“Are we just April fools
who can’t see all the danger around us
If we’re just April fools
I don’t care, we’ll find our way somehow
No need to be afraid
True love has found us now”
- Burt Bacharach and Hall David
THIS SONG April Fools composed by Burt Bacharach and Hall David and performed by Dionne Warwick always has a soft spot somewhere deep inside my heart and never fails to give me that mushy moist eyes feeling.
Does this make Moi, a sentimental old fool, a silly romantic? Guilty. This grizzled bohemian ageing hippie is all of the above.
In fact you can say “I’ve got pieces of April, I keep them in a memory bouquet” and “April comes she will when streams are ripe and filled with rain.”
Why, you may ask, all these mushy romantic fascination with the month April which is usually associated with Semana Santa or Holy Week, certainly not a time for romance.
The Semana Santa for Catholics is a commemoration of the passion and supreme sacrifice of Jesus Christ, plus it also brings to mind the image of dismissed former “I Am Iloilo City” mayor Jed Mabilog emulating the “passion of Jesus Christ” with his own version of the “way of the cross.”
Moi supposes Jed Mabilog finally got his wish. He’s now living his political passion and suffering but he can always find comfort that his lovely and charming wife Marivic is with him to sooth his frayed nerves and bruised ego.
For the uninitiated, until his disappearance, every Good Friday – or is it Holy Thursday? Perhaps both – dismissed mayor Jed Mabilog joined the Semana Santa procession of the Parish Church of Molo carrying a humongous wooden cross. No, he Jed Mabilog was not wearing a tattered loin cloth like Jesus Christ but was decently clad in a white t-shirt and trousers, with a pair of Ray-Bans. No, I am not sure if he was barefoot like Leni Robredo. But I am definitely sure he was not scourged at the pillar before he joined the procession carrying the cross (although some people would like to have the opportunity to scourge him).
Anyway, we leave the Jed Mabilog-bashing and scourging to President Rodrigo Duterte.
I do hope I did not spoil the romantic mood before this little banter with dismissed mayor Jed Mabilog and so turn down the lights, play some smooth jazz and let’s get on with the romance of April. A glass of cold Chablis would certainly set the proper mood.
The title of this column is “April Fools” which is also a 1969 romantic comedy film starring Jack Lemmon and Catherine Deneuve. “The film is about an unhappily married man finding love with an unhappily married woman. The two find their marriages loveless as they discover more about each other one night and decide to run away together the next evening.”
“April Fools” is also the title of the soundtrack of that film composed by Burt Bacharach and Hall David and performed by Dionne Warwick.
I saw this movie when I was a teenager and it made quite an impression even back then, particularly the soundtrack.
To best appreciate the essence and mood of the film and the song here’s the rest of the song’s lyrics:
“In an April dream
once she came to me
when you smiled I looked into your eyes
and I knew I’d be loving you
And then you touched my hand
And I learned April dreams can come true
Oh are we just April fools
Who can’t see all the danger around us
If we’re just April fools
I don’t care, true love has found us now
little did we know
where the road would lead
Here we are a million miles away from the past
Travelin’ so fast now
there’s no turning back
if our sweet April dream doesn’t last
Are we just April fools
who can’t see all the danger around us
If we’re just April fools
I don’t care, we’ll find our way somehow
No need to be afraid
True love has found us now”…
As I said, the film and the song made quite an impression on Moi. You see, I was born on April 7 which is this Sunday and I fell in love with my soul mate and life partner also on April.
Call it an icing on the cake of April, Panay News was also born 38 years ago on April 7. Maybe it was a simple twist of fate that brought me to this column on the Editorial page of Panay News but the sentimental old fool that Moi is, I prefer to call it destiny. (brotherlouie16@gmail.com/PN)
