“Dahil Sa Iyo” (Because of You) Original English/Tagalog Version

US Copyright ©1964 Dexter Music Co. – Words and Music by Tom Spinosa and Mike Velarde Jr. TOM SPINOSA: “The melody of “Dahil Sa Iyo” was originally written by Mike’s father in 1936 in the Philippine Islands at the Manila Hotel where we met on one of my voyages to Manila. We were discussing it way back then. I was the orchestra leader on the USS President Lincoln. So I got acquainted with his father very well but it wasn’t until 1949 that I actually wrote the English lyrics to it and made the deal with Mike. When I met Mike Jr. at the Jai-Alai night club in Manila in 1946, Mike did not have the song, but when we met again in May of 1949 he told me his father had given the song to him and I wrote the English lyrics to it. The agreement I had with Mike was that I would take the tune to the US and try to do something with it, whether through my publishing company or someone else’s, and if I succeeded placing it we would divide the composers rights between us. For the last 15 years I’ve been plugging it by handing out copies to Singers and Orchestra leaders throughout the world. This was possible due to my frequent travels abroad. I have a recording session scheduled on it with Tri-World Records of San Francisco.” 2/12/64 For more info and photos regarding the history of Dahil Sa Iyo click link below… www.facebook.com