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The street-fighting songbird: Exploring Jackie Chan’s long-running music career
Jackie Chan has produced over 20 different albums, singing over 100 songs in over five languages. Somehow this seems to have almost entirely escaped the consciousness of pop culture. Just what are these songs? Where are they? And why is the martial arts master quietly scurrying away in recording studios?
In 1980, the high-kicking extraordinaire starred as Dragon Lung in The Young Master. He had written and directed the film himself, and as such decided to partake in what is known in the industry as ‘doing a Dennis Waterman’ and put himself on theme tune duties. The song is everything you could want from a groovy ‘80s Kung-Fu movie. Filled with parping horns, scything guitars, and drums that inexplicably fall in and out of rhythm, Chan delivers the ultimate culminating chorus: “I was born to be a Kung-fu, Kung-fu fighting man!”
Naturally, people implored, ‘Who is this golden-voiced Lothario’ seamlessly dropping a scintillating theme tune. ‘Why it’s your star shirtless actor, director, stuntman and writer Mr Chan’ came the response, sending awe-struck movie-goers agog. ‘Is there nothing this man can’t do?’ audiences wailed. Chan was determined to show them that there may well be some things he can’t do, but he is yet to find out what they are.
As a boy, his parent moved from Honk Kong to Australia when he was six years old, only to send Chan back to a strict, high-end boarding school in his homeland a year later. Therein, Chan learnt the full spectrum of all there is for a young boy to be educated in. Alongside his academic studies, he excelled in the arts, both martial and tradition. In short, he was a seven-year-old who could bring you to tears through both his rapturous voice and his rapid fists.
He never really pursued singing thereafter. However, when he was helming his own project and the chance to put his pipes to play arose, he was back to his old fighting songbird ways and he was set to soar for 20+ records. All of which you may well have never heard.
Following his run of theme tune successes, his first solo studio album arrived in 1984 with the wonderfully titled album, Love Me. Therein he sang songs like ‘Movie Star’ and ‘Jackie’s Legend’ featuring both English, Japanese and Cantonese lyrics. Seemingly nobody bought the album. He was unperturbed. A matter of months later he released his second album, Thank You. This also doesn’t seem to have sold.
Unperturbed once more, he had a crack at a refined and venerated record – this time in purely Japanese – titled The Boy’s Life. With a cheeky grin on the cover and ten lilting, oriental David Essex-like jams, the album proved to be his breakthrough record—selling marginally more than his previous efforts. The high points come with the sky-high ‘Memories of Eagles’ and the solemn cry of a friend-zoned fellow with ‘Platonic Intuition’.
The star has often spoken about his desire to stay young or at the very least young at heart, and his album and song titles seem to reflect this. On top of, albums like Dragon’s Heart and With All One’s Heart, there are many classic youthful tracks like ‘Youth are Strong’, ‘Powerful Youngsters’ and ‘I Haven’t Grown Up Yet’.
His latest record arrived in 2018, as he delved into songs likes ‘Childhood Stories’ and ‘No Longer Lost’ for a record that couples spoken word with silken sung big band pieces like an Oriental Frank Sinatra. If he wants to stay young at heart, then long live his beauteous youthful tones and stirringly spry lust for life so that we can all bask in his largely unknown and unheard albums forevermore.
