“Umiyak ang umaga
Anong sinulat ni enteng at joey diyan
Sa pintong salamin
Di ko na mabasa
Pagkat merong nagbura
Ewan ko at ewan natin
Sinong nagpakana?”
–
These lines of the famous song “Spolarium” by the rock band icon Eraserheads were often linked by people to the 1980s case of Pepsi Paloma, who accused comedians Vic Sotto, Joey de Leon, and Ricardo “Richie D’Horsie” Reyes of rape, years before she was found dead in her apartment, in an apparent suicide.
But the meaning that people put to the song was all myth, according to rock icon and former Eraserheads frontman Ely Buendia himself.
Almost 25 years since it was first heard on the radio, Ely revealed in a recent podcast episode of “Wake Up With Jim & Saab” that the only thing that came up to their heads when they were composing the song was getting drunk among other “mundane” things.
“We were just drinking. It’s about the hangover. But you know, whatever people wanna think about that song, it’s fine. That’s the beauty of it,” Ely told the podcast episode.
“‘Spoliarium’ is one of those cases where really the myth has sort of taken over the facts and I kinda like it. I kinda like the myth. Because the actual meaning of the song is also again, just really mundane… So, we were drinking that (Goldschläger) and that gintong alak.. that’s what it meant. It’s all about getting pissed drunk,” he added.
As regards the names Enteng and Joey mentioned in the song, he said they were the band’s road managers at that time: “They were roadies. Kaya first time ko nabasa ‘yun, that urban legend, sabi ko, ‘Wow, okay ‘to ah.’ There really is, sometimes, ‘yung mga coincidence like that, you have no power over that. It just happens,” he said.
Regardless of other meanings that people connect with their iconic song, Ely said: “[T]hat’s one of those songs that I’m really proud of… I’m really proud of it if I sing it live all the time,” he said.
However, he knows that the myth about the song will live on despite this revelation: “Are you disappointed? Pero pustahan tayo kahit sinabi ko na ‘yan, the myth will still go on.”
