"HAPPY AVENUE Daughter" genre: Chinese
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	A Chinese female poet delivers a rock'n'roll ode to motherhood, daughterhood, and divorce.
	CD: Beijing Band 2001   Label: www.beijingband.com Credits: Produced by Matthew Corbin Clark
	Story Behind the Song The first band I recorded was Happy Avenue. Like most bands in Beijing, they were from the provinces and lived in Beijing illegally without a hukou, or Beijing residence permit. The drummer and lead guitarist were from western China, and they supported themselves on meager earnings as a nightclub house band. The only member of Happy Avenue in Beijing legally was the leader, Wu Hongfei. Originally from a poor mountain village in southwestern Guizhou province, Hongfei was a graduate student in literature at the renowned Qinghua University. She had already published two books of poetry and essays, and was a prolific writer by the time she started singing in bars in the Sanlitun nightlife district of Beijing. Soon she began writing songs and quickly formed a band. When I presented Happy Avenue at Indie Zone, the audience reaction was strongly supportive of this young woman singing and screaming with so much pent-up frustration and unadorned melancholy. Wu Hongfei offered up psychedelia like "The Fish in Little Long's Room," "An Apple Who Wished to Be an Orange," and "Butterflies," which were way beyond the standard fare of any Chinese lyrical explorations theretofore. I was particularly taken by the lyrical rhythm of "Daughter," a tongue-in-cheek ode to motherhood, daughterhood, and divorce. It was the first song I chose to record because of its straight-ahead rock orchestration. In 2003, Happy Avenue are still playing out in Beijing and have recently completed work on their first full album. Wu Hongfei has also completed her master's degree and is looking for a job so she can keep her Beijing hukou. Lyrics HAPPY AVENUE / Daughter I don’t know, Who you, Are. I don’t know, Who you, Are. I guess you are a woman, A woman just like me. So many people on the street, How do you know which one is your FATHER? We buy you a lollipop, And together GO BACK HOME. Oh - be a good girl! Be happy and be a good girl. Oh - be a good girl! Listen to your mom and be a good girl. DAUGHTER, DAUGHTER, MY LITTLE DAUGHTER. DAUGHTER, DAUGHTER, MY BABY DAUGHTER.

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