The Japanese guy in the middle requested me a song which he can't hum or remember the lyrics. He just said it's a love story theme from a movie shot in Hong Kong. My music instinct helped me guessed it right!
(Photo by Roberto Hernandez)
LOVE IS A MANY
SPLENDORED THING
It was not a busy night in Feb. 2014 and I'm playing piano at Waves Restaurant of Palau Royal Resort. I played the usual songs that I'm playing when there's a variation of customers -- 1 Japanese song, 1 Taiwanese song and 1 American song.
There's an old Japanese couple about 12 meters from me. The guy said, "I can't speak very good English but I want to request a song from a movie shot in Hong Kong."
That's the only hint that he had about the song. I asked him if he can hum the tune, but he can't.
When he left to be with his wife, it suddenly comes to mind the song "Love Is A Many Splendored Thing" and played it right away with expression.
The guy stand up in excitement! He thought that I really know that it's the song that he is requesting. It's just an educated guess. What a guess!
After that, I followed it up with more love songs from movie themes --Moon River from "Breakfast At Tiffany's", Somewhere My Love from Dr. Zhivago, As Time Goes By from Casablanca, etc.
Then I saw him get the room key and go to their room. I think I know what he will do. He don't have cash in his possession so he will get from their room.
When he comes back, he comes straight to me and said, "This is just what I've got-- 1,000 yen." Or equivalent to about $10.00.
When they are paying their bill, I stopped playing and asked them for a picture session as souvenir. Two shots were taken and I noticed that they paid in cash -- in dollars.
Source: Chess and Music (Perfect Combination)
The Beginning of Chess In Palau
By Roberto Hernandez
January 2014
To be published as a book in the future
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