Tirso Cruz: Composer of Mabuhay — My Philippines
The composer of Mabuhay —
My Philippines — usually sung and played upon the arrival of the President — is the legendary Tirso Cruz. The marching hymn was first performed on May 16, 1931 at The Manila Hotel, where Cruz was ‘mainstay’ — conductor of The Manila Hotel Orchestra. Cruz was then the most popular and highest paid orchestra leader in Manila.
Words were written by James King Steele.
Remember When? prints the complete lyrics of Mabuhay — My Philippines.
Deutschland toast with pros-it Sweden answers skoll England says here’s cheerio And lifts the flow-ing bowl Japan shouts her ban-zai But out in the Phil-ip-pines You hear this cheer-ry cry Chorus We say Ma-bu-hay
We say Ma-bu-hay Under the blue sky When our friends sit by Gree-ting a farewell A toast that will wear well
We lift our glass-es and say
Ma-bu-hay! Gol-den days of trop-ics Where the blue waves toss Gleam like gorgeous jewels Neath the South-ern Cross My Philippines Mabuhay — Poster of Soft brown eyes are spark-ling Lus-cious lips come near If you lis-ten close-ly This is what you hear Chorus Sunny lands of laughter Set in South-ern Seas I long to be back again Be-neath your man-go trees When I’m in the is-lands Where I’m going to stay We will raise a brim-ming glass And this is what we’ll say
The descendants of Cruz are, to date, all over showbiz, especially music.
Think of Tirso Cruz III (Pip) and the other Cruzes, including: Carding, Joey, Diana, Jeffrey, Sunshine, Donna, Sheryl, Renzo, Geneva, Rayver, Rodjun, Melody and Jesse (Ricky Belmonte).