The Story Behind One Moment Please + Lyrics

10 years in the call center industry and all I have to show for it is a song.

Before coming over to Davao, I had just finished my stint as a call center manager. I made a promise to myself that I would only stay as long in the call center industry until I finished my business degree.

And then after that, I would try my hand in a different field. Or maybe take a short break and then take up another degree.

I ended up in Davao and got involved in the BPO industry and eventually became a work-from-home copywriter.

I realized I didn’t really like being responsible for other people that much. I just wanted to be a writer.

That’s it.

How I Made the Song

One Moment Please started out as an exercise riff. I was just playing around with it and just loving the sound of it.

I never really thought I would turn it into anything but it was Kym who told me it had some kind of potential as a future song.

I barely remember the early lyrcis I had for this song  but I knew it didn’t fit. It was probably something related to war or conflict. Or partying. Maybe drinking. I made a lot of songs about drinking.

It took a few weeks before I realized that I should stick to writing things I knew about. So I turned my attention to making it into a love song. A rocking love song.

That didn’t work out.

It took a few more weeks before I finally struck on the idea to use the line “one moment please” which was something we, Kym, Domz,Keno, and I seemed to use a lot because we were at one point in time or another call center agents.

So, I just imagined a love song based on that momentary connection that you have with your customer online. It’s like a love song. A mini one. One encapsulated in a song.

It’s the whole meeting the person, making them like you enough to form a relationship, and then ending it.

The lyrics of the first part of the song are centered around me mustering the courage to start the conversation.

The second stanza is how I imagined the conversation would go as I sought to get the attention of the person on the other line and explain to them the urgency of the call. I left the ending of the second stanza on an ambiguous note because I didbn’t want the conclusion to be anything positive or negative.

The chorus, I left as something as simple as just those three words and then a stylized whoa.

The riff remains the main focal point of the entire song with it peppered into the stanza and ending of the song. The main musical theme is heard all throughout the song.

The Guitar Solo

Because the song started out as a practice riff, I just decided to incorporate other practice riffs that I play around with regularly.

The first part of the solo was a bass riff I used to play around with back when I was still AcidRadio’s bass player. Yeah, I used to be the band’s bass player before Domz decided I wasn’t as good as he was on four strings.

Back then we also had Leandz as our guitarist so there wasn’t really any need for me to play guitars.

And then Daney became our lead guitarist. That opened the doors for me to become the group’s rhythm guitarist.

Anyway…

The second part of the solo was my attempt to be an 80s glam guitarist. So yeah, I tried everything in my limited guitar vocabulary in that short span of time that was allotted to me in the adlib.

Recording the Song

The song One Moment Please has many demo versions. One demo version has Kym, Domz, Keno and I on the track. The last song we recorded as a band. And then we recorded another version with Dave on bass but the vocals on that was really bad.

I was still smoking then and wasn’t really sleeping that well at night. Yeah, not taking care of one’s health can do a number on your vocal cords.

The final version that we have out is the one Glenn, Mitch, Kiss and I recorded.

We recorded it at Slawndwave.

The funny thing is that Slaw remembered that I had already recorded my tracks at his studio but we weren’t happy with the initial result. I had a lot of my mind when I did the first recording and my heart wasn’t really in it.

One Moment Please

Music and Lyrics: Chester Canonigo

This night ain’t over until I get the number to call you (call you)

My hands are getting sweatier as I push the numbers to dial you

One moment please

“Hello? Hello? Please don’t hang up.

No, I gotta speak to you

I won’t take too long

Just a minute or just for two”

Credits:

Music and Lyrics: Chester Canonigo

Performed by: AcidRadius

Guitars and Vocals: Chip

Guitars: Gee Jae

Bass: Jero

Drums: Kisstong

Recorded at: Slawndwave