POP QUIZ: Who can remember swooning and sighing to the following song:
SIMPLY JESSIE
Music by Stephen Lawrence, Lyrics by Bruce Hart
Sung by Rex Smith
From the book and movie, "Sooner or Later"
And I don't know how I knew it
But I knew it somehow,
You're the answer to the question
No one's answered 'til now.
And I don't know what you see
What you see in me,
But girl it's nothing to
What I see in you.
Stars that glisten, lips for kissin'
Honey, listen, it's true
No one ever loved you better
Love you honey...
And I've known a girl or two
But none of them was you
And they could never be
What you are to me
Stars that glisten, lips for kissin'
Honey, listen, it's true
No one ever loved you better
Love you, honey,
I love you
Hmmm, I love you
Oh-oh, I love you, uh-huh
I love you, Mmm,
I love you.
ANSWER: Your age is showing!
Like most girls who experienced their first blush of love in the early eighties, I've held this song close to my heart through all these years. It was the most romantic song I'd ever heard. Those unmistakeable first few bars on the guitar was a siren call which would summon me from whatever it was I was doing to the nearest radio, where I would listen, transfixed, to Rex Smith's voice and imagine he was singing to, well, ME of course!
"Simply Jessie" was just one of those songs that dripped romance. The storybook, fairytale-movie kind of romance favored by prepubescent girls in their freshman year in High School. And just like Jessie, the 13-year-old protagonist in the book and the made-for-TV-movie, "Sooner or Later", I was a HOPELESS ROMANTIC, eagerly awaiting my first love.
Well, my "first love" has obviously come and gone, and my second and third besides. After my first serious relationship, which would last throughout my freshman year in UP Diliman, I would have two more serious relationships, both of them long-term, one which would last for six years and was headed for the altar, and the other which actually made it there, but unfortunately did not make it past the same six-year shelf-life.
Accompaniment to these relationships were songs which would weave themselves into the soundtrack of my life: "Victims" by Culture Club, "I Don't Need You" by Rupert Holmes, even "Lady in Red" by Chris deBurgh, but sadly, even though one of my former flames had Michael Skye's good looks and one of them (classically trained in music), his musical ability, none of my exes would bring me back to that time capsule in my life, where my breathless, bright-eyed, blushing alter-ego still swooned and sighed at the sight of Rex Smith (who played Michael Skye in the movie) singing "Simply Jessie" for me and me alone.
All these years, I had THE song, but no man who deserved to sing it. And so it remained MY song, as opposed to "our" song. A song I enjoyed in private, which evoked memories, not of the men who shared my life, but of my long-lost Prince Charmings, the teen idols of my youth: Jimmy MacNichol, Leif Garrett, Shaun Cassidy, Parker Stevenson, and of course, Rex Smith.
Yes, I'll admit I used to read Teen Beat, 16 and Tiger Beat back in those days, even though my cousin, Tina Gaerlan, wrinkled her nose in disdain at my "bakya" taste, telling me my teen magazines were the equivalent of "Kislap" in the States and I was better off reading "Seventeen". (I was in "masa" UPIS and she was from "sosyal" Poveda, but she would later join me in that proud bastion of the Great Unwashed, UP Diliman.)
But I digress. My point is that after three long-term relationships and a sprinkling of mild to serious flirtations, I had yet to meet my "Michael Skye". A man who could turn my legs to butter just at the mention of my name, whose mere touch could reduce me to putty, whose smile could brighten up my entire universe. Such a man could only be a product of fiction, right?
Right. Eleven years ago, that's exactly what I would've said. "Right."
But then someone came my way, close to the stroke of midnight, eleven years ago, who made me believe again. A man who was so good-looking, people would turn their heads and stare; so strong, he could lift you with one arm, yet so gentle he would sing to your hair in the dark and spend the rest of the night in the same uncomfortable position just so you could sleep, unhindered, in his arms.
He was everything I found attractive in a man: makisig, matipuno, moreno. And did I fail to mention super-lakas ng dating? Yet he was shy, humble, self-effacing. Pure salt of the earth. I couldn't believe he was for real. And I fell for him. Hard.
Life was so uncertain back then, and our love grew in a vacuum, enclosed in our own little corner of the world facing Manila Bay. It was then that I learned how to love without expecting anything in return. It was enough for me to gaze at him while he was sleeping and marvel at how beautiful he was, even in his tousled state. I couldn't believe my luck. I had found my Michael Skye, and just like Jessie in the movie, he only had eyes for me!
I knew I would get it right, "sooner or later"! And now, eleven years down the road and twenty-eight years since my freshman year in High School, "Simply Jessie" sounds fresh as ever, because now I've finally found someone I'm willing to share it with. Someone who truly deserves it. Someone who promised me he would learn to play it in his guitar and sing it for me. And someone whose voice could finally do justice to the song.
I am truly blessed. I have finally found my storybook hero. And I'm married to him. Yes, life goes on, even after the credits read "The End". And I'm glad to say that in the book that is my life, in my very own made-for-TV-movie, I'm still living, and writing, that happy ending. With him by my side.
Happy anniversary, my love. I still thank the Lord for you, everyday.
To quote another Rex Smith song from the movie, even after knowing you all these eleven years, you still "take my breath away"!
Love, R.
