By the time Selena opened her boutiques, Abraham had started to manage different bands through Q Productions. When he found a rock band in Corpus that he wanted to take on, he asked if I’d like to write some songs for them. The idea didn’t sound appealing to me —if I’d wanted to form a rock band or even write music for one, it wouldn’t have been with these particular musicians. But I decided to do it because I wanted to help Abraham, and maybe I would learn something in the process.
One day, the singer of this band came over to work on a song I’d written, with lyrics by Ricky. Selena was there, wearing one of the bandanas she always used to tie up her hair when she was dusting and vacuuming at home. She cleaned the house while this singer and I worked for hours on a song in our home studio. I had no idea that Selena was actively listening as I kept trying to teach the guy to do the song a certain way, putting emphasis here or there on the lyrics and hitting certain notes. But he just couldn’t get it; he never really understood what I meant. Finally, frustrated, I told him we were through for the day.
“Let’s just pick this up tomorrow,” I said.
The second I had walked him out the door, Selena was standing right beside me. “Babe, how did you not lose your mind with that guy, going over and over that song?” she asked.
I laughed. “Not every singer is as good as you are,” I said. “I wish they were. But your dad really wants me to do this.”
“I can sing it,” she said. “Let me sing it for you.”
I thought she was joking. “Why would you want to do that?”
“I know what you want,” she said. “I was listening to you this whole time.”
“The whole time?” I asked in disbelief.
“Yes, the whole time. And I want to sing that song. I like what you wrote,” she said. “Please can I sing it?”
I felt awkward, truthfully. Here was the superstar Selena, who just happened to be my wife, and she wanted to sing my demo! On the other hand, I couldn’t resist hearing what she could do with my song.
“You know what?” I said. “Let’s go.”
We both put on headphones and I turned my back as I started up the machines on the mixing board. As soon as the music started, she said, “okay, I’m going to sing it,” and she did.
Selena nailed that song the first time through from the beginning to end, exactly the way I’d been describing it to the other singer. At the end of the song, she added even more to it.
I was in shock. How was it possible that I could be so lucky?
Chris Perez. To Selena With Love. p. 216-217. Commemorative edition.
