Saturday, December 31, 2011

New Year Nostalgia

revisiting my cassette tapes while waiting for the new year. man, do i miss going to musicvision just to see what new releases they have for the week. the player's having a hard time rewinding, though, so it's back to the old pencil-in-the-hole technique.

man, oh man. the hours i've logged listening to these things. i don't know, but cassette tapes seem more personal to me than cds or mp3s. i used to pore over the sleeves to learn about the lyrics, the credits, the artwork/ photography, etc. suddenly, the good old days seem a little bit better.

back in high school, i would refrain from spending my lunch money so i could save enough by the end of the week to buy a new tape. my allowance a day was 20 pesos, and a single cassette tape costs around 90 pesos in those days. my target every week was to spend none of my allowance on anything but tapes. but i still had to eat, so what i did was beg my classmates for their leftover foods, be it sandwiches, sodas, or anything in between. some of my classmates got so concerned with my ways and what others were saying about me that they talked among themselves and agreed to never give me food again for my own sake. i learned a hard lesson that day. i also learned how much my classmates cared about me. kudos to them!

right now i'm listening to saigon kick's 'water'. this song holds special meaning for me because it pretty much sums up what i felt back then when i left for manila in 2005 to become a musician. riding a boat, no less.

Saigon Kick "Water"


You and me
You know we're never going to die
Right or wrong
It still won't mend a broken heart
And I don't mind
The colors in your hair
You don't see
The water dancing with the dead

Pick it up again
and realize
I'm never coming home
To lose it all again
Could capsize
My vessel on it's own

Off to be
The one think that I know I am
Stand Alone
Beyond the reach of helping hands

Pick me up again
and realize
I know not what I do
To lose it all again
Could capsize
My vessel on it's own

Stop me from drinking the water
In which I drown
Hold me in darkness
Beneath the water now

Out in the ocean
far from any land
Sail to emptiness
The water's on my hands

Pick me up again
And realize
I know not what I do
To lose it all again
Could capsize
My vessel on it's own
Only the ones in the water
Could be found
Hold me in the darkness
Beneath the water now

Take me up
To higher lands
To higher lands
I go

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