首
shǒu
From the first note to the last: 首
The picture A tune that opens on its first note, runs, and stops dead on its last — one stretch with a beginning and an end. 首 counts one tune with a start and a finish; 张 counts one disc that tune is stored on.
Where the picture shows up in 首
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one more song
再唱一首歌吧。
zài chàng yì shǒu gē ba
Sing one more song.
Taking the microphone back and punching in the next track number.
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the tune your ear knows
这首歌我听过。
zhè shǒu gē wǒ tīng guo
I've heard this song.
Looking up mid-errand as a song plays through the shop speakers.
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a tune recited from memory
他会背三首诗。
tā huì bèi sān shǒu shī
He knows three poems by heart.
Closing the book, eyes shut, saying the poem out loud.
Poems take 首 because a poem runs as sound before it is read on the page.
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one piece filling a room
婚礼上放了一首很老的曲子。
hūnlǐ shang fàng le yì shǒu hěn lǎo de qǔzi
They played a very old piece at the wedding.
One old song running start to finish out of the hall speakers.
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counting a stored-up pile
手机里存了几百首歌。
shǒujī lǐ cún le jǐ bǎi shǒu gē
There are a few hundred songs on my phone.
Thumbing down a screen of titles running on and on.
All of it in one picture
'One more song' at karaoke is 首, the song you have heard before is 首, the poem recited from memory is 首. The old piece played at the wedding is 首, and so are the hundreds of tracks stacked up on your phone. What 首 counts is not length but 'one stretch of sound from first note to last'. Poems take 首 for the same reason: a poem is something that runs aloud before it is read.