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BY LUIS BUENAFLOR JR.
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Wednesday, June 21, 2017
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If I’m still around tomorrow, Will we still be just good friends?
Or will you release my sorrow, Open up your heart and take me in
You always make me laugh, When things are going bad
If I’m still around tomorrow, Will I be glad?
If I’m still around tomorrow, will my life be as before?
Or will I have found fulfilment, here within your arms forever more?
You are the one I live for till the end of time
if I’m still around tomorrow, will you be mine?
You are the one I live for till the end of time
if I’m still around tomorrow, you’ll be mine.
If I’m still around tomorrow, will you love me as before
or will you throw it all away and simple close the door
if I’m still around tomorrow, will you be mine?
Words by: Ralph Macdonald
Music by: Sadao Watanabe
Vocals by: Roberta Flack
PERHAPS the greatest love song in the jazz fusion genre, it speaks of longing of hope that a love gone by will one day come back tomorrow. I have never been quite personal with my columns as it is a matter of expressing my political and social beliefs.
But I suppose this sentimental old fool is also human with fragile emotions and sometimes needs to express them perhaps also hoping for kindness and understanding.
Don’t worry guys, I will be as generic as possible and will not mention anyone nor even give a hint who the actors are; this romantic comedy for all we know is just a figment of my imagination during my lucid intervals or as we struggling writers sometimes refer to as “writer’s block.”
And so before we all get mushy and teary-eyed let’s introduce the music and the artists who performed this superb piece of jazz fusion.
“If I’m still around tomorrow” is one of the feature cuts in the album “Rendezvous” by Sadao Watanabe featuring as guest artist on vocals Roberta Flack. The album was released in 1984 and the genre, of course, is jazz.
And, “Sadao Watanabe is a Japanese musician who plays the alto saxophone, sopranino saxophone and flute. He is known for his bossa nova recordings, although his work encompasses a large range of styles with collaborations from musicians all over the world.”
While, “Grammy award-winning Roberta Flack, internationally hailed as one of the greatest songstresses of our time, remains unparalleled in her ability to tell a story through her music. Her songs bring insight into our lives, loves, culture, and politics, while effortlessly traversing a broad musical landscape from pop to soul to folk to jazz.”
“Rendezvous”, from a comment by Dr. D. Treharneon
“Recorded in 1984 in New York City, this is a great way to discover the seductive power of Sadao Watanabe’s alto sax playing. With Ralph MacDonald taking care of percussion and Eric Gale on guitar and with strings added to the mix, there are a variety of styles and tempos on this album. A real bonus is the guest vocal appearance of Roberta Flack, whose two tracks, “If I’m still around tomorrow” and “Here’s to love” are the outstanding tracks on the album, although “Cool Breeze” runs it closes. Driving, contemplating or chilling out, this is the Sadao Watanabe album that will get you exploring the rest of his very extensive catalogue.”
The song “If I’m still around tomorrow” is like a taste of wine that lingers in the memories of my youth. Every time I hear it I seem to be transported back to 1984 and my life before as an athlete (moi was playing and coaching football and competing in road races and marathons), a schoolteacher and sometimes journalist.
I was in love then and we both like this song. I guess referring to it as our unofficial song, the lyrics were a premonition of what will happen.
There was no happy fairytale ending, rather the opposite; there was no closure, it’s as if I suddenly found myself one morning still drunk but alone.
I have neither regrets nor bitterness as today we have become good friends as we share a very special interest.
I have moved on. Someone “found me all alone existing in a world where people search in vain.”
She who rescued me, I realized, is my soul mate, the last person I will fall in love with. “This is where I want to be, here with you so close to me until the final flicker of life’s embers.”
So there. I hope this sentimental old fool provided light entertainment. Is this really my life story? That is for you to wonder and me to smile about. (brotherlouie16@gmail.com/PN)
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