rolling Stones behind her, and said in the broken Chinese she had just learned from the fans in the audience: "Rolling Stones girls, get out of the way!"

She had heard the word "Rolling Stone" so many times since she came to China that her ears were calloused. How could she not know what it meant? As for "awesome", she felt that in such occasions, the fans' words were definitely compliments, and she also felt from the bottom of her heart that the Rolling Stones were awesome, so...

But when a foreign girl with red hair and a sequined dress, who is also a national and foreign treasure-level singer, said "The Rolling Stones are awesome" in such an occasion, the scene was so funny that the whole audience burst into laughter!

After the laughter gradually died down, Silva greeted everyone in English, saying, "I'm very happy to be here to participate in "Summer of the Band". I'm Silva from Norway. The next song is a new work by Wave. I hope my performance can meet his expectations!"

When these words come from an international female singer, the situation is completely different.

The singers and stars who came for Silva were all shocked. They never expected that the person they came to admire this time was actually admiring Bian Lang, a rock musician whom they did not take seriously. This was really embarrassing!

In the past, no matter how great Bian Lang was, he was only in the rock circle. The status of rock in the Chinese music scene was no longer competitive. They naturally felt that even if he became the emperor of rock, what did it have to do with them.

But since Guo Sichu and Tao Xiaoyu joined Rolling Stone, they realized that something was wrong. Now that Silva praised Bian Lang in person, they were even more unbelievable. If a first-line singer present was praised by Silva like that, it might be an opportunity to start the road to becoming an empress.

And look at the waves.

Of course, some people think that Silva is here to do the show out of tragedy, so naturally he has to do enough superficial work. This has nothing to do with what kind of person Bian Lang is. It’s just that money plays a role.

But no matter what, when Silva said such words in such an occasion, who would not envy, hate and hate Bian Lang? After hearing this, Bian Lang also took off his hat and saluted Silva like a gentleman.

"Thank you, Wave, let's get started then!"

After Silva said this, the light signs behind the stage began to flicker as if a short circuit had occurred.

The sounds of various musical instruments also sounded simultaneously to the beat of the lights, especially the iconic sound of wind instruments. Those with enough musical knowledge could tell at once that this was the authentic blues.

Then the short-circuited lights returned to normal, and the top light began to rotate and cast various moving light spots on the stage floor. This pure retro flavor, coupled with the tune of "Eighteen Bends on the Mountain Road" brought by the wind music, the rock fans and people in the circle at the scene could only say that they were convinced!

It's just such a authentic taste, and it also has a blues-oriented blues rock feel. It's something that has never been seen before in China and will be hard to surpass in the future.

The prelude of a few seconds flashed by, and after the trombone's ending, all the instruments fell into a collective silence, leaving this time completely to Silva.

Silva twisted her lower limbs to the rhythm and sang without stopping the rhythm of her body: "When I was a little girl..."

For more than 90% of the people who had heard Silva's songs, it was their first time to hear her sing a fast song. The clear pronunciation and soft, mellow tone of her voice, with a touch of sweetness, brought out a soul feeling.

When it comes to Soul, it has to be Blackie, so the effect of Tina Turner's interpretation of this song at that time is difficult to match by most cover singers.

But Bian Lang used Celine Dion's version to compete with Silva. As soon as he started the official performance this time, Bian Lang felt that it was a sure thing!

As the music started again, Silva continued singing: "I had a rag doll, Only doll I've ever owned..."

Even if there is a translation on the big screen, most music fans don’t look at it. They can judge whether they like the song based on the melody and tone alone.

But it’s different for those music fans who can understand the meaning of the lyrics just by listening. They think that since Bian Lang can write these lyrics, he doesn’t look like a Chinese!

English lyrics are usually very simple, and there is no strong antithesis, but the rhymes are very neat. Especially this song from the 60s...

The key is to judge from the lyrics and the song title. These people really can't guess how the lyrics will develop later.

As for people like Evelyn who were more familiar with Silva, they were even more surprised than the Chinese music fans at the scene.

First of all, this time they really saw a completely different Silva. Secondly, it was Bian Lang's creative ability that had no boundaries.

For them, whether it is Soul, blues or blues, their understanding is much deeper than that of Chinese people, so they think it is incredible that Bian Lang can come up with such a authentic song. And this song is obviously from a female perspective, how did a grown man like Bian Lang write this word?

As the lyrics progressed, Silva's condition became better and better. She used to sing mostly while standing, but today, driven by this song and the atmosphere, she was as cheerful as a rabbit that had just eaten alfalfa.

And this great love song is indeed as passionate as Silva's performance at this moment:

“Now I love you just the way I loved that rag doll

And now I love you like the rag doll I love

But only now my love has grown

But till now my love is growing

And it gets stronger, in every way

It becomes increasingly firm

And it gets deeper, let me say

It gets deep, let me say

And it gets higher, day by day

It is getting taller and taller

And do I love you my oh my

Do I love you? Oh, me?

Yeh river deep mountain high

As deep as a river, as high as a mountain

If I lost you would I cry

Will I cry if I lose you?

Oh how I love you baby, baby, baby, baby

Oh baby I love you so much..."

In this first paragraph, following Bian Lang's guidance, Silva used all the techniques such as vibrato, octave-changing and other techniques. It was also the first time for her to challenge a song with such a fast pronunciation, which really made acquaintances re-acquainted with this national treasure-level female singer!

As for those in China, whether they are singers, musicians, stars or ordinary music fans, it is the first time that they have directly felt the charm of the top European female star. Silva later got the title of "Emperor Silva", and the origin of this title can be traced back to today's performance!

Judging from singing skills alone, there may not be that much difference between her and domestic emperors and empresses, but the confident, relaxed and charming state they display on stage is really hard to imitate.

After all, they are decades ahead of you in the field of modern music.

But after sobering up and thinking about it again, it was different: "Even if you are Emperor Xi, so what? Aren't you still a tool for Bian Lang, the Chinese monster?!"