'Words & Music' from
Jose Mari Chan
(Looking for Photos of Jose Mari Chan)
Written by Crispina Martinez - Belen
Celebrity World
Jose Mari Chan is one of the country's most loved composer-singers as evidenced by the
super success of all his albums. In a span of 36 years (beginning in l964 when he composed
'Deep In My Heart'), Jose Mari Chan has written and popularized hundreds of songs. He is
indeed an institution insofar as composing songs is concerned.
In a span of 36 years, Joe has written hundreds of songs, some of them recorded
and became popular but as he said “a few have been lost, some remain unrecorded,
waiting to be given wings,and several dozens never even left the scratch paper I wrote
them on. A great number of them were recorded but never aired on radio.”
Joe remains as one of the most prolific song writers we have in his younger days
but today “I’d say my production is down to about three songs a year only.”
But to immortalize even more his songs, Joe has come out with the first volume
of “Words & Music,” which is a compilation of his compositions among them:
“A Love to Last a Lifetime,” “A Perfect Christmas,” “Afraid For
Love to Fade,” “Afterglow,” “Be Gentle,” “Big Beautiful
Country,” “Can We Just Stop and Talk a While,” “Constant Change,”
“Deep In My Heart,” “Give Me the Old Big Band Anytime,” “Good
Old-Fashioned Romance,” “Here and Now,” “It is The Lord!”
“Minsan Pa,” “Mr. Songwriter,” “My Girl, My Woman, My
Friend,” “Refrain,” “Sing Me Your Song Again, Daddy,”
“Sterling Greeting Card,” “Tell Me Your Name” and “The
Lord’s Prayer.”
In the foreword, Joe has written: “The natural journey of a song starts
from one’s heart and sould down to paper and on to a record then to the listener,
after which it runs its own life’s course. The song then becomes part of our memories
and may either be kept away in the corner of our minds until someone decides to revive it
or it fades into oblivion. To the songwriter, his hope is for the song to be loved and
remembered long after he is gone. After all, to paraphrase Shakespeare, life is but a
stage and we are all mere players that briefly fret and strut upon it and are soon gone
and heard no more.
“Since music is a gift given generously by God, as man writes down the
notes, it is God who makes the music. Because of this, I cannot lay claim to have
“created” the songs just as I cannot lay claim to have given the breath of life
of any of my children. Each child is unique and important just as each song is special and
distinct. The songs were born out of different circumstances, created out of different
inspiration and each one bears a different fruit. Unless these songs are shared, the gift
that God has given would be wasted.” In the book, every song has its story, when and
how it was written. The book is actually Joe’s life story insofar as his musical
career is concerned.
It is recalled that Joe’s greatest hits include “Christmas In Our
Hearts” which was 17 times platinum; and “Beautiful Girl,” 16 times
platinum. He said that three of his favorites among his compositions are “Can We Just
Stop and Talk A While,” “Tell me Your Name” and “Minsan Pa.”
Written by Crispina Martinez - Belen
Celebrity World
Manila Bulletin Philippines |