Destination Hong Kong: Dim Sum Rock 'n' Roll Collection (Various Artists)

• Track Listing

EU collection. If you romanticize the idea of making your way through the hustle and bustle of Hong Kong's harbor on a junk, rock & roll songs are unlikely to come to mind first and foremost. But the Far East, inaccessible China and it's centuries-old culture as well as Hong Kong's special status became a popular musical theme in the 1950s and early '60s, not least because the USA had become a new home for millions of Chinese immigrants since the 19th century. Hong Kong itself was an enclave of the British Empire. Far Eastern and European lifestyles came together here. With it's culinary specialties, the Chinese gongs or the weird sounds of the Chinese zither, the fascination of big cities like Hong Kong or Shanghai - a variety of themes were reflected in the rock 'n' roll and country music of the '50s and early '60s. Jerry Lee Lewis sings the classic Hong Kong Blues written by Hoagy Carmichael, Webb Pierce keeps coming to Shanghai unintentionally until he finds his love there and stays in Shanghai intentionally, and Annisteen Allen is about to explode and makes it clear to her guy that if he carries on like this, the atom bomb will be nothing against her wrath.

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