Rainy Sundays in Manila

Back in the 70's, switching songs wasn't as easy as a click of a mouse like we do today. If you were listening to a tape, fast forwarding and rewinding took a long time. And if you were not "skilled" in the use of the tape player, especially in the car, you ended up listening to the whirl of the fast forwarding tape and the constant clicking of the fast forward, stop and
play buttons more so than the songs themselves.

It was rare to find a tape where all the songs flowed together wonderfully. Stephen Bishop's Careless album is one of those exceptions. On and On was by far the most popular song, reaching #11 on the pop charts in 1977. Other favorites were Save It For A Rainy Day, Madge, Never Letting Go, Little Italy and One More Night.The album flowed quite naturally from the first song to the last - with the exception of the one song I hated - Animal House.

On and On brings me back to those rainy Sunday afternoons in Manila when laying around in my room while listening to the rain drops trickle down the windows made for a perfect daydreaming afternoon. It's so hard to find moments like those rainy afternoons of my childhood. Between driving the kids everywhere, the constant explosions and thumping from my son playing video games, to the endless clicking of the computer keyboard - the act of actually listening to rain drops seems like a real treat.