***** A Love Affair With Music

                        To My Choices !

                      My Music

                                      My music

                        is an old bottle of perfume

                     discarded, but not forgotten;

                            clinging obstinately

                                to remind me

                         with its lingering scent -

                         a promise; a fulfillment.

                                 (ALV, 8/23/87)   

****** A Rainy Night In Georgia

      First time I heard this- ( while in bed ready to doze off), I was barely 2 or 3 months in Bangkok - quite homesick, naturally. The song - not quite mainstream - wasn't regularly on air, so I had to ask my sister to request the Filipina dj - ( her friend) to spin it every once in a while.

******* Billie Jean

  Listening to this awesome syncopated rhythm ,

******* Close To Heaven

        The melody is sweet, truly a typification of the gentler, more melodious sounds

******* Feelings

               I really love this song!  And

******* How Do You Keep The Music Playing?

       This one's truly beautiful!  The first time I heard this was in Tacloban, in our Marasbaras residence, in bed at midnight, fighting off depression - ( or can we really win the fight?) I had a good cry!

******* I Didn't Mean To Love You

     I 'm not quite sure who the original singer of this song was,  but the one that I heard and loved - in my 20s - was sung by a Filipina diva, Merci Molina, whose mellifluous and expressive rendition just went straight to

my .!

******* I Saw Her Standing There

   If ever there's one ultimate song that evokes those giddy, angst-ridden uncertainties and bliss of my high school days, this is it!

******* If Ever I Would Leave You; I Loved You Once In Silence

     Broadway songs I really love!

******* It's Cold Enough To Snow

Oh, I just love Menken's music!  From the soundtracks of  Hunchback of Notre Dame and Pocahontas, to Beauty and the Beast. This song that I've singularly picked is simply heart-filling!

******* Never, Never, Never

        I guess this is the song that tells about my angst - or anybody's. When I sing this, I feel completely

******* Roman Guitar; Brazil, and all the songs in this tape

   It had become a tradition with us in our Marasbaras household - playing this tape of cool Latin beats during festive occasions.  There's nothing like having unobtrusive, low-key, yet upbeat sounds in the air on fiestas at home!

******* Something Stupid

     Always brings me back to a most romantic time in my past!  First love, sneaky dates, sweet-nothings on table napkins...My sisters and I had this song in our repertoire ala-Lennon sisters.

******* The Theme Music of the miniseries, North and South

      I still have to find

******* To Love A Woman

  My youngest son, Jondi, sang this purposely for me ( and holding my hand, too! ), with all the emotions he could muster.  The melody didn't quite strike me as likable, but there it was, sung by somebody I love!