My LSS—Last Song Syndrome—for today is Mariah Carey's “Hero”: “And then a hero comes along / With the strength to carry on / And you cast your fears aside / And you know you can survive / So when you feel like hope is gone / Look inside you and be strong / And you'll finally see the truth / That a hero lies in you.”
I’m not a Carey fan. I’ve never watched and will never watch any of her concerts, so why is “Hero” my LSS all of a sudden? Am I running out of songs to hum?
I remember when my sister and I were about to buy tickets for Madonna’s concert at the MOA Arena, we asked our youngest bro if he wanted to join us. His reply: “Not even if you pay me Php1 million.” He also didn’t watch the U2 concert at the Philippine Arena because “Bono doesn’t sound the same as he did in his younger years when their albums were first released.” Or something like that.
In other words, I’d never expect him to hum a Madonna song. But of course he still loves U2. I learned to love U2 because of him and our bro. Their music was always blasting downstairs from a much louder sound system that drowned out the teeny-weeny speakers in the bedroom, so I had no choice but to learn to love the music they love. Thanks much to them, I learned to unlove Whitney Houston, Martin Nievera, Angela Bofill, The Carpenters, and all those artists whose songs I listened to in the ‘70s and while I was in Manila in the ‘80s.
My most favorite radio station then was 99.5 RT. I still remember its station ID.
These days, there are two Spotify playlists I named “Dance” and “Cooldown” which obviously began when I started going to the gym in the last few years.
“Dance” is of course my Zumba list, the songs to dance to, best used as Muzak for working, writing, spring cleaning, and when I need to brainwash myself into joy, glee, and happiness.
“Cooldown” is for my non-dancing mood, for making muni-muni, staring into nothing, waiting for paint to dry. Or when I’m about to practice my newly acquired, extremely amateur boxing skills on someone but need to find other ways to annihilate that particular monster to smithereens.
By the way, monsters may disintegrate on their own, so better leave them be, and have popcorn once the disintegration begins.
There’s another Muzak occupying my memories, and it’s Burt Bacharach’s “Lost Horizon” from the movie of the same title: “Have you ever dreamed of a place / Far away from it all / Where the air you breathe is soft and clean / And children play in fields of green / And the sound of guns / Doesn't pound in your ears.” Which could be the lyrics the Pinoy needs now as he watches Vice President Sara Duterte’s impeachment trial, which has seemingly overpowered the flood control scams.
But perhaps the two cases can be combined into one as both seem to be connected with water: some Duterte fans are hinting that the impeachment trial is kind of a fishing expedition, and the flood control projects were supposed to stop floodwaters from entering low-lying barangays.
