I remember hearing about this song back in 1994, when The Youth hit big with their first single. There was a bit of controversy, of gay groups calling the song “anti-gay” and “homophobic.” Because of that, though I would hear the song everywhere (and despite it being instantly catchy), I deliberately turned a deaf ear to it. That’s blind—or should I say deaf?—solidarity for you.
Cut to 16 years later. I’m blog-hopping, and I happen to stumble across one that had the song embedded in one of its posts. “Hey, I know that song!” I told myself and listened to it intently for the first time.
I still can’t fully understand what they’re trying to say. I still can’t decide if the song lyrics are homophobic, or if they’re just winking at us. Are they saying that there are bad homosexuals as much as there are bad heterosexuals? Or are they saying that ghostly gays are abnormal precisely because they are ghostly and not because they’re gay? Is that their backhanded comment that being gay is, well, parang normal lang?
Or whatever.
Or this just shows how insidious music can be; it can enter your ears and completely bypass your mind and go straight to your heart—or to your limbs. I’m bopping to the song as I’m typing this, ahahaha!
Multong bakla! Multong bakla! Multong bakla! Haylaveth.
What about you? Do you find the song insulting? Or are you just kebz about it?
* * * * *
Mare, merong kang bisita
May kasangkapan para masangla
O, pare, talo ka sa pekwa
Itsura mo’y parang naluging bakla
O, ang galing-galing mong bugaw
Mas kadiri ka pa sa langaw
Ika’y multo sa paningin (ang multo sa paningin)
Ika’y multo sa paningin
Hah ahh hah ahh
Oi!
Taas-noong hilaw na sosyal
‘Kala mo ba'y wala kang asal
Kay yabang-yabang mong pumorma
Para kang ipis na nakabukaka
Ang kapal mong mangurakot
Sa lipunan, ikaw ang salot
Ika’y multo sa paningin (ang multo sa paningin)
Ika’y multo sa paningin
Ika’y multo sa paningin (ang multo sa paningin)
Multong bakla [8x]
Oi! [17x]
Oi, Tita
Bakla!
9 comments:
Times have changed. So kebs lang Wonder if anyone would still remember when people call gays "multong bakla."
I remember this song. I also don't get it. Maybe it's social commentary?
Catchy tune though.
http://ficklecattle.blogspot.com/
I always took it as a jab at the underground economy of boys getting paid for sex by the "multong bakla" (mga baklang rumoronda sa mga "haunts" nila to look for a booking). Didn't take it as an insult but rather is what it is. :P
ewan ko kung insulto talaga ang song na ito. ang alam ko gusto kong pumunta sa Club Dredd para manood ng Yano, Razorback, Bazurock, Eheads, wolfgang at iba pa... para makipagra-rakan sa mga coñong metal. LOL.
I try not to analyze things in that aspect because I tend to get defensive.
I used to find this song offensive, but I heard it last Sunday in Sharon, sung by a bakla. He was making a joke out of it. And to my surprise, I laughed. It was liberating.
So, yeah, I think kebs na ako ngayon.
i've always felt the band was putting down a particular fag they know, whom they found ugly and a social climber and possibly a pimp. also, i was in high school and a friend (who would later confirm he really is gay) got teased as "multong bakla" and i remember feeling guilty at not having defended him. so yeah, i've always felt it was a negative song.
for me it's not homophobic. it's more of a silent cry questioning our own fabricated social hierarchy.
[there's me trying to be pseudo-intellectual..hihi]
a catchy tune, yes. but. i still believe 'bakla' was used derogatorily. multo na, bakla pa. that's how disdainful the songwriter feels towards the 'object' of disgust.
i thought it was an ode to john osmena before hahaha
Post a Comment