12.16.2008

angst, rufus, and the college kid

dorm nights back in college were emotion-laden ones. if you were my room mate then, you'd probably have accustomed yourself.. er familiarized.. nope scratch that--mastered songs by jewel, sarah mc lachlan, tori amos, and fiona apple. call 'em my four muses of inspiration. but when i entered my angst phase, rufus wainwright took center stage; driving the other four to back-up-vocals status. this obsessession that started in college took me to scouring the net not just for songs appearing in studio-produced albums, but all the more for those hard-to-find b-sides and rare recordings. over time, the obsession slowly turned into something more clinical in nature; as my mp3 collection grew, came the flood of wallpapers, pictures and recorded interviews, too. hehehe. needless to say, this fan boy stage had me on prolonged emo status! the period extending up to the time when i was workin already, finds my ear plugged to my mp3s--traveling in trains or in buses bound for the countryside--mouthing rufus lyrics, eyes close to tears! wainright's brand of music, though largely tin pan alleyesque with orchestra/big band projections toward his later album outings, is on the core, a big treatise on heartbreak and loneliness. cue in smoke-filled jazz room scenes of the 30s and 4os. welcome to my world! hehehe.

well that world is long gone now; years, indeed have ways of changing a person--for the good or the worse, well, only time will tell. suffice it to say that gentle outgrew rufus, and with that, heartbreak and loneliness. :) but memories (and music long forgotten) have ways of reestablishing themselves, i guess. i remember making that cd filled with rufus mp3s about three years ago, and giving it to someone--symbolic of the fact that i was then ready to let go of all the pain and the hurt. retiring for the night after a very long day, i heard it play. softly at first, then slowly building up to that characteristic swell of rufus emotions. he was singing "the money song". funny. how things sound differently now. where rufus sounded skeptical and questioning then, as with the line "my love... if your heart was made of gold, would i pluck it out and melt it down; be an american and weld the crown?", it just made perfect sense to me now that the character in this song is taking affirmative action to keep his beloved for good. hehehe. call it paradigm shift. or delusion. whatever. all i can say is, when rufus uttered the line "and you will believe in love" on the next track (april fools), i couldn't help but smile and go for pen and paper, to write a poem to cap the night. :)

image link : http://www.starpulse.com/Music/Wainwright,_Rufus/gallery/Rufus-Wainwright-u13/

5 comments:

jamie da vinci! said...

when i was in college, living on my own, with 7 other people with me, the soundtrack to my angst was provided by carl orff's "O FORTUNA" from carmina burana. i brought my boom box, plugged in the CD and blasted it away. the town home we lived in had great acoustics and when i would find myself alone, i would pretend i was in some grand opera house! hehehehe.

to each their own.

A.Dimaano said...

@Jamie Da Vinci - Dramatic ang lola ha. I love O Fortuna too! Hehehe =)

@Kuya Gentle - Na-iinspire ka pala magsulat thru music ha. Ganon din ako, KASO di ako kasing galing mo magsulat lalo na sa ingles. =(

Niel said...

Isang kanta pa lang narinig ko from him na nagustuhan ko. Yung Hallelujah.

gentle said...

@jamie-grand opera? hmmm, wonder how o fortuna goes...

@ scheez- hoy, baket si jamie di mo kinukuya tapos ako kinukuya mo. unfair!

@neil- ganda ng hallelujah ni rufus, but try hearing jeff buckley's sublime rendition of the song. ala ako masabi. grabe.

Anonymous said...

you introduced me to rufus remember?
i have one bootleg album. hehe. hmm, i refused to get hooked only because he got into drugs and crap. and true, mas maganda yun rendition ni jeff buckley ng hallelujah.

hindi naman angsty songs ni rufus, imo. yun boses lang kase niya parang ginagalugad.