Mongols no more, Boyd!
One of the things
that Gene Boyd and I used to share before was music, music and music. Boyd was
no fan of Pinoy rock bands. Although he has some collections in his computer,
there were only a few of them–- Wolfgang for instance. Most of the songs or MP3s
he had stored in his hard disk were foreign bands like Collective Soul, Blind
Melon, Sublime, Green Day, Smashing Pumpkins and The Jets.
When you take a peek at the “music division” in Mindanews, you ask Boyd
for foreign music because all of my collections are Pinoy rock such as
Eraserheads, Yano, The Mongols, Teeth, The Youth, POT, Razorback, Popong
Landero, etc.
Back in the Mindanews office, I used to listen to The Mongols, the defunct band
of Ely Buendia after Eraserheads and who has now a new band called PUPIL
(www.pupilopolis.com).
Days before he left for Jolo, Boyd was so busy strumming the guitar of RD back in Juna trying to get the right chords of "Bakit Nga Ba” by The Mongols. He’d borrow my CD and play it aloud in the computer. He would also sing and analyze some songs of the band. Knowing Boyd as a hardcore foreign music lover, I never thought that he would appreciate OPM music like The Mongols.
I never expected
that he would love to listen to Ely Buendia, former frontman of the legendary
Eraserheads. I myself is a big fan of Buendia since the Eraserheads era.
From the time he gets up until late in the evening, he’d listen to The Mongols
and sing along with the songs. Aside from “Bakit Nga Ba,” Boyd would also love
to listen to “Bulakbol,” “Odd-Even,” Pony,” Don’t Wigout,” and “Heroine.”
In fact, Boyd even broke RDs guitar while trying to tune it after playing “Bakit Nga Ba.” Boyd would also compare some songs of the band with the Smashing Pumpkins. As a good guitarist himself, Boyd really loved the way Jerome Velasco (guitarist of the defunct The Mongols) played it.
Another song that he
would love to keep on repeating the lyrics was "Heroine." There
is line on the song that goes like this, “I promise you my heart…We’ll never be
apart…I’m gonna f**k you like there’s no tomorrow…” And then he would laugh
after singing that song.
I even told him that “what if we’d make a website for this band?” He replied,
“Himui, wala pa bitaw na sila site. Maski unofficial lang sa gud.”
The night before Boyd left for Jolo, he asked me if we could borrow a guitar from SephJo Nidea, lead guitarist of Agos. I tried to reach SephJo that night. He came over to the office but without his guitar because another friend borrowed it and that friend happened to be Boyd’s friend too.
So we just had a few bottles of beer at the doorstep of the office. Then Boyd asked SephJo if he could find the exact chords of “Bakit Nga Ba” and some other Mongols songs. “Basta kapaa ha, pagbalik nako dapat tudluan na nimo ko ha?” Boyd asked SephJO, who instantly promised Boyd that he would do it.
SephJo even promised
to let him play in his house with his electric guitars and gadgets. Boyd was
very happy after hearing it from our friend.
But when Boyd came home from Jolo, he never heard the song that he wanted
SephJo to play for him. He also missed that website that I made for The Mongols
that became an official site 24 hours after being an unofficial site. He also
missed the band when they played in Davao
on April 30. He could have also have joined us in a drinking spree with the
band before and after the gig. He could have had a few bottles of beer with
Jerome Velasco.
At the time that The Mongols’ site was up and running, I always tell myself:
“Sayang Boyd, you missed this one. But thank you.”
Bakit nga ba?
The Mongols
Bakit nga ba nauso
Mga bagay na kay hirap isipin?
Bakit nga ba ang puso
Tumitibok kahit di mo man pilitin?
Bakit ba umaandar na kapag
Ako ay kakalipat lang?
Bakit nga ba ang pusa
Tumatawid kahit bawal ang jaywalking?
Bakit kailangang basahin
Mga balitang dinadala ng hangin?
Bakit ba nagtatanong sa isang
Wala namang maisasagot?
Bakit nga ba?
Masama bang magtanong?
Wala nang balak tapusin ang sinasabi—
Bakit ba tumatalon sa tuwa
Kapag ikaw ay nandiyan na?
Bakit ba nagtatanong sa isang
Di naman marunong sumagot?
Di naman ito sinasadya
Di ko lang alam kung bakit ba