Writing Love Songs for People You Love

Ever since as far as I can remember, I’ve been writing songs.

The first ever song I remember writing was a Mad Max inspired song called Road Warriors. I was just a kid, totally lost in the world of post-apocalyptic wasteland and muscle cars and desert roads…

“With the pedal to the metal and the wheels are ablaze

The weekend warriors coming even in their weakened state

Road warriors!

Road warriors!”

I imagined everything from the movie to the toy line, just like a good kid who grew up in the 80s and 90s.

…it was kinda bad.

But it was my song.

And I loved it.

In my teens, the world was glam rock and hairspray and staying out late. Songs became about friendships and parties and living without a care.

I wrote a song called Gimik that kinda captured that whole energy…

“Gimik! Gonna do what I want now

Gimik! Step on the wild side

Gimik! Gonna do what I want now

Come on come on come on”

My friends entered that song in a Muziklaban competition with another, much better vocalist and they placed second or third?

I honestly don’t remember.

But that was a huge deal.

My friends believed in the song enough to take it somewhere and it got them somewhere… I was so proud of them even if I was out of the band by that time.

I started getting serious about writing songs. I was listening to Megadeth and suddenly songs weren’t just about parties, they were about war, justice, politics… things that actually mattered to me.

Writing became a way to process the world.

At 18, I dove into the psychedelic stuff.

Experimental.

Weird.

I don’t fully understand that phase even now, honestly.

I was a bassist then.

At 19… I met I partnered with an extremely talented guitarist.

We made some songs together that I’m genuinely proud of, and we eventually formed a band called The Gray Bard Lunatics (later shortened to just Gray Bard). That partnership produced some of the best things I’ve written.

When we parted ways, I had a choice.

Depend on others or become self-sufficient.

I chose the latter.

I started studying guitar on my own, reformed my high school band AcidRadio with my best friend Domz. And we created and recorded songs. Songs that you can find on Spotify.

When Domz left, I made the move to Davao City… and found some of the best musicians in the local scene.

AcidRadio then became AcidRadius.

A new chapter.

A new sound.

A new home.

Why Expression Matters

Here’s something I think about a lot.

It is a beautiful thing for artists to express themselves through music.

But it’s not just for artists.

It’s for everyone.

Creativity isn’t a gift reserved for the “talented ones.”

It’s a human need.

Like breathing.

Like eating.

If you have something to say to someone you love, you need to find a way to say it.

A song, a poem, a letter, a badly scribbled note on a napkin… it doesn’t matter.

What matters is that you said it.

Bruce Springsteen believes that to write any good song, you have to have something bothering you all the time, something truly coming up from inside.

That’s not just about the craft.

That’s about being honest.

And when you write for someone you love… you’re being the most honest you will ever be.

Songs for My Wife

Making songs for someone you love is… hard.

Especially if you’re so passionate about them that every word feels insufficient.

Like, how do you compress everything you feel into three minutes?

You can’t.

You just try anyway.

I’ve probably written close to a dozen songs for my wife now.

Maybe more.

Mostly unfinished (the eternal curse of the songwriter), covering topics from sappy love songs that would embarrass her to… well, more creative territory.

There’s one I recently wrote called Selpon (Filipino slang for cellphone, for those not from here in Davao) which is basically about excessive phone use.

Half comedy, half a real feeling of wanting her attention.

Then there’s one I’m still developing called The Distance is Killing Us… which is about a long distance relationship because she’s always away.

That one hits different.

It’s not finished yet but every time I pick it up, I feel it in my chest.

Someday, I want to compile all of these… put them in a proper home recording studio (a dream I’m slowly working toward) and record a full album. I already have a name for it.

For Life, My Wife.

I’ve been listening to a lot of songs these days too, just to learn.

To absorb.

To understand what makes a love song really land.

I guess I just need to write from the heart….or believe that unfaltering human emotions are at the heart of love songs, and that is why they will always be here.

Today is my wife’s birthday.

And maybe that’s why I’m writing this.

I’d love to write the definitive love song for her.

The one that says everything.

The one that she can play on a quiet afternoon and feel like she’s the most loved person in the world.

Because she is.

To me.

Life is finite.

We don’t have that much time alive.

And I think about that more and more.

I want to leave proof.

Not just for her… but for my son.

I want him to grow up knowing that his dad loved his mother more than he could ever imagine.

I want the songs to be that proof.

I want the music to outlast me.

That’s the whole point, really.

So, here’s to making love songs for loved ones.

Not because you’re a great musician.

Because the people you love deserve to hear it.

In your words.

In your melody.

In your specific, imperfect, beautiful version of what love sounds like.

Write it badly at first.

Finish it later.

Record it someday.

Just… write it.

Happy Birthday Gauxgine. You are everything to me.