“Row ja tum taam sun yah… Kaw way lah eek mai naan…”
The junta chief’s theme song, “Return Happiness,” has gone to no. 1 in the Thai music chart due to being the most played track of all Bangkok’s FM radio channels in October.
The famous version of the song by renowned GMM Grammy rock singer Asanee Chotikul topped the chart organized by website Intensive Watch, which tracks and ranks songs based on how many times they are played on FM radio in Bangkok.
In October alone, Asanee’s version was played 1,042 times on radio, while the original version by the Royal Thai Army Band ranked no. 7 with 813 plays.
This is probably why we all can sing the hook now, whether we like it or not.
The Thai music phenomenon, which includes lines such as “We will deliver our promises. Please give us a little more time” and “The country will soon be good. Let us return happiness to you, people,” was launched last year as the PM decided to promote “reconciliation through harmony.” (See what he did there?)
For the record, the Happiness Song has topped the chart every month this year, and is likely to be crowned the most popular song for the second year in a row.
After the military took power in a coup last May, the Happiness Song by Asanee topped the 2014 Thai music chart after being played 19,647 times, beating the original into second place with 14,076 plays.
If you want to catch up with the trend, here’s a sing-along video, with lyrics spelled out phonetically for English speakers.
Reader Interactions