With all the tribute songs to Singapore coming out of the woodwork in these last weeks, one of Singapore's most illustrious female singer-songwriters, Corrinne May, has penned a tribute song to the nation as our 50th birthday draws nearer:

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It's religious, yes, and reflects her Christian belief — this production was done jointly with the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Singapore, and ends with a prayer by various Catholics and religious in Singapore.

The mum of one — whose daughter Claire appears in the video, by the way — will be performing her "Song for Singapore" at this year's National Day Parade:

Yes dragon, if I hear you correctly, you said that you'd like me to come visit you at Toa Payoh sometime? Ok. I will bring Claire with me and we will come and visit you this week. By the way, your nose is tickling my ear and your breath smells of durian. Not that I'm complaining. I love durians :) #dragonplayground #ndp #ndp2015

A photo posted by Corrinne May (@corrinnemay) on Aug 1, 2015 at 9:19am PDT

Alongside several other celebrity singers (Kit Chan, JJ Lin and Stefanie Sun), whose songs have headlined National Day Parades past:

After the finale at the NDP preview tonight. #SG50 #ndp #ndp2015 @jj_lin #jjlin #stefaniesun #kitchan @stefsunyanzi A photo posted by Corrinne May (@corrinnemay) on Aug 1, 2015 at 9:14am PDT

May first performed the song live in front of 10,000 Catholics and guests at a Joy SG50 thanksgiving mass in July. The mass, held on July 4, was organised by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Singapore and attended by the Prime Minister.

She says she was first approached by a Singaporean priest, Friar Derrick Yap, to write a song that would sanctify and bless Singapore. Friar Yap is the chairman of the Catholic SG50 Committee.

"It took me a long time to write the song," she said. "But from the beginning, a couple of things stood out in my mind. I knew that I wanted to incorporate in the song, the mission of the church to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world."

She did pretty extensive research in writing the song, reading up about the Church's history in Singapore and even delving into the Catechism of the Catholic Church (which as many Catholics will know, is a deeply difficult book to read):

"I felt that the song had to also speak of our journey as pilgrims on this earth. Pilgrims on our way to heaven. It had to talk about our mission on earth to 'restore all things to Christ' and to be faithful to Christ's teachings, even as the secular world around us moves in the opposite trajectory," she added.

We guess this is the Singapore Catholic Church's birthday gift to the nation! Extra blessings never did anyone any harm, eh?

Top photo: Screengrab from music video.

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