1985, Chyi Yu: Letter to Mr. Chen, Manuscript of “Life as a Dream” by Sanmao.
In 1985, Michelle Pan and Chyi Yu, two Golden Rhythm Award winners and singers for Rock Records Co., Ltd., turned writer Sanmao’s autobiographical stories into a conceptual album, “Echo—Sanmao’s Work No. 15.” Echo is Sanmao’s English name.
At that time, the three of them jointly discussed this project to put Sanmao’s words into songs, and they invited talented composers on the music scene to participate, including Li Tai-Hsiang and his brother Li Tai-Ming, Chen Yang, Weng Hsiao-Liang, Jonathan Lee, and Chen Chih-Yuen.
Chen Chih-Yuan composed the song “Life as a Dream.” The producer Chyi Yu specifically wrote to Chen Chih-Yuan to describe Sanmao’s stage of life when writing the lyrics and the feelings she wanted the song to convey.
Chen Chih-Yuan also arranged eight songs on this album, including the song that was most widely known, “Dream Land,” a duet by Chyi Yu and Michelle Pan. The harmonies for this heavy song were arranged by Kay Huang, who was only 20 years old at the time.
