What Really Happened With The CD I Bought

I celebrated my birthday in 1985 with some time at the public swimming pool of the Amorante Stadium, with my best friends then - Gabriel Hidalgo and Aelous Arrellano. 

Afterwards, I made a trip to my favorite christian bookstore, Jacob's Well (in front of the old Magnolia ice cream house), where I picked up my personal copy of Dreamer: What Really Happened to Joseph - in cassette!

The 1983 Dove-awarded musicale by Cam Floria's Continental Singers was released in 1984. It was re-copyrighted in 1989 by Christian Artists, and had a facelift in 1994 including new artwork, a reunion recording by Continental Singers (still under Floria's direction) and a new name, Dreamer, The Epoch Story Of Joseph.

It became a popular christian musicale in the Philippines when Trumpets made it its flagship production (before the C.S. Lewis Foundation recognized Trumpets' version of The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe as the third official - and the best - version).

Until last year, I had been seeking for a copy of Dreamer in audio CD, but only found a cassette copy of the minus one - still very popular with small-bit catholic high school drama clubs aspiring for a Trumpets production.

Last night, I finally found it!  Without looking closely I paid for it at the House of Praise kiosk and joined Pia and Dingdong, excited with the find.

My heart sank when I got to scrutinize the cover.  The artwork was obviously an image grabbed off the Internet, one of the titles was misspelled, and Continental Singers was not acknowledged as the recording artist.  Did I buy a bootlegged CD?  Far be it from me, crusader against piracy!

I guess I have to settle with the thought that Praise, Inc., in response to popular demand, digitized the cassette version and, using whatever information they can find on the Internet, created the horrible album cover.

Never mind.  The audio turned out to be the 1984 recording, and it was such a blessing to hear it again this morning, turning me into a teary-eyed motor mouth on my way to work.

You'll know what I mean when you get to hear it, and I'd gladly share my CD.  Meanwhile, here are the lyrics of one of my favorite songs in it.  For me, it speaks of assurance of God's direction and love, no matter how uncertain the future is with work, with finances, and even with health.

Lord I need you to be all the gentleness in me
I've been trying by myself, struggling all alone
From the very start I knew that I must depend on you
Here I am depending, Lord, the rest is up to you

You're everything I need for you to be
You're everything that shines inside of me
And I will have the strength to do all you ask of me
I will always let you be everything I need for you to be

You are the one who put the stars up in the sky
To brighten up the emptiness of space
And you put a light in me to stay
A dream that will not die away
To brighten everyday
And I know that I can say

You're everything I need for you to be
You're everything that shines inside of me
And I will have the strength to do all you ask of me
I will always let you be everything I need
I need you to be
You're everything I need