Released 1993 Genre Pinoy rock | Format 7" Length 3:48 | |
Label Musiko Records
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BMG Records (Pilipinas), Inc. Writer(s) Ely Buendia, Marcus Adoro | ||
"Toyang" is a song by Filipino rock band Eraserheads, from their debut album UltraElectroMagneticPop!. It is the band's second hit single.
The song is notable for featuring creative wordplay and idiosyncratic combinations: the narrator is speaking of his love for simplicity and for Toyang, a bright-eyed Filipina, through a classic English love song, several Filipino folk songs, and Ilocano poetry. It references the Paul McCartney-penned "Silly Love Songs", the first two lines of the song as well as the pun on Toyang's name is from "Too Young" (a composition written by Sylvia Dee and Sidney Lippman which was well known for Nat King Cole's rendition), and it takes inspiration from Filipino folk songs such as "Pen Pen de Sarapen", a popular rhyming song used in children's games, and "Bahay Kubo" (Nipa Hut).
No music video was made for the song.
One humorous point of interest in the song is in the opening, spoken line (played like a skipping disc track):
"This - this - this next song is all about love... and I wrote it all by myself."
Background
Ely Buendia, speaking in a quirky tone, claims sole authorship of the song, even though official composition credits list him and band lead guitarist, Marcus Adoro, as writers.
On the band's Final Set concert, the group did an impromptu performance of the song after their encore. At this point of the show, Ely Buendia left the stage and into the crowd in order to get closer to the fans in front. Just as he was about to ask the audience what their final song for the night should be, drummer Raimund Marasigan chimed in with the "skipping" opening lines, followed by Marcus Adoro and Buddy Zabala, before being finished by Ely as he jokingly declared to the people in attendance:
"... and I wrote it all by my bloody self."