Semalam Yang Hangat

Dear Friends,

Now, now before the seemingly ‘provocative’ title gets you wondering, it’s not about some past life love affair. In fact, this is the prime reason I want to jot out about this 2005 song by the rock group Wings with Mel as the lead singer. The lyrics is quite catchy but gives out the usual failed love message, on the face of it of course.

OLDIE: Pent Up Heat Usually Fizzles Out Even in a Thermos (Picture Courtesy of: Secondcharm)

I remember belting this (off key definitely, but no complaints!) whilst taking a cold shower in 1996 at my old school. It was extremely lonesome thereupon as I was with a small group of Form 6 students – the Last of the Mohicans of sorts – at that boarding school. The others didn’t enrolled because they went on to matriculations. I was still waiting mine and I said, what the hey and stayed on at the school for Form 6 studies in the meantime.

However, the school knew it was a matter of time before we all ended up at some matriculation centre, so we were more or less – a cast-out bunch of drifters so to speak. We spent most of our time at the surau because the classroom were bare bones and we were bored to death of not only inactivity but also having to bear the stares from the flocks of passing students walking to and fro their classes. I had first hand experience on how it must feel to be an animal kept in a zoo! At the surau, it was the first also for me as I was bored to death with SLEEP of all things!

WIDESPREAD: Sleep Then Was A Question Of Where! (Picture Courtesy of: Funnychill)

And so like the pirates in the Flying Dutchmen (from the Pirates of the Carribbean movie), we were a banished lot without a purpose. Some teachers would come in and out of the classroom giving us pep talks about form six but that’s about it. It dawned upon us that even with the whole bunch still lingering after the matriculation call-up has ended, we would be transferred to some other school since were no more than 15. My school also then didn’t have enough teachers for us.

Anyway, (history always have that detour effect on me!) as I was polluting the airways with my poor rendition of Semalam Yang Hangat and coughing in the process as the water from the pouring shower went into my wailing mouth, I always wondered about one part of the lyrics, which goes:-

“Mengapa itu, mahu jadi teman, mahu jadi kekasih selamanya?”

Itu literally means it, cannot possibly made to refer to a person. Although it quite bothered me, I said to myself it’s just a song, so come on and sing it! I guess those among the living that day (the dead were spared) would had me pondering more on that nagging question and postpone the torture of hearing my slightly below bronze-quality voice all morning. But that was 1996 and before I knew it, I quit Form 6 and soon after joined IIUM. The ‘leftovers’ dwindled a little in numbers before becoming fully recognised Form 6 students. In the end, they were transferred to another school.

NO MORE!: Sometimes People Do This If They Can’t Believe How Beautiful A Voice Can Be! (Picture Courtesy of 123rf.com)

For kicks and old time sakes, I recently logged on to Youtube and searched for the song. I even found out a live version of the song sang by Awie with Wings! It was great. So great was that I finally found a satisfactory answer to that ‘itu’ question. The song was about kicking the drug habit, as opined by one of the fans in the comment section. Although I cannot verify the truth in it, it offered the most logical answer to this salient anomaly!

It shows after all that first appearance not only counts, it’s also downright deceiving! I may not know of what such enlightenment can possibly offer me in whatever terms, but certainly finding answers to questions is really fulfilling and what more if such journey to the answer was long and colourful indeed! Please enjoy the original version of the song. If you are wondering, yes, I honour requests for the cover version of the song, if you can stand it!