Count on me, India? Singapore's beloved patriotic song gets remix abroad

[UPDATE MAR 15]

Following the backlash, the company that published the song 'We Can Achieve' in India has apologised in a Facebook post.

On Mar 14, Pauline Communications said it had acquired the copyright for the music and lyrics from a man in 1999 and published the song in a CD that year, and also uploaded the song on SoundCloud in 2012.

"We were not even aware that this song has been the National Day Song of Singapore since 1986," a staff member from its digital department wrote.

"[We're] sorry for any inconvenience caused and sentiments hurt."

[embed]https://www.facebook.com/pauline.india/posts/3242190945883255?__cft__[0]=AZWJa3M57P-xCiv4LJyPCsZWvU7NGScrjeMT6xIpJNIHp27NsrDUU1S[/embed]

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Imitation is the most sincere form of flattery, or so they say?

Count on Me, Singapore is, hands down, one of the country's most beloved songs — so much the 1986-special got a remake for National Day in 2020.

It appears that the moving tune and patriotic lyrics struck a chord with not just Singaporeans, but people in India too.

A YouTube video, posted by a teacher in India last year, recently caught the attention of netizens, but not for her soulful rendition of the song with three of her students. Many ears perked up because all mentions of 'Singapore' were replaced with 'India' or 'Mother India'.

The tune also had the new name We Can Achieve.

Scathing words soon filled the comment section with many mocking the quartet for being a 'blatant copy'.

"I was unaware of this information regarding this song," the teacher explained in a comment. "I hope you won't mind as it is not the worst presentation by the students.

"Many others also sang this song and I followed."

Indeed, a quick search of the 'new' song's name reveals several similar renditions on YouTube, but none of them indicates its Singaporean origins.

It's not clear who was the one behind the changes, but a track on Soundcloud reveals that it's been around from as early as 2012.

Count on Me, Singapore was composed by Hugh Harrison, arranged by Jeremy Monteiro and performed by Clement Chow in 1986 to be Singapore's second official National Day Song.

Well, what else can we say except same same but different?

[embed]https://www.facebook.com/MCCYsg/posts/4069290856462352[/embed]

rainercheung@asiaone.com