Enjoy Yourself Tonight

And finally, another set of tasty tunes has arrived at the Department. Hope you like Chinese, 'cause that's exactly what's on the platter tonight.

My record store (which I'll post about soon enough) got a nice box of Asian music in one day, mostly from Japan and China. My grasp of Asian languages is probably as good as yours, so I had no idea what most of the music was. But of the 5 or 6 albums I got, one stood out. It's this one: Enjoy Yourself Tonight. Apparently, Enjoy was a popular variety show with a very long run. It got its start in the late '60s, and was based pretty heavily on Australia's In Melbourne Tonight. I know this because of the English on the back cover.

There's not a whole lot I actually can tell you about this album. Google doesn't help much. It seems to be a soundtrack-type album: I hear hosts, a little banter, and even an open and close. And yeah, there's some music. It's SOME MUSIC, too. The singer is Betty Chung, and she runs the gamut of styles. You'll be hearing two of her peppier cuts.

First, Kowloon Hong Kong. This swinger seems to also have been called The Ding Dong Song. There's something mentioned about The Reynettes, but it's in Chinese so I don't know exactly what.

The second one amazed me. I could have sworn in Cantonese that some American or British band did it first, but apparently not. I can't find the first thing about it. It's called I Want Action, and it's superbly rockin'. Betty's all-talk-and-no-action lover is making her just a leeeeeeetle impatient. Something must be done, and Betty's just about ready to do it herself if she has to. In perfect English to boot. Look out, boys.

Your two tracks are presented, as just about all of them will be, as 256K MP3s and shared through MediaFire. We've included a little of the hosts' banter (don't you love that word?) in front of I Want Action just for fun. And if you're good and you finish your Lo Mein noodles, I just might post another track or two.

ENJOY YOURSELF TONIGHT
Pathe/EMI, c. 1968

1. Kowloon Hong Kong (4.74 MB)
2. I Want Action (5.59 MB)