The First Double A-Sided Single

This post is part recording music history and part tribute to a great band.

For decades before the compact disc (CD) came out in the early 1980s, the world had the vinyl record. The vinyl record was termed as such because it was manufactured out of polyvinyl chloride (PVC). The records were played on a turntable and for a while, they came out in four speeds or "RPMs" ("Revolutions Per Minute") namely, 78 rpm, 33 1/3 rpm, 45 rpm, and 16 2/3 rpm. However, by the 1950s and up to the eventual demise of the vinyl record in the early 1980s, two speeds remained dominant in the record market: the 33 1/3 rpm for "long-playing" (LP) records and the 45 rpm for the "singles".

The practice prevalent in the recording industry in those days was that a recording artist would go into the recording studio and record several songs that will be compiled onto an LP or "album". The artist and his/her recording producer would then select the song they deem the "best" out of the songs recorded and release it to the public as a single. The "best" song was placed on the top or "A" side of the single while a song of "lesser quality" (for lack of a better term) was placed at the bottom or "B" side. Once the "A" and "B" sides of a single were selected, the singles were then "pressed" (another old recording industry term used to describe the record manufacturing process) and subsequently released and marketed to the record-buying public.

Such was the standard practice for a lot of the recording artists during that period. However, Talent is one thing that's never distributed evenly. As a result, every once in a while, there were artists that came along that were so enormously gifted that the recording industry had to make some adjustments or changes to its practices just to accommodate the volume of high quality songs these individuals produced.

The Beatles was one such group.

Led by the songwriting tandem of the late John Lennon and Paul McCartney, the Beatles dominated the music world during the 1960s. This songwriting duo cranked one hit tune after another in spite of a grueling work pace. Unlike recording artists these days who produce albums at the average rate of one every two years, the Beatles produced two albums every year. One album was released around the May-June period while the second album was released around the Christmas season. And while they were not recording, they had commitments to do concert tours, and movie and television appearances.

But even in the face of everything that was thrown at them, the Beatles still managed to come up with a significant number of high quality songs. The Lennon-McCartney songwriting effort was so prolific that on top of the two albums they produced each year, their recording company, Parlophone in the United Kingdom, had to issue singles for some very good songs that did not make it on any Beatles album. Examples of these songs were "She Loves You", "From Me To You", "I Want To Hold Your Hand", and "I Feel Fine".

But it was in 1965 when they became the first band in music history to record and produce a "Double A-Sided Single", meaning that both songs were good enough to make it on the A side of any single.

Released in early December 1965, "We Can Work It Out" and "Day Tripper" were the two songs that made up the first double A-sided single.

"We Can Work It Out" was essentially a Paul McCartney composition. This was a song he wrote supposedly about a spat he had with his girlfriend at the time, the British actress Jane Asher. John Lennon provided Mr. McCartney with the song's middle shift and refrain.

The following shows a promotional video that was produced for the song. On the video you will see Paul McCartney doing the lead vocals, John Lennon providing backup vocals (and humor) while on keyboards, the late George Harrison playing lead guitar, and Ringo Starr playing drums.

The other song on the single, "Day Tripper", was a John Lennon composition. There is some confusion as to what actually inspired the song. Mr. Lennon stated in an interview that the song was about a prostitute on a "day trip" while Mr. McCartney, on the other hand, admitted years later that the song was about drugs.

The following shows the promotional video that was produced for the song. In a departure from a Beatle rule that a song's composer does the lead vocals, Paul McCartney sings lead while John Lennon does the backup vocals.

This Double A single eventually landed and stayed at the top of the UK Charts for five weeks from December 1965 to January 1966 and was at the top of the US Charts for three weeks in January 1966. (Source: About The Beatles)

In their remaining years as a group and as a testament to their talent, the Beatles would go on to release three more of these Double A-sided singles: "Yellow Submarine / Eleanor Rigby" (released August 1966), "Strawberry Fields Forever / Penny Lane" (February 1967), and "Something / Come Together" (October 1969). The band broke up in April 1970.

It has been almost 40 years since their breakup but not a single musical artist or band has come close to duplicating what the Beatles accomplished. News came out recently that Mariah Carey had just scored her 18th #1 hit on the Billboard Charts with the song "Touch My Body". This feat put her two singles shy of the Beatles' all-time record of 20 #1 hits.

However, one needs to put things into their proper perspective. One needs to consider the fact that it took Ms. Carey close to two decades to accomplish her feat, having been a recording artist since the early 1990s. The Beatles, on the other hand, accomplished their record within the eight years (1962-1970) the band was together. Let's also add the fact that all of the Beatles' #1 hits were Beatle compositions.

The songs, the numbers, the chart records, and the band's enduring popularity even among members of generations that were not yet around during their years of existence provide lasting evidence of the band's greatness.

On another note, to my countrymen in the Philippines who are dealing with the fury of Typhoon Frank, may this note find you and your families safe and secure. You all take care.

Missing From YouTube

There is a certain sadness I feel whenever I go through YouTube's music video files. Regular readers of this blog will notice that quite often, I feature and write about a certain band or solo artist whose music I am a fan of or whose song was of some personal significance at a certain point in my life. But a review of all my posts classified under the Music category will show that the music artists I have so far written about have either been American or British artists.

This does not mean that I am not a fan of any Filipino band, singer, or songwriter. Far from being so. In fact, Original Pilipino Music, or OPM, blossomed during the 1970s, the decade of my childhood. This was the time when the phrase "We believe in the Filipino Talent" was heard often from the mouths of DJs whenever they introduced or played a song by a Filipino artist on the air.

As a result, I became a big fan of bands like Hotdog led by the brothers Rene and Dennis Garcia, VST & Co. whose best songs were written by Vic Sotto and Joey De Leon, and the folk songs of Heber Bartolome and Banyuhay and ASIN that opened my eyes to social and environmental issues. I was also a fan of rock musicians Mike Hanopol and Maria Cafra. I enjoyed listening to Sampaguita whenever she belted out her signature rock song "Bonggahan".

On the pop and ballad side, I was a fan of Rico J. Puno and Hajji Alejandro. Although I was not a big fan of Rey Valera, I respected him due to the fact that like a number of his peers at the time such as Tito and Vic Sotto, he penned a number of his songs and also wrote hit songs for fellow artists such as Sharon Cuneta ("Mr. DJ") and Rico Puno ("Sorry Na, Puwede Ba?"). To those of us who were present back in late 1978, we all know that it was the song "Mr. DJ" that catapulted Ms. Cuneta to nationwide fame.

But going back to the subject of this blog entry, I find it lamentable that unlike their American, British and other foreign counterparts, I have not been able to find classic television performances of any of the above named Filipino artists on YouTube. What I've seen so far are video clips of some of the artists' performances on recently-held reunion concerts. Aside from such clips, the only other YouTube entries available are Karaoke-type videos that only show their songs' lyrics but not the artists themselves.

Video clips of the artists' recent performances are fine except that they fail to show, especially to younger generations, the artists in their prime. It sure is nice to see Mike Hanopol belt "Jeprox" out in those reunion concerts but for a young Filipino, all he/she may see is a middle-aged guy performing a rock tune that his/her parents loved during their time. At best, although the youngster may appreciate the musicianship, he/she could only imagine how the artist performed back in the day when his popularity was at its height.

Growing up in the 70s, the artists I mentioned were regularly featured on shows like Discorama, which was shown on GMA-7 on Saturday evenings, or on daily noontime shows such as Student Canteen (GMA-7) and Eat Bulaga, which was then shown on RPN-9.

Discorama, hosted by the late Bobby Ledesma, was one of the rather cool shows to watch for this hour-long show was dedicated to the latest dances and songs. The show was fun to watch for they regularly featured and/or introduced Filipino artists along with their latest hits or releases. It was on this show where I first saw Pinoy rock artists Sampaguita ("Bonggahan"), Maria Cafra ("Kumusta Mga Kaibigan"), and Mike Hanopol ("Jeprox") perform the songs that would later become part of Filipino rock music history.

It was on Student Canteen where I first saw the likes of folk musicians such as Heber Bartolome ("Tayo'y Mga Pinoy")and ASIN ("Masdan Mo Ang Kapaligiran"); pop groups such as Hotdog ("Manila", "Panaginip"), Cinderella ("TL Ako sa Iyo") and VST & Company ("Awitin Mo, Isasayaw Ko", "Ipagpatawad Mo"); and balladeers such as Rey Valera ("Ako si Superman"), Hajji Alejandro ("Nakapagtataka"), and Anthony Castelo ("Balatkayo") who was also a cousin to Tito and Vic Sotto.

It was also on these shows where the country first saw a then twelve-year old Sharon Cuneta perform her first hit song "Mr. DJ".

It would be a great learning experience to everyone, especially the youth, if past television performances of these artists and those of their peers whose names I failed to mention were made available and shown to younger generations of Filipinos either through a documentary or a retrospective on Philippine music history. The performances will show clear and moving evidence on how these artists performed during their heyday and what made them great and/or popular to Filipino audiences at the time. Who knows? A budding musician from today's youth may even learn a thing or two from watching these artists.

But their absence from YouTube and from television documentaries is a reflection of of our society's obsession with trends. We tend to be obsessed with the latest and greatest ("uso") in areas like fashion and music. We tend to cast a huge spotlight on an artist while he/she is popular and then simply let him/her fade away from our collective memory once a newer artist comes along. We love to use the phrase "Laos na iyan!" ("That's old!" or "That's outdated!") to contemptuously label anything or even worse, anyone, we no longer consider as representative of the latest trends. We discard the old in favor of the new. We fail to realize that by doing so, we all lose.

Other countries, such as the US, Britain, and Japan, continue to honor the contributions of past artists in various forms such as tv documentaries, film preservation, and by simply showing video clips of artists' past performances on tv. In doing so, not only do they make sure that such artists' contributions are not forgotten but they also make sure that these artists are introduced to younger generations.

I hope that the tapes that contain the television performances of the artists I mentioned on this piece still survive within the video vaults or video tape archives of both GMA-7 and RPN-9. And if the tapes are still around, I certainly hope that both stations are doing a damn good of job of maintaining the tapes in very good and viewable condition so that someday, they can be viewed again by an appreciative audience. It would be an extreme disservice to our people if we find out later that both television stations had failed to preserve an important part of our cultural heritage.

Rocky Mountain High

The song featured in this post was originally written as a tribute to a place of great natural wonder in Aspen, Colorado. "Rocky Mountain High" was performed by John Denver and it's a song which he co-wrote with Mike Taylor. The song was released and became a Top 10 Hit back in 1973. I remember as a kid, that I had enjoyed listening to this song even though the words didn't really make much sense to me at the time.

It was years later when I "rediscovered" this song. Even though its words spoke of deep affection for mountains, for some reason I found strength and inspiration in them while in the midst of making a life-changing decision.

Aside from economic reasons, I needed a profound change in my life and a defining one at that. From a professional standpoint, I felt there were constraints that prevented me from delving into areas I had technical expertise in but could not practice in my country. On the personal side, I wanted to prove something to myself and I wanted to start anew in a place where nobody knew me, where my academic background, especially the college I came from, didn't matter much. In short, I wanted to see how far everything I've learned would take me.

He was born in the summer of his 27th year
Comin' home to a place he'd never been before
He left yesterday behind him, you might say he was born again
You might say he found a key for every door

When he first came to the mountains his life was far away
On the road and hangin' by a song
But the string's already broken and he doesn't really care
It keeps changin' fast and it don't last for long

It was at that age when I made the difficult decision to pull my stakes up and try my luck in the States. I gave myself six months to see if things would work out for me. I promised my parents that if the six months ended without my finding a job, that I would immediately head for home. I told them that they did not even have to remind me to come home. Should I fail to land a job, I promised them that I will board the first flight home on the exact day the six-month period would end. That was the deal.

I landed in the States in early December and stayed with an uncle while I looked for a job. But it was the Holiday season, not really a good time for jobhunting since a lot of people were in a holiday mood. Plus, most of the companies were busy with their yearend wrap-up activities. So I hunkered down and prepared for myself for the possibility that it may take me at least two or three months to land my first interview. But still, I looked through the classified ads of any newspaper I could get my hands on, even ones I saw that were left on a bus seat, at a supermarket, or on a park bench.

My uncle didn't have a computer at home and thus I ended up using his office computer on weekends. The internet was then at its infancy and thus, all job applications were mailed through the post office. My first job interview came a month later in January.

Although I was a little nervous prior to the interview, I felt that my work experience and skills satisfied all the ad's published requirements for the job. That first interview was followed by two more rounds of interviews with the same company. Within a week, I got offered and accepted a job with the first company I interviewed with. The rest, as they say, is personal history.

I will be one of the first to admit that I'm not the sharpest tack in the box. In fact, I could be quite dense at times. However, if there's anything I can share with people who are planning to try their luck overseas it is this: a very good work ethic will always be appreciated anywhere you go in the world. We may trip or fall from time to time but whenever we do, we should always try our best to pick ourselves up, brush the dust off, and keep going.

And the Colorado rocky mountain high
I've seen it rainin' fire in the sky
You can talk to God and listen to the casual reply
Rocky mountain high

Just a few notes on the video. It was from the Tonight Show in 1973, back in the day when the late Johnny Carson, Jay Leno's predecessor, hosted the show. John Denver's performance on the show was live and the video also shows Mr. Carson's interview of Mr. Denver afterwards where the latter talked about what inspired him to write the song.

The video shows a young John Denver. He projected innocence and a youthful naivete during the interview, still awed with his success and expressed pride that his parents were able to watch him perform at New York's famed Carnegie Hall. He went on to enjoy many years of success as a recording artist scoring hits such as "Sunshine On My Shoulders", "Take Me Home, Country Roads", and "Annie's Song". He even went to the Philippines for a series of concerts back in the early 1980s. Yours truly even saw him perform on the noontime program "Eat Bulaga".

Unfortunately, Messrs. Carson and Denver are no longer with us. John Denver died in a plane crash in California back in 1997 while Johnny Carson died from natural causes in 2005.

Seven Baker Facts

I was tagged by my buddy, Luna Miranda, to do this meme. I found it quite fun to do even if it required some deep soul searching on my part. Naks!

Anyways, the Rules of the meme are as follows:

1. Link to your tagger and post these rules on your blog.
2. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.
3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.
4. Let those 7 people know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

Having done with the proper introduction, here are 7 more facts about me:

1. I part my hair at the left. I've combed my hair in the exact same way since I was in my early elementary years.

2. My apologies to fans of the following artists but I absolutely cannot stand Basil Valdez and Side A. I find Basil's songs very depressing and boring. Side A ranks as a close second because I find their songs and their performances lacking in both edge and energy. I feel that those guys (Side A) just stand before a microphone, play their instruments, and sing without much movement. I would much rather that someone push me off the roof of a tall building than have me listen to both artists' CDs for even just a few minutes.

3. I am a big pancit bihon, pancit Malabon, and pancit luglog addict. I can survive for the rest of my life on these three dishes. I love my SO's pancit bihon by the way. (Plugging ba? Hehehe) For dessert, I love taho and Puto Binan.

4. I can play the piano and read music. However, one of my regrets in life was when I decided to stop taking piano lessons when I was in sixth grade. I should have continued with it. Another frustration I have is that I never learned to play the guitar. Although I can't play it, I've dreamt lots of times of becoming a session guitarist.

5. I play a mean game of table tennis. My parents taught me to play the game when I was 11 years old. It remains as one of my passions although I don't get to play much anymore.

6. I love reading articles that relate to Architecture and Civil Engineering, especially when the topics are about historic homes, buildings, and public infrastructure such as tunnels, dams, bridges, etc. I am simply amazed at the amount of thought and effort that made those structures not only aesthetically pleasing but also very functional.

7. Although we have a lot of Math wizards in the Panaderos clan, I am definitely not one of them. I developed an early love for the English language courtesy of my mother who was a wide reader. She taught me reading and reading comprehension. She was very strict with homework and whenever I misbehaved, even sermons I heard from my mother were laced with English quotations whenever she wanted to stress a particular point. The following are actual examples:
7a) "You are like a tree without a shade." - Translation: You're so useless and stupid.
7b) "If you can't take it as food, take it as medicine." - Translation: Eat your fruits and vegetables, damn it!
7c) "You're a man without a star." - Translation: You better develop some ambitions young man or else you're out of this house!

That's it for now. I am not going to tag anyone in particular but please feel free to do this tag if you so desire.

Of Terms of Endearment and Steamed Buns

As a sign of affection, we often hear couples use words like "Sweetheart", "Love", "Honey", "Baby", and "Darling" when they lovingly call out to each other. Among married couples, I've observed a lot of instances where the wife called the husband "Papa" or "Hubby" and where the husband addressed his wife as "Mama".

The above are some of the examples of the terms of endearment that couples and lovers use. Most of these terms, as you may very well have observed, have favorable associations with sweetness or the nature of the relationship.

But there are instances when some couples veer away from such conventions. They decide to use terms that are unique to them and their relationship. In a lot of ways, the term used is akin to an insiders' joke, something that only the two of them can relate to.

I know of this couple where the woman decided to focus on the man's facial cheeks as basis for coming up with her own term of endearment. You see, the guy's cheeks are of the "pinchably" chubby type. The reasons for it are not only weight-related but also genetic. Quite a number of his family members share the same physical "problem". Hehe

As a result, the woman has resorted to using the term "Siopao" (pronounced Shaw-pow) as her term of endearment for her dear boyfriend. Siopao, for the benefit of non-Filipino readers, is the Filipino version of the Chinese steamed bun. It is a popular food item in the Philippines for it does not require utensils to eat and can be consumed on-the-go. There are several stuffing varieties to the Siopao that use pork, chicken, beef, shrimp, eggs, and possibly chopped scallions and water chestnuts.

Anyway, whenever they're together, the woman pinches the guy's cheeks whenever she gets a chance. For some reason, she absolutely loves to see them turn red or rosy. With her thumb and index finger, she would often grab a rather sizeable portion of his cheek and pinch it. But whenever she pinches it, she doesn't do it for only one or two seconds. No. The pinch is not complete until she has done several rapid left-to-right-and-back movements that sort of create a ripple effect on the rest of the poor man's face. According to the him, the "torture" could last for a pretty good amount of time.

However, in spite of all the pain, he continues to care for her deeply and doesn't really seem to mind the term of endearment she picked for him. After all, substance should always matter over form, right? Plus, it was a term reserved for their private moments and thus should be ok, right?

Well, not quite. There were a couple of instances a couple of weeks ago when the woman kind of "forgot" where the couple were.

First instance was one weekday morning when the man decided to pick the woman up after work. He called her at work and they decided to meet at a Starbucks near her office. A few minutes before their scheduled rendezvous, the man arrived at the Starbucks and, after smiling to greet the security guard that stood nearby, took his place in one of the five or six tables that were set up right outside the coffee shop.

So there he sat whiling away the time and watching the passersby when a few moments later, and in a voice that was clearly heard by everyone around them, the woman came out of her office building and called out to him, "Halika na, Siopao!" ("Let's go, Siopao!")

Upon hearing that, the man quickly lowered his head, picked up his stuff, stood up and quickly walked away with the woman. He never bothered to look back to see how the security guard and the rest of the coffee shop's patrons reacted to his girlfriend's call for he was certain that they must have been all laughing at him upon hearing his bun-inspired nickname.

The second instance took place two days later in close quarters: aboard a jeepney. After having a nice breakfast at Chow King, the couple decided to go to Kopiroti to grab a few of the store's famed roti bread. Since the store wasn't too far from where they were, they decided to take a jeepney.

The woman hailed a jeepney and once one pulled to a stop, she and the man proceeded to board it. As they got in, they noticed that there were only two seats available and each were across from the other.

The woman boarded first and picked the seat on the left. As she was about to sit, she turned to her boyfriend and once again, in a voice loud enough to be heard by everyone onboard, said, "Diyan ka na maupo, Siopao!" ("Take that seat right there, Siopao!") while pointing to the last empty seat across from her.

The man quickly took his seat and, in almost a repeat of what happened a couple of days earlier, spent most of the ride with his head bowed, steadfastly refusing to make eye contact with any of the other passengers. In the moments that he did look up, he made sure not to direct his gaze at any of the other passengers who were probably either smiling or laughing at him now that they had become aware of his nickname. Luckily for him, the jeepney ride was a short one.

The morale of the story is simply this. Coming up with your own terms of endearment is fine. Depending on what they are, be mindful of where and how you use them so as not to put yourselves in an embarrassing situation.

(Definitions and photo source: Wikipedia)