June last year I wrote about bossa nova singer Marvin Velasquez who’s making waves in London and has been in England four times in the last three years, doing shows and getting awards. At that time he was in that country visiting sites that were part of the Beatles’ lore when he found himself along a long, but not winding, road in South Liverpool called Menlove Avenue.
He was purposely in the area to see the iconic attraction Strawberry Field which inspired John Lennon to write that groundbreaking Beatles track.
But a Menlove signpost caught his attention and he told England-based Pinoy songwriter and friend Rusty Mallillin about it. It became a new composition which he recorded. Thus, Menlove Avenue is now a title of an OPM song scheduled to be released in digital stores by next month.
“Naattract ako sa simpleng karatula and it felt like it was trying to get my attention because everyone is focused on seeing the place that became ‘Strawberry Fields Forever,’” he shared.
The song, according to this Nueva Ecija native, carries the key lines “Menlove Avenue/ Always reminds me of you/ How I love to be in Menlove Avenue.”
The avenue, which passes the Woolton Village where Lennon first met Paul McCartney, is famous for being the site of the slain Beatle’s home from age five to 22. The exact address is 251 Menlove Avenue, fondly called Mendips, which had now been Grade II-listed and preserved by the National Trust. One Beatles song, “I’ll Get You,” was apparently written in the said house.
Marvin, who was just in London last December, stressed, “Iba pakiramdam ko sa lugar na iyon. I felt attached to it.”
A posthumous Lennon album was called Menlove Ave. when it was released in 1986 under his widow Yoko Ono’s supervision.
Though based in Manila, Marvin has already established quite a following in the Filipino community in London. He has also performed in other foreign stops like Singapore and Hong Kong.
Asked what attracted him to bossa nova, he noted, “It’s very classy and relaxing, best soothing to someone having coffee in a cozy lounge.”
A previous release called “Tabing Dagat” sonically captures that description, carried through by his distinctively deep, assuringly round vocal.
“I want to be an ice breaker,” he added, implying that he’d rather sing to the calls of his heart rather than force himself to go with current trends to be easily in.
He had that pointed out when he went against the Strawberry Field traffic flow and instead smelled roses in the quietly scenic Menlove Avenue. He must have sung, “Let me take you down/Cause I’m going to”… Menlove Avenue.
