The Forbidden Song Haunting the Radio

The theme song from a horror movie turned out to be scarier than the movie itself, after the so-called forbidden song haunted the radio stations that played it.

Nights of the Night, perhaps also known as Nights of Entanglements (夜夜痴纏) was the theme song for one of Hong Kong’s horror films, and although the movie won’t scare you, the theme song of it will.

The movie soundtrack was said to conjure up strange paranormal things when the radio DJ’s were playing it on their late night broadcasts and it was in effect banned and listed as a forbidden song after it because they didn’t want to take the risk.

The Occupant the Movie

The movie The Occupant (靈氣逼人), also known as The Tenant from 1984, was a Cantonese horror-comedy about Angie who goes to Hong Kong from Canada to work on a Master’s thesis focusing on Chinese superstitions. She rents a spacious apartment, without knowing it’s haunted by the ghost of a singer.

The song was sung by the cantopop singer, Connie Mak Kit-man (麦洁文) and the sound would play in the movie in scenes at night where the old cassette player is mysteriously turned on and plays the song.

Haunting Late Night Radio

From its release the song was called The Forbidden Song by radio DJ’s that reported about supernatural things that happened every time they played it on late-night radio.

They heard strange voices on top of the track and the lights in the studio switched on and off as shadows danced on the broadcasting room. Record players were also moving on their own.

DJ Cai Kangnian played this song on one of his late night shows and heard a female voice humming along with the melody in a crying voice, a part of the track that usually wasn’t there.

One DJ also claimed that he mysteriously wrote ‘I Quit’ on a notepad after listening to the song.

The singer herself has refuted the claim of her song being haunted several times in interviews and continues to perform it in concerts. She has also played along with the urban legend behind her song and sort of accepted the legend it turned out to have.

Even to this day though, there is no radio DJ that plays this allegedly cursed song on the late night radio.

Here is the Unofficial English Translation of the Cantonese lyrics of the song:

Misty night sky with rain and fog
In the middle of the night, lying between the window screens
obsessed with night and night
long nights in your arms
have my smile
I pray you can stay
let me love a thousand times
But I know in the morning mist
I will be alone and you will disappear like this night
I just ask you to know that this moment is too short
Please spread this body with kisses
I only ask you to know that love is hard to break
Across a lifetime of tears
If I can be reborn in this world, may I never have to be alone again
If I meet you again in another life
Can you spend every night with me