P Ramlee on his songs

For the first time, I laughed incessantly and loudly in public!

I was browsing Kinokuniya this afternoon, enroute to the Education Fair at KLCC, and decided to take a peek at the Malay section. I have not been there for nearly a month.

I saw a book entitled "P Ramlee, Bapaku". I picked it up and started reading the back cover to get an idea of the content. As usual with any book store, the book is sealed to ensure no one would get free reading.

I have a couple of books on P Ramlee, and I thought may be this would spice up my book collection in my library.

I laughed when I read the back cover. It has the following story about P Ramlee and his son Nasir.

Bapa dan saya sering berbicara dalam bahasa pasar 'gua' dan 'lu'. Pada satu hari, saya bertanya kepada bapa, "Kenapa lu asyik bikin lagu cinta, nama perempuan, dan bunga? Gua tak minat." Lalu P Ramlee naik radang, lalu berkata dengan nada marah, "Ada tiga sebab kenapa gua bikin lagu macam tu. Satu, gua punya suka lah. Yang kedua, lu anak tak guna sebab tak tau menghargai hasil karya bapa sendiri. Yang ketiga, berjuta orang suka lagu gua, dan bila gua mati nanti, lagu-lagu gua akan menjadi lagu klasik."

Well, what can I say? I can quite imagine him saying that, but PRamlee is PRamlee. There is no doubt of the whole truth of his statements.

EPILOGUE

I wish I have copied a letter written by P Ramlee to Saloma, which was exhibited at Pasar Seni 15 years ago (when I was still working at Dayabumi). I must say I was really impressed with his English - I mean he wrote a beautiful love letter to her in Queen's English.

If only they would reprint it. I am sure many could learn from him on this aspect of life!