Pretty Island - A Singapore song by Mary Tan

While reminiscing about my old primary school song (see previous post), I suddenly thought about another song from my childhood that seems to have been lost in the internet age.

For this year's special SG50 National Day celebrations, a slew of previous NDP songs were played. A compendium of these "Singapore" songs can be found in this Wikipedia entry:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Singaporean_patriotic_songs

However, missing from this list is a song called "Pretty Island" by a Mary Tan. Back in the 1970s, there was a time when RTS (Radio Television Singapore) played the music video of this song (which was also sung by its composer) so frequently on TV that the song was burnt into my brain cells. But that is okay because I really like this song. It is short. It is sweet.  It is simple to sing-along. It is in every way the quintessential "Singapore" song.

But yet, this old music video cannot be found on Youtube. Doing a Google search for the music video or its lyrics returns nothing, although Google led to me to some interesting old newspaper articles from the National Library archives which mention that Mary Tan won
the first prize of $2000 back in 1975 for "Pretty Island" in a national song writing competition).

Is there a reason why a beautiful song like "Pretty Island" did not make it to the nostalgic list of Singapore songs by the NDP organisers? Was there a copyright issue? Or has the song been deemed too cheesy or outdated and has thus lost favour with the "powers that be"?

Hopefully, some one will put up the old "Pretty Island" music video on the internet in future. That would be a truly nostalgic treat. In the meantime, I have jot down from memory what I think are the lyrics of this beautiful song so that it can be indexed by Google in case some one else wants to search for them too:


Pretty Island (composed by Mary Tan)

I know of a pretty island named Singapore

I know of the people who live on her shore
They work together with unity
They live together in harmony
To bring progress and prosperity here

I love this pretty island called Singapore
I'm one of the people who live on her shore
We work together with unity
We live together in harmony
To bring progress and prosperity here

I love my pretty island called Singapore
I'm one of the people who live on her shore
As we live side by side
Each other help and guide
And with renewed confidence
We love you moreWe can each other depend upon.


The words above are probably wrong. Please feedback if you know where the correct lyrics can be found. 

Balestier Hill West Primary School - School Song

On Thursday evening (Hari Raya Haji), I suddenly developed a nostalgic itch to find the lyrics of the school song of my primary school - Balestier Hill West Primary School - which I attended from 1970 to 1975. Like many other old Singapore primary schools, Balestier Hill West Primary no longer exists. Over the past 20 to 30 years, many of these schools have been closed or merged with/into others because of the lack of students (due to Singapore's declining population / birth rate). Unfortunately, my Google searches were in vain. I simply could not find any internet article or post containing the lyrics of the school song. In fact, searches for general articles about Balestier Hill West Primary were just as fruitless, although there is this very nice photo from the National Archives of Singapore:

http://www.nas.gov.sg/archivesonline/photographs/record-details/29f1f046-1162-11e3-83d5-0050568939ad


I have decided to jot down what I think were the lyrics of my old school song so that it can be indexed by Google. In case any alumni of Balestier Hill West Primary were to suddenly develop the same itch to find the lyrics of the old school song in future, they can use this post as a start:

Come, let us let's all gather here today,
Ready to study, work and play,
Faithful, true, giving of our best
To Balestier Hill School West.


Our school so dear,
Ever faithful loyal to you , I'll we'll remain.
Our alma mater Her motto we'll revere,
To persevere and progress,
We'll try, try, again.


Unfortunately, as all these words were drawn from my memory, I cannot attest to the correctness of the lyrics. Please correct me if you spot any mistakes.