Had Paul sung Autumn Leaves Sunday night at his concert, entitled Paul Anka, I Did It My Way (the second show was held Monday night, produced by Viva Concerts, Inc.), he would have left nothing more for an encore – maybe next year?
I distinctly recall first hearing Autumn Leaves from a jukebox near the dorm on Claro M. Recto Ave. back in my college days on my way to school. Paul sang that song with so much emotion, with I thought a slight sob in the line "...but I miss you most of all, my darling, when autumn leaves start to fall," that it left an indelible mark in my memory. Listen to that song (if you can still find a copy) and you’ll know exactly what I mean.
The concert was, as expected, another memorable experience to be added to "the times of your life," with Paul by his lonesome (no front act, thank heavens!) in the spotlight for almost two hours (no intermission, please!), leading the big crowd on a musical journey back in time when it was a real joy to fall in crazy love just because you and I were seventeen.
No, Paul didn’t simply sing to the audience; the audience sang along with him, much to the delight of Paul who egged everybody on to sing right on! It turned out to be a grand sing-along night, a "junior- senior prom" graced by mid-lifers and their children savoring the kind of music that knows no generation gap.
Guess how Paul made an entrance as soon as the band (one guitarist member is a Filipino) struck the familiar strains of My Way in the darkened Dome – yes, amid the patron section, picked out by the spotlight as he walked to the stage singing Diana in the same boyish voice that won the hearts of teeny-boppers in the ’60s when the most tender expression of affection was to put your head on the shoulder of your crush. Now, of course, times are different and more daring. Young men put a seed where they shouldn’t.
After singing My Hometown, Paul reminded the audience that "I stood on this stage back in 1959 when I was a boy" – yes, a "lonely boy." A little correction is in order: The year was 1961 because, during a chat with Jorge "Nene" Araneta after the show, he casually mentioned that his family built the coliseum (still the biggest in the world, patterned after the ruined one in Rome) in 1960, the same year Nene’s wife, Colombia’s Stella Marquez, was named the first Miss International.
Then came one of the most poignant parts of the show. As Paul sang Times of Your Life, film clips of memorable moments in his life and career were flashed on the three monitors, titillating the memory of the "seniors" in the audience with shots of Paul at his prime and bringing the audience to near tears as Grandpa Paul was shown with his five daughters and his grandchildren. Very touching! Paul injected humor into that sentimental moment when he used the word "hair" instead of "dreams" in the line "...and all the dreams (I) left behind."
Most of the hair is gone, all right, but it doesn’t matter anymore as long as the song remains the same, does it?
And how the audience loved the songs, singing along with Paul, tapping their feet, clapping and swaying as if they were reliving their first dance – Having My Baby, All of a Sudden (My Heart Sings), Cinderella, Esso Beso, Do I Love You, More, Lonesome Me, Bye Bye Love, I Can’t Stop Loving You and many more.
I felt a lump in my throat and remembered my own late mother when Paul sang Mama/Papa, dedicating it to his late parents (his mother died young due to complications of diabetes).
Now feeling spontaneous camaraderie with the audience, Paul went down the stage and chose an elderly lady from the front row, singing Put Your Head On My Shoulder as he danced slow-drag with her, followed by Puppy Love and, yes, Lonely Boy. Then, he moved around, posing for photographs and letting the women (one of them Virgie Ramos!) kiss him and, back onstage, joking, "Thank you to the guy who pinched me in the butt over there!"
He sang songs he had composed for other great singers, such as She’s a Lady (Tom Jones) and Jubilation (for Barbra Streisand). I was reminded by Jose Mari Chan (who watched the show Monday night) in a text message that "Paul Anka is the ultimate entertainer. He was the very first songwriter in the industry. Before him, the Sinatras and the Presleys of this world sang songs written for them. Then, Paul came and sang songs he himself wrote. He was one of those who inspired me to become a singer-songwriter myself."
Two other tear-inducing portions of the show:
1). Paul doing a duet with the late Sammy Davis Jr. (film clips on monitor) of a song he composed for Davis, and
2). Paul telling the story behind the song as Sinatra (film clips on monitor) sang the haunting My Way (if Paul only knew how many Pinoy drunks have been killed because of that song!), singing the last lines along with Sinatra.
The audience hung on to every word of every line of every stanza of every song that Paul sang that night and they just wouldn’t let him go even after three encores (two of them Let Me Try Again, also recorded by Sinatra; and My Way).
So Paul ended the night by singing dance tunes, with everybody dancing to their hearts’ content.
It was not only an enchanted evening of songs; it was a grand sing-along experience, a long-delayed "junior-senior prom."
The next morning, as Paul Anka sings, you woke up and realized that time has slipped away, but not before leaving beautiful memories behind.
Remember?
(E-mail reactions at rickylo@philstar.net.ph)