Tian mi mi
"Tian Mi Mi" is a song recorded by Taiwanese singer Teresa Teng. It was first made available on 20 September 1979 and was later included on her Mandarin album of the same name, released through PolyGram Records in November of the same year. The song's lyrics were written by Zhuang Nu while the music was adapted from a 1940s Indonesian gambang kromong folk song about sampan boats, called "Dayung Sampan", by the pasindhèn Dasimah.
Teng recorded a version of the song for her first Cantonese album, Irreconcilable, released on 18 December 1980, which was titled "The Day I Met You".
"Tian Mi Mi", a love song about someone captivated by a familiar and sweet smile, went on to achieve widespread popularity in the Sinophone world and remains one of Teng's most famous works. In 1996, the Hong Kong film Comrades: Almost a Love Story was released as a tribute to Teng, following her death a year prior, with the film's Chinese title named after "Tian Mi Mi".
Background and history
"Tian Mi Mi" was adapted from a 1940s Indonesian folk song titled "Dayung Sampan", which was popular in Indonesia and Singapore. Teng produced an Indonesian-language cover of "Dayung Sampan" while on tour in Southeast Asia in 1978. On 14 February 1979, she was arrested in Japan and deported to Hong Kong for using an Indonesian passport, which Japan found had been obtained from the Indonesian embassy in Hong Kong under suspicious circumstances. Fearing punishment in Taiwan, as the island nation was under an autocratic government at the time, Teng travelled to the United States and became a student at the University of Southern California. She chose the U.S. as she was unable to stay permanently in Hong Kong and was banned from re-entering Japan for a year. To fulfill her contractual obligation, she composed a Mandarin Chinese cover of "Dayung Sampan" while studying, which became "Tian Mi Mi".Release
"Tian Mi Mi" was first included on Teng's album An Unforgettable Day, released in Taiwan through Kolin Records on 20 September 1979. The track was later included on an eponymous album, released through PolyGram Records on 15 November 1979, which became certified Platinum by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry Hong Kong. The following year, Teng recorded a Cantonese version of the song, titled "The Day I Met You", which was released as part of her first Cantonese-language album, Irreconcilable, on 18 December 1980.Composition and lyrics
Huang Yuyuan, a researcher at National Taiwan Museum, noted that the original Indonesian song was about fishers gossiping and yelling at each other. The lyrics of the Chinese version were reinterpreted into a more playful and sweet tone, penned by lyricist Zhuang Nu, who would work with Teng on many of her later songs. Zhuang wrote the lyrics in roughly five minutes after being told he was writing for Teresa Teng. The lyrics for the Cantonese version were written by Lo Kwak-chan.Hua Hsu from The New Yorker described the song as "a loungy ballad about someone with a sweet and disarmingly familiar smile". Teng sings "Where have I seen you before", before remembering: "Ah—in my dreams". Hua noted that "Despite this sense of bewitched yearning, she sounds calm, curious, almost teasing".