I like Jose Mari Chan’s songs. I adore the poetry in his lyrics, I like the lilting melody of “Can We Just Stop And Talk Awhile?” but I especially love the haunting words and music of “Refrain.” I even liked — liked — “Beautiful Girl” until some tacky producer decided it would be a good title and theme song for a movie starring Gretchen Barretto. That’s when the song lost its charm on me. 
Still, Jose Mari Chan‘s such a romantic and so am I. Sometimes. Well, okay, most times especially when it rains. While most people associate rainy days with something drab and gray and depressing, I feel that rain, mist and fog make the most romantic setting ever. Perhaps, it’s a carry over from the first time I read Wuthering Heights which, to this day, I consider to be the most romantic novel I have ever read. Or a subconscious rebellion against the association of rain with wrath and punishment and destruction — you know, Noah’s Ark and all that. I see rain as a necessary ingredient for growth. It is something the quenches the thirst of the earth. It is a cleansing and a renewal. In short, I love rain. So I don’t think it’s totally unexpected that when it rains, a mood sets in and lines from Chan’s “Refrain” automatically start playing in my head.
“I look out and I see the rain
As it falls on my window pane
And the music that’s in my heart
Is a sad refrain…”
You can view the complete lyrics here. It’s a mixture of melancholy and celebration for having known a great love. It is regret and longing and idealism rolled into one.
Well… the incessant rains that resulted in the suspension of classes last week had gone by Friday. By Friday evening, the glass window panes were quite dry and it would have been silly and truly overacting if “Refrain” were still singing inside my head. The thing is, with the rains gone, something else fell on the window pane.
No, I don’t think that’s very romantic at all.
Ang haba ng pasakalye … I was expecting something really beautiful. :-/
HAHAHAHAHA Beautiful naman yung froggy ah! LOL
Really? I always thought Wuthering Heights is the most depressing novel I have ever read…
But LOL at the pasakalye, I actually thought this is a serious post too!
hehehe, that was funny
i also find rain romantic sometimes…when raining, the song that plays in my head is “laughter in the rain.”
Mae, you found it depressing? Ooohhhh, I always thought that people seeing their ghosts together was so romantic. LOL I know it sounds morbid but, really, what Heathcliff and Catherine went through…
Ibyang, with all the depressing news, I needed a laugh when I wrote this entry hehehe
i love the rain too. ang “rainy day” song ko naman is tuwing umuulan at kapiling ka. i love both apo’s and eraserhead’s versions. naiinis lang ako kapag kinakanta ni regine. hehe.
I’m almost carried away by your thoughts about Jose Mari Chan and the rain ‘cos I can so relate (I do love both). Suddenly, a frog’s pic!! hahah!
I wouldn’t mind the rain if I didn’t have to drive or walk anywhere! Grrrrrr!
I also love Jose Mari Chan’s songs. And when booking reservations or whatever, waiting for the PAL hotline agent to answer becomes bearable because his song (Love at 30000 Feet) is playing in the background.
Honesty, I thought this was a post about Speedy being sweet or something. But the frog and Speedy definitely have nothing in common.
Maybe it’s a frog prince looking for a romantic kiss??
Karen, wasn’t the original of “tuwing umuulan at kapiling ka” sung by Basil Valdez? I didn’t know that APO has a version.
Nikita, when Speedy was in college he was called “palaka”. Don’t ask why LOL
I love Jose Mari Chan’s songs — sooo soothing… I especially like Deep In My Heart…I’m a hopeless romantic i know! haha.
And oh, rain streaming down the window pane is one of my favorite sights on earth
My wife and I love romantic songs. We both love the rain too – it saves us on our water bill (for the landscaped grass, plants and flowers). But I like it most when we’re in bed and pouring. If I’m not lucky enough, I would go out to the front porch or garage with a glass of brandy on one hand and a lighted cigar on the other, and just watch the rain come pouring down.
oh yeah, miss sassy. tama ka it’s basil valdez. my bad.
I was expecting a romantic evening with candles, a bottle of wine, the woks. And what do I find? PALAKA
“Longing and idealism rolled into one”, are you by any chance referring me?
“Tuwing Umuulan at Kapiling Ka”, definitely Basil Valdez. The lyrics of the song seem to suggest that the sounds of love making are easily drowned by the buhos ng ulan. Pagkatapos ng round one, humiling pa ng round two pag’kat makulimlim pa raw. The most I’ve done with these rounds is five. After five, I was knocked out in the cold of San Francisco. Foolish me.
Nice, nice… I’m not the only one who likes to watch the falling rain.
Tito Rolly, di ba cute naman yung palaka? LOL
Tom, re “Longing and idealism rolled into one”, are you by any chance referring me?
HUH?
re The most I’ve done with these rounds is five.
Well, since we can’t disprove your claim, we’ll have to take it with a grain of salt, don’t we? HAHAHAHAHAHA
sabi na nga ba pasakalye lang ‘yun e
this is the second appearance of the palakang saging is this blog (that i’ve seen so far)
and i grew up with jose mari chan and the time that I thought the Beautiful Girl song was ruined was when it was used as a title and theme for an Eat Bulaga beauty pageant
And I still love the Christmas in Our Heats
three smileys, four
I thought the Gretchen Barretto movie was bad enough, pati pala sa Eat Bulaga? Pucha, I’m surprised that Jose Mari Chan allowed it.
hahahaha!!! baka yan yung frog prince!!! hehehe… sayang you missed the chance.. joke joke joke…
i love the rain too… especially after the rain.. when it smells quite fresh…love it. tapos the sun is slowly shining.. panalo.. hehe..
afraid for love to fade, ang theme song ng mga torpe ang paborito kong jose mari chan song:
i cant let you pass me by
i cant let you go but i know
that im much too shy to let you know
afraid that i might say the wrong
word and displease you
afraid for love to fade
before it can come true
Connie, probably because I wanted them to be together when they’re still alive, Heathcliff lived a very sad life after Catherine
Hating everyone just because of what happened to both of them… But I have to agree that their love is so strong and I love it! 
Have you read the Tenant of Wildfell Hall?
In the Pugad Baboy comics, there was a segment where the police tortured a suspect by locking him up in a room for a whole day with Jose Mari Chan songs playing in the background non-stop. I think the joke was intended to echo some people’s opinion that JMC’s songs are too corny to bear.
I was surprised to find out through this entry that a lot of people like his songs, and are not ashamed to admit it.
Well, I’m coming out — i love his songs, esp, Afraid for Love to Fade (di ko akalain ang rakistang si Batjay maka JMC din pala), Can We Just Stop and Talk Awhile (sabi ni JMC yun daw ang first international hit song daw ng isang Filipino, not FA’s Anak), Refrain (sarap pakinggan pag umuulan no?), and the one he sang with Cynthia Patag (forgot the title). Nga lang, sorry po, di ko talaga masakyan ang Beautiful Girl… btw, JMC wrote it for his wife DAW
Ashamed to admit I don’t know any of his songs, guess I need to go buy some CDs. I do like some other local artists thought — especially Sitti
dear ms. connie,
i love the rain, too….but i hate frogs, eeeewwww.