Of particular prominence in the soundtrack is the 1933 Taiwanese song "Bāng Chhun-hong". Lin Wenqi points out that the song's last phrase, "I was fooled, for it was just the wind", paralleled the characters Poh Huat and Seng's fruitless pursuit of material wealth. As the producers were writing the script in New York, Woo Yen Yen called her mother in Singapore to ask her about the most popular song of her time. Her mother's first suggestion was "Bāng Chhun-hong", a song which the producers came to like. The song was later adopted as the opening theme, and the character Siew Luan would hum it again as the film concludes, this time more wistfully as she would recount the days when she was young. Four major and three minor variations of the song were included in the soundtrack. As Moviexclusive describes Sydney Tan's score, "the […] use of pianos and strings is complemented by the occasional wistful accompaniments of the traditional erhu, adding the essential 'Asian touch' to the music." According to Woo, during auditions for the film, several young actors teared upon hearing the song, which reminded them of their youth and parents.