The story behind the soundtrack of "Journey to the West"

In 2014, Han Han used a piece of music from "Journey to the West" in the movie "There Will Be No Future", and he gave composer Xu Jingqing a copyright fee of 60,000. Xu Jingqing was surprised when he got the money: "Jiang Dawei performed more than 20 times a month, with 250,000 yuan each, and earned more than 60 million yuan a year. Why didn't he give me a penny?"

1983 In 2006, Xu Jingqing received a call asking him to compose music for a monkey play. He didn't think much and wrote it in more than half an hour. Two months later, he was transferred to score "Journey to the West".

Xu Jingqing entered the crew excitedly, and was faced with the "difficult question" posed by director Yang Jie, who pursued perfection in everything - asking him to compose the opening and ending themes of "Journey to the West", without any requirements and letting him play freely.

In artistic creation, "no requirements" is the biggest requirement, because without a framework, you can only scratch your head everywhere. Xu Jingqing returned home, very anxious but unable to write.

In the end, his wife couldn't stand it anymore and teased him: "Why do you think it's more difficult for you to write something than it is for us to have children."

Xu Jingqing helplessly replied: "But No, you have a child in your belly when you give birth, and I have nothing now.”

This makes sense, but he can’t write it at home, so his wife asked him to walk around on the street. Change, change your mind.

Xu Jingqing was walking on the street looking at the flow of people and cars. He suddenly had an inspiration, so he found a cigarette case and tore it open. He asked the kid next to him to borrow a pencil, and soon He wrote "Dare to Ask Where the Road Is" which later became popular all over the country.

The opening theme of "Journey to the West" was inspired by a group of migrant workers.

Xu Jingqing, who could not write a tune, was wandering around. One day he saw a group of migrant workers rushing to the canteen to eat. They were holding bowls in their hands, tapping them with chopsticks, and humming a tune.

At that moment, Xu Jingqing was inspired. He quickly wrote down a melody in his mind. During the rehearsal, this piece used many instruments and mixed with soprano chanting. Finally, that one "Yungong Xunyin" was born.

On the set of "Journey to the West", director Yang Jie and Xu Jingqing worked very well together, and the two even completed the famous song "Daughter's Love" together.

Later, Han Han used the song "Daughter's Love" in his movie. For this, he paid 60,000 yuan in copyright royalties. Xu Jingqing gave 30,000 yuan to director Yang Jie. It is said that Yang Jie I'm very happy, I didn't expect this song to sell for so much money.

At the same time, Xu Jingqing also discovered something. Many of the songs he composed for "Journey to the West" later became Jiang Dawei's "must-sing songs" in his concerts. Why didn't Jiang Dawei pay the money?

Through classic songs such as "Peony Song" and "Dare to Ask Where the Road Is", Jiang Dawei made a lot of money. He immigrated his family to Canada, but for the sake of his children's expenses, Jiang Dawei had to return to China. Keep singing.

The 1986 version of "Journey to the West" is a memory in the hearts of a generation. Through this drama, many people became popular, but there were no "sky-high salaries" at that time, so the "four masters and apprentices" had to pass The performance was used to "make money", and even later six-year-old children excessively consumed the goodwill brought by "Sun Wukong".

But at that time, director Yang Jie, Xu Jingqing and others, after filming the drama, although "Journey to the West" became a hit, they still lived in poverty.

Perhaps, it is precisely because of this "willingness to be poor" that they show their strength of character.