"Saigon (featuring Huong Cao)" genre: World Fusion
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	deepnine's first single "Saigon" is an ethereal world fusion blend of western electro-pop and haunting Vietnamese poetry singing. Brent Roberts visited Saigon while adopting his son and wrote the lyrics that would become this song with the collaboration of Vietnamese poet Huong Cao.
	CD: Flowers on the Dirt Road Home   Label: Collabitat Records Credits: words and music by Brent Roberts and Huong Cao ASCAP
	Story Behind the Song The song "Saigon" was born while I was in this ancient Vietnamese city staying at the Caravelle Hotel in January of 2001. I had come with my partner to finalize the adoption of our infant son. Saigon, now Ho Chi Minh City, is a wonderful vibrant bustling place but as an American the first thing I noticed on the drive in from the airport was a sense of desolation and poverty unlike anything I had seen in the States. I was moved and touched by the friendliness and spirit of the Vietnamese people I met. The beggar children who cased out the block near my fancy westerner hotel provided the spark that became this song. "Saigon" opens with words that I heard in flawless English from these kids - "Just one dollar, mister, please". The "rooftop garden, lost in time" of the second verse refers to the famous Rex Hotel where I felt I had stepped back into 1965. It was here and on my travels to the Mekong Delta that I felt most strongly the spirits of men, women and children lost in what the communists in Vietnam call "The American War". Amazingly "Saigon" the song may have remained in my lyric book for years if fate had not brought Vietnamese American poet Huong Cao into my life. Huong fled Vietnam days before the Fall of Saigon in 1975 and somehow we managed to cross paths in 2001. I shared my lyrics for the song with her. She offered to translate it into Vietnamese. I thought "how cool". Huong told me she was done with the translation one day and I asked her to read it too me. Little did I know that Vietnamese poetry is not spoken but sung! Huong chose the most beautiful ancient melody from the Southern city of Saigon for my poem. I dropped my jaw and asked her to come to my studio to record the whole thing. Part of her performance forms the chorus of the song and I liked her version so much that I also created the entirely Vietnamese version "Old Sai Gon" and included it on the album as well. Lyrics "Just one dollar, mister please, won't you buy these rice candies? Watch your wallet, watch your heart, I'll steal both if you're not smart. Or maybe you'll take me away. Say that you'll take me away." Saigon where the weak are strong and children sell their dreams. Rivers made of tears and mud in the land of ten thousand things. Rooftop garden, lost in time, paper lanterns, real cheap wine. Ghostlike men in uniform dancing 'til the break of dawn. Or maybe it's all in your mind. The air is so heavy with time. Saigon where the nights are long and buzz with motor bees. Flowers on the dirt road home laid at the Buddha's knees. Saigon may your dreams live on. Saigon. Saigon may your heart beat strong. Saigon. Saigon where the weak are strong and children sell their dreams. Rivers made of tears and mud in the land of ten thousand things. Saigon where the nights are long and buzz with motor bees. Flowers on the dirt road home laid at the Buddha's knees.

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