Yellow
Photo: Van Gogh’s Sunflowers
Tie A Yellow Ribbon is historically significant, but its bounciness mocks our sadness. As to the Jose Mari Chan song, let’s just say I’ve never been a pacifist. These songs and the rest of the 1986 Edsa playlist (Mambo Magsaysay, Handog ng Pilipino, the Apo discography) except for Bayan Ko make the Edsa Revolution seem a quaint and distant memory. We need to bring the spirit into the 21st century.
I believe in the importance of the music surrounding an event. In the future when you look back on this day, you will hear that song in your head. It is best to hear a song you can stand. I’m not a Coldplay fan, but their song Yellow is entirely appropriate to this occasion. In the present context try to listen to ‘Look at the stars, look how they shine for you’ without blubbering. Younger people with no memory of Edsa 86 would feel it more. So I texted everyone I know who might know someone involved in choosing the playlist and suggested they include Yellow. There’s always been something dolorous about Coldplay anyway. I think it would work.
Answers to questions you might be asking, unless you wandered onto this site purely by accident >>>
August 5th, 2009 at 00:36
Jessica, a request: kindly post the eulogy of Teddyboy Locsin at the necrological services for Pres. Aquino. Many thanks.
August 5th, 2009 at 09:49
Dear Jessica, for people who ask —
Here’s a copy of the Teddy Boy eulogy http://www.scribd.com/doc/18095084/Eulogy-for-President-Cory-Aquino courtesy of Stella Arnaldo’s blog. It’s not a transcription, there are things he said that are not here.
Videos of all the speakers at the necro services. http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/nation/08/04/09/necrological-services-former-president-corazon-%E2%80%9Ccory%E2%80%9D-aquino
August 5th, 2009 at 12:58
Lifestyle Channel is currently using Coldplay’s Yellow for its Cory picture montage during commercial breaks.
August 5th, 2009 at 16:52
I waited with breathless anticipation for Teddy Locsin’s eulogy for Cory. His words did not disappoint. I just wished he spoke slower.
August 5th, 2009 at 17:13
Really, i have never known such a woman existed. I am 24 years old, and i am ashamed to say that all these years Cory Aquino escaped me. Surely, I have seen her on TV, and I have even seen her in person and heard her speak, but i have never known who she is until these past few days.
I am very sad right now. I wish I have known her before so I could understand the almost-reverence the rest of the country (particularly those older than i am) has for her.
As I listen to her speech in front of the US Congress over youtube, somehow i am beginning to understand. In fact I think I might have caught a glimpse of what it was before — when patriotism meant more than just wearing nationalistic tshirts and silly dog tags. This was a president that spoke to me with intelligence. Not at all in that patronizing way I have been spoken to by the so-called national leaders at present.
Thanks Cory. I have never known you. But like Rep. Locsin, I feel a little ennobled now. Such loss.
August 5th, 2009 at 23:11
i thought it was just urban legend that Teddy boy Locsin was “that” loyal to President Aquino. Not only did i read that he was found sobbing by the staircase at the Makati MEd when she died, but he could no longer control his emotions at ANC as he recalled who Pres. Cory was to him. that was such an endearing moment, more so when he delivered his eulogy. But i noticed he was no longer present at the burial. I wish he would do the Filipino people more good by seeking higher office in the next elections. after all, we have seen in recent years a lack of articulate, intelligent and rational politicians. please relay this to him. thank you
August 6th, 2009 at 10:54
In 1986 and a few years after that, I had a picture of Teddyboy Locsin cut out from the newspaper tucked in one of the compartments of my wallet. I had a HUGE crush on him then. In the picture, he was hauling off his books to the guesthouse; the heavy and serious looking tomes perched jauntily on his shoulder. He was boyishly good looking, spoke well and wrote elegant prose. Those were the good ole days when we were flushed with the spirit of Edsa. Seeing him on ANC early in the morning of Cory’s death, I was moved to weep by his tribute to her and his ensuing tears. He spoke about his last visit to her hospital bedside a week before her death and he said something like “any woman who could have seen me would have fallen in love with me because I felt like a knight beside my dying queen. ” Beneath that gruff, sometimes arrogant looking exterior lies a heart that loves deeply his queen. Hail Sir Knight! Hail Sir Teddyboy!
August 6th, 2009 at 18:34
Mabuhay ka , Teddyboy! In life and in death of your Damsel/Sovereign, you are a true caballero. Was it true that you threw a fit when photos of Cory eating with her hands hit the front pages of newspapers? Such protectiveness of the presidential image.And the speeches! Even TIME Magazine printed the full text of Cory’s U.S. Congress speech. Okay lang even if you cry in front of tv cams. We understand
August 9th, 2009 at 01:33
im sorry jessica, but i know you to be close to him so may i ask you..where is teddy boy locsin now? i no longer saw him at the funeral of president cory. that speech he delivered during the eulogy moved a lot of people to tears because it’s a demonstration of what love looks like. that was a beautifully written love letter.
August 9th, 2009 at 12:30
He was at the funeral mass but not on camera, being there to grieve and not campaign for office.