The untold story behind Tell Me
Curtain-raisers:
I’ve been reminding Melanie Marquez to put out her little book of “quotable quotes” and I assured her that it would be a best-seller. If she ever does get down to doing it, she can add the following 10 “Melanisms” forwarded to Funfare by Leah C. Salterio:
1. I don’t care a damn!
2. What’s your next class before this?
3. Can you repeat that for a second time around once more?
4. Hello! My brother Joey is out of town. Would you like to wait?
5. Don’t touch me not!
6. You! You are not a boy anymore! You are a man anymore!
7. Hello! For a while; hang yourself.
8. We are lovers, not fighters.
9. Why should I have a calling card? I’m not a call girl!
10. Ay naku, sumasakit na naman ang migraine headache ko!
* * *
There are nights when I can’t help but cry,
And I wonder why you had to leave me
Why did it have to end so soon?
When you said that you would never leave me
CHORUS:
Tell me, where did I go wrong?
What did I do to make you change your mind completely?
When I thought this love would never end
But if this love’s not ours to have
I’ll let it go with your goodbye.
Why did it have to end so soon?
When you said that you would never leave me
CHORUS:
Tell me, where did I go wrong?
What did I do to make you change your mind completely?
When I thought this love would never end
But if this love’s not ours to have,
I’ll let it go with your goodbye.
Those are the complete lyrics of the haunting song Tell Me, composed by Louie Ocampo and sung by Canada-based Joey Albert, his former flame, as if you didn’t know.
But maybe what you didn’t know is the untold story behind it which is as poignant as, if not even more than, the plot of Star Cinema’s A Love Story, a romance-drama about infidelity starring Aga Muhlach, Maricel Soriano and Angelica Panganiban, which is using it as theme song. The lyrics aptly describe the situation the characters of Aga, Maricel and Angelica are in. Aga is committed to Maricel and at the same time having an affair with Angelica.
In real life, though, that’s not exactly what happened to Louie and Joey whose romance ended on a sour note and, like a beautiful song that refuses to die, was revived with new partners. Louie is happily married and so is Joey. They have remained friends and have, in fact, reunited for two concerts at the
Now, did you know that Louie wrote Tell Me not for Joey but for his girlfriend before Joey?
“Louie wrote the song sometime in 1983 after he got back from Berkelee,” recalled Joey. “We were not ‘on’ yet. He was fresh from Berkelee and he didn’t have enough exposure here yet. He was then managed by my sister, Marissa Aguinaldo, and later by (the late) Richard Tann. We were all new in the business then, singing at Café Alvarado. At about that time, Louie broke up with his girlfriend, who was not from showbiz, and so did I. My boyfriend was also not from showbiz; never naman ako nagka-boyfriend ng showbiz, eh. I guess we both needed a shoulder to cry on and we offered it to each other.”
The rest is beautiful romantic history.
How did she feel when Louie asked her to sing the song?
“You know, I was there when he was finishing the lyrics. He reminded me recently that I contributed the last line — I’ll let it go with your goodbye,” said Joey, adding with a laugh, “We never thought that that last line would apply to us years later. Our relationship is now on a higher level; it’s a purely mystical union.”
Friday night when Louie and Joey sang Tell Me at the
Asked how she felt, Joey said, “A bit weird. The feeling then was different from the feeling now. We both have families of our own. So many things have happened since 1983.”
While here, Joey is helping promote A Love Story by singing Tell Me all over again.
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