KATIE MELUA：Nine Million Bicycles

[wanghx]

赌咒发誓的情歌，很好听。Katie Melua's style is close to the Asian
singers, more melodic than symphonious.

很有趣的是，这首歌的歌词，也是“信仰 faith”和“真理 Truth”的关系的一个常识
例证，并且提到了 liar 这个词，
这对于动不动把自己不相信的学说非要纳入“科学”框架，还说别人是“伪科学”加以
侮辱的科学教教徒来说，是个很好
的启发。不可理解的，不一定是错误的；错误的，也不一定是虚伪的。要证明别人
是伪科学，得首先证明别人：

1. 以科学的名义假冒科学的实质行为
2. 明知自己不是科学，却有假冒科学的动机

http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/katiemelua/ninemillionbicycles.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTy3WA0Pq8M
KATIE MELUA LYRICS

"Nine Million Bicycles"

There are nine million bicycles in Beijing
That's a fact,
It's a thing we can't deny
Like the fact that I will love you till I die.

We are twelve billion light years from the edge,
That's a guess,
No-one can ever say it's true
But I know that I will always be with you.

I'm warmed by the fire of your love everyday
So don't call me a liar,
Just believe everything that I say

There are six BILLION people in the world
More or less
and it makes me feel quite small
But you're the one I love the most of all

[INTERLUDE]
We're high on the wire
With the world in our sight
And I'll never tire,
Of the love that you give me every night

There are nine million bicycles in Beijing
That's a Fact,
it's a thing we can't deny
Like the fact that I will love you till I die

And there are nine million bicycles in Beijing
And you know that I will love you till I die!

[Thanks to Franco "FairyKing" Lai (queen...@tiscali.it) for these lyrics]

[ www.azlyrics.com ]

[wanghx]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nine_Million_Bicycles

Nine Million Bicycles

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“Nine Million Bicycles”
Single by Katie Melua from the album Piece by Piece
B-side	"Market Day in Guernica", "Stardust"
Released	September 19, 2005 (UK)
Format	CD single, digital download
Genre	Pop/Jazz/Blues
Length	3:15
Label	Dramatico
Writer(s)	Mike Batt
Producer	Mike Batt
Katie Melua singles chronology
"Crawling up a Hill" (2004) "Nine Million Bicycles" (2005) "I Cried for You"/"Just like Heaven" (2005)

"Nine Million Bicycles" is a song written and produced by Mike Batt for the singer Katie Melua's second album, Piece by Piece. It was released as the album's first single in September 2005 (see 2005 in music) and reached number five on the UK Singles Chart, becoming Melua's first top five hit as a solo artist. (She had previously participated in Band Aid 20's 2004 number-one charity single "Do They Know It's Christmas?"). It was a finalist for The Record of the Year prize, losing to "You Raise Me Up" by Westlife.

Contents [hide] 1 About the record 2 Lyrical Error 3 Credits 4 Track listing 5 Charts 6 Notes

[edit] About the record

According to Melua, the inspiration for the song came from when her interpreter during her time in Beijing^[1], China, was showing her and her manager, Mike Batt, around the city. The interpreter gave them information about Beijing, including that there are supposedly nine million bicycles in the city. Batt wrote a song based around the title "Nine Million Bicycles" upon his return to England two weeks later, and it was one of the last songs to be recorded for Piece by Piece. Adrian Brett, who played the ethnic flutes on Batt's album Caravans (1978), contributed to the song; an ocarina was used for the low sounds, and a Chinese bamboo flute for the high sounds.^[2]

Melua said that she liked the song "because it is a simple juxtaposition of a trivial idea ("Nine Million Bicycles") against an important idea ("I will love you till I die")".^[2] The website indieLondon named it one of the "highlights" of Piece by Piece, describing it as "genuinely sweet ... The meandering blasts of flute that weave their way throughout lend the song a Chinese feel and make it quite enticing."^[3]

The single's video, directed by Kevin Godley, features Melua being dragged across the floor through a variety of settings, including a brief shot of the Summer Palace (Yiheyuan, Chinese: 颐和园/頤和園) in Beijing, until she returns to a picnic in a park with her friends.

The song was featured prominently in a high-profile radio and television advertising campaign for the Slovenian cell-phone operator Mobitel.

[edit] Lyrical Error

On September 30, 2005, an article appeared in The Guardian newspaper in which physicist Simon Singh humorously corrected the song's lyrics. Singh said that with the song Melua "demonstrates a deep ignorance of cosmology and no understanding of the scientific method", and objected to its second verse, where the song's protagonist "[contrasts] such guesswork with her own confidence in her blossoming long-term love":^[4]

We are 12 billion light-years from the edge,

That's a guess — no-one can ever say it's true,

But I know that I will always be with you

Singh interpreted the first lyric as a statement that the observable universe was twelve billion years old, which he said was incorrect; according to "the very latest data", the universe was actually 13.7 billion years old. He added, "the next line in the song is unforgivable. To say that the age of the universe is "a guess" is an insult to a century of astronomical progress. The age of the universe is not just "a guess", but rather it is a carefully measured number that is now known to a high degree of accuracy". He wrote replacement lyrics which he believed would, if used, remedy his concerns:^[4]

We are 13.7 billion light-years from the edge of the observable universe,

that's a good estimate with well-defined error bars,

Scientists say it's true, but acknowledge that it may be refined,

and with the available information, I predict that I will always be with you

Singh's statements received moderate coverage in the media, and led Batt to submit a response to The Guardian in which he defended his right to poetic license.^[5] Melua agreed to re-record the song's second verse with Singh's proposed lyrics, though she said she encountered difficulty fitting in all of the syllables.^[6] The revised version, which omitted the line "Scientists say it's true, but acknowledge that it may be refined", premiered on the radio show The Today Programme on October 15.^[7] Melua said that she felt embarrassed by the error in the song, particularly given that she had been a member of her school's astronomy club. Singh himself later said he intended his article to be "to some extent ... tongue-in-cheek", but that he also wanted to defend principles in cosmology "that are on much firmer ground". He added that he believed his response to the song's lyrics had helped introduce cosmology to a wider audience and said that "the writing of the original article was probably the most productive hour of my career".^[5]

Unfortunately, the revised lyrics are still incorrect: while the universe is about 13.7 billion years old, the distance to the edge of the observable universe is considerably greater than 13.7 billion light years due to the continuing expansion of the universe. See observable universe.

[edit] Credits

Personnel

• Vocals by Katie Melua
• Guitars by Katie Melua, Chris Spedding, Jim Cregan
• Piano by Mike Batt
• Bass by Tim Harries
• Drums by Henry Spinetti
• Solo trumpet by Dominic Glover
• Solo violin by Mike Darcy
• Percussion by; Martin Ditchman, Chris Karan
• Ethnic flutes by Adrian Brett
• Orchestra – The Irish Film Orchestra; conducted by Mike Batt

Production

• Producers – Mike Batt
• Engineer – Steve Sale
• Arranger – Mike Batt

[edit] Track listing

1. "Nine Million Bicycles" (Mike Batt) – 3:15
2. "Market Day in Guernica" (Batt) – 4:02
3. "Stardust" (Hoagy Carmichael, Mitchell Parish) – 4:10

[edit] Charts

Chart (2005/2006)	Peak Position[1][2][3]
Belgium Singles Chart	4
France Singles Chart	56
Germany Singles Chart	31
Ireland Singles Chart	11
Italian Singles Chart	17
Netherlands Singles Chart	2
Norway Singles Chart	10
Poland Singles Chart	2
Switzerland Singles Chart	43
Taiwan Singles Chart	1 (1 week)
UK Singles Chart	5
Europe Official Top 100	12

[edit] Notes

1. ^ What's Music Record 1993, no. WS-2052, in Mandarin
2. ^ ^{a b} "Nine Million Bicycles". KatieMelua.com. Retrieved September 28, 2006.
3. ^ Foley, Jack and Hollie, Carnevale. "Katie Melua — Piece By Piece". indieLondon. Retrieved April 9, 2006.
4. ^ ^{a b} Singh, Simon. "Katie Melua's bad science". The Guardian. September 30, 2005. Retrieved April 9, 2006.
5. ^ ^{a b} Singh, Simon. "The pop star controversy". Symmetry. February 2006. Volume 03, Issue 01. Retrieved April 9, 2006.
6. ^ Orr, James. "How Katie put the science back into songwriting". The Daily Telegraph. October 16, 2005. Retrieved April 9, 2006.
7. ^ "Nine Million Bicycles" segment of The Today Programme. Bbc.co.uk. Broadcast date: October 15, 2005. Retrieved April 9, 2006.

[hide] v • d • e Katie Melua Albums Call off the Search · Piece by Piece · Pictures Singles "The Closest Thing to Crazy" · "Call off the Search" · "Crawling up a Hill" · "Nine Million Bicycles" · "I Cried for You"/"Just like Heaven" · "Spider's Web" · "It's Only Pain" · "Shy Boy" · "If You Were a Sailboat" · "Mary Pickford" · "What A Wonderful World" (duet with Eva Cassidy) · "If the Lights Go Out" · "Ghost town" Related articles Discography · Images

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nine_Million_Bicycles"

Categories: Katie Melua songs | 2005 singles

[wanghx]

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Katie+Melua+Nine+Million+Bicycles&as=1&and_queries=Katie+Melua+Nine+Million+Bicycles&exact_query=&or_queries=&negative_queries=&search_duration=&search_hl=&search_category_type=all&search_sort=&uploaded=

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xF_w7MMU0DU&feature=related

这段现场版录像中，可以看到一段类似曲笛音色的演奏，但却是纵向的吹管乐器，类似很细短的箫，不知道是什么。最喜欢曲笛的音色，经典乐曲《姑苏行》。

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nine_Million_Bicycles

Adrian Brett, who played the ethnic flutes on Batt's album Caravans (1978), contributed to the song; an ocarina was used for the low sounds, and a Chinese bamboo flute for the high sounds.

据说用了埙(ocarina)和竹笛，熟悉的清新婉约的风格。但是许多演奏中并没有用支那乐器，而是用的不知道名字的铜管乐器，音色和竹笛却很象。

Melua said that she liked the song "because it is a simple juxtaposition of a trivial idea ("Nine Million Bicycles") against an important idea ("I will love you till I die")".[2]

这其实就是支那《诗经》中所用的“兴”的修辞手法。:)

The website indieLondon named it one of the "highlights" of Piece by Piece, describing it as "genuinely sweet ... The meandering blasts of flute that weave their way throughout lend the song a Chinese feel and make it quite enticing."[3]

可见，人类的乐感是相通的，老外也觉得笛子的音色“meandering 婉转”，enticing 迷人。虽然笛子也是从西域传入支那，但是就如围棋几乎成为日本的文化代表，在谁那里发扬光大，就算是哪国文化。:)

许多民乐听来确实令人沉醉。现在老外也开始发掘资源了。:) 从新文化运动以来，支那音乐家已经发掘整理了很多，而之前，都是散落在民间，宫廷，寺庙中的。

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V0SHLJAzB3I&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zo8166ZG2os

这两段现场录像中，采用的是竹笛，但看起来是粗短的梆笛，不是细长的曲笛。

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JkCG4_dQhdY 这里她唱错词了。

1:04 there are six billion light years in the world

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZIdjUXfGa4
学者指出她歌词里说我们距离宇宙边界 120 亿光年是错的，应该是 137 亿光年。Katie 说，没办法，那不合拍。;)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LqY-rBM-eo0&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-TOD8vu9ww&feature=related
Katie Melua 是格鲁吉亚 (Georgia) 裔，移民到北爱尔兰。

自由的世界给各民族精英提供舞台。

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TKr8TLDXqJE
Katie Melua 在瑞士的现场演出和访谈

http://www.bikebeijing.com/9million_bicycles.htm
北京一些公司开始用这首歌做自行车租赁和旅游宣传了。