Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others

有些女孩比別的女孩大，有些女孩的媽媽比別的女孩的媽媽大...。字面照翻就是這樣，「大」什麼？網海上沒有什麼解釋，只有一些引用的篇章或照片，大概就是「胖」吧？

有些事我都忘了，那個介紹我The Smiths的男店員，後來還同校，去宿舍找過我，帶著鳥巢影評人，記得他的筆名，卻忘了真名...；那間台北不知在哪裡的唱片行，我一口氣花了近萬元把已有的卡帶換成CD的店。還有水晶卡帶的推介文，忘了他們如何讓文字轉為先入為主的印象，替音樂本身加油添醋，大概連Morrissey也忘了青澀的滋味...

The Smiths既憂且娘，即使當時英國火紅一片，在美國就吃憋，即使是在講挫敗，美國人最多就唱I'm a loser baby, so why don't you kill me?(Beck)，決不會唱Oh mother, I can feel the soil falling over my head...。(I know it's over)。不過，The Smiths不只是有一個自負自滿自戀自憐的纖細主唱Morrissey的團，還有Johnny Marr的吉他與音樂，甚至比New Order還好，非常均衡優美的四人樂隊。難怪1987年解散之後，即使Morrissey以其個人魅力展開單飛，還是難以超越。The Smiths的"The Queen Is Dead"還被Spin在1989年選為「有史以來最棒專輯The Greatest Albums Ever Made」的第一名。

同樣來自"The Queen Is Dead"專輯的Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others沒有那麼悲情，光聽「有些女孩比別的女孩大，有些女孩的媽媽比別的女孩的媽媽大...」就很難不笑出來，這裡可試聽，歌詞：

From the ice-age to the dole-age
There is but one concern
I have just discovered :

Some girls are bigger than others
Some girls are bigger than others
Some girls mothers are bigger than
Other girls mothers

Some girls are bigger than others
Some girls are bigger than others
Some girls mothers are bigger than
Other girls mothers

As anthony said to cleopatra
As he opened a crate of ale :

Oh, I say :
Some girls are bigger than others
Some girls are bigger than others
Some girls mothers are bigger than
Other girls mothers

Some girls are bigger than others
Some girls are bigger than others
Some girls mothers are bigger than
Other girls mothers

Send me the pillow ...
The one that you dream on ...
Send me the pillow ...
The one that you dream on ...
And Ill send you mine

再來個YouTube演唱會版本：

All Day Long

有了Joy Division，那當然就要有New Order，喪禮之後總是接著歡愉。他們直到2006年還在唱著Love Will Tear Us Apart，想必寶刀未老，但卻又在2007年宣佈玩完了。

不挑電子舞曲祖師級的Blue Monday、不挑別人翻唱得有聲有色的Bizarre Love Triangle...，卻挑了All Day Long，一首徐昌國稱為「英倫農村曲」的小品，來自New Order第四張大碟Brotherhood。又是死亡，這個innocent child會不會是指Ian Curtis？不知道，不過，就如這個評介說的，聽New Order別太嚴肅，他們的歌名沒有意義，他們的封套設計簡約到沒有任何訊息，他們要賣一個「流行的祕密 Mass-produced Secret」，他們不要你去想，就是去感受，感受那個歡愉，反智卻有自信的流行品味...

All Day Long試聽（往下拉到歌目）；歌詞：

All Day Long--New Order

This is a song about an innocent
Who died at the hands of a desperate man
He trusted those who he thought he knew
He trusted those who he looked up to
I'll never forget the joy in his face
He'd laugh and he'd cry and he'd ruin my place
He'd drive me crazy, and he'd drive me wild
I used to scream and shout all day long

Now I hope you know this song
Is about a child who now has gone
And other children like him, too
Abused and used by what adults do
So don't tell me about politics
Or all the problems of our economics
When you can't look after what you can't own
You scream and shout all day long

P.S.本篇放的封套圖不是All Day Long的Brotherhood專輯，而是我最喜歡的封套，他們的首張大碟Movement。

Love Will Tear Us Apart

曾經「龐克後低調Post Punk Cool」是多麼酷的聲音，曾經我有件黑色Joy Divison的T-shirt，穿到爛還不想丟，現在我家牆上還是掛著Joy Division "Unknown Pleasures"的黑白脈波圖，悶騷的人怎會不愛Joy Division？！

音樂的吵雜與能量不算稀奇，主唱Ian Curtis壓抑到不行的低調唱腔掩飾不了激盪噪鬱的心。Ian Curtis自殺留下多少遺憾？當時是無法了解，但是其他團員組成的New Order（穿白襯衫的鍵盤手Bernard Sumner接替成為主唱）卻一舉成名，儘管他們後來紅到爆、荷包滿滿，New Order因為Joy Division的光環，還是80、90年代英國新音樂的旗手。New Order代表的英倫之聲像彩虹般好聽，但我還是愛聽青澀的Ian唱他的低調。

你知道嗎？即使離要到的地方還很遠，這是最好的時代，世界如此開展在我們面前，豈不讓人興奮莫名（Unknown Pleasures）！以下YouTube起碼還有七個版本，包括New Order的遺傳演出、U2與其他地下樂團的致意，還有兩個讓人驚艷的詮釋。一個自殺的人作的悵情歌，他的困境、他的挫折、他的愛慾...，其他人卻不時傳誦，更多無數共鳴者，有或沒有，都不是那麼重要了！

·New Order BBC現場版
·New Order Summercase 2006版
·New Order Live@Vivo Rio 2006版
·Arcade Fire & U2版
·The Factory All Stars叛客版
·Swans冷調版
·The Cure2版
·Susanna and The Magical Orchestra學院版
·José González古典版
·Nouvelle Vague Bossa Nova版

Love Will Tear Us Apart--Joy Division

When the routine bites hard
And ambitions are low
And the resentment rides high
But emotions wont grow
And were changing our ways,
Taking different roads
Then love, love will tear us apart again

Why is the bedroom so cold
Turned away on your side?
Is my timing that flawed,
Our respect run so dry?
Yet theres still this appeal
That weve kept through our lives
Love, love will tear us apart again

Do you cry out in your sleep
All my failings expose?
Get a taste in my mouth
As desperation takes hold
Is it something so good
Just cant function no more?
When love, love will tear us apart again

Powderfinger

想要從我所有Neil Young的專輯中挑出一首歌，Powderfinger很自然地就浮現，在戶外行進場合像微笑單車這樣的活動中總不會放他的Heart of Gold吧？當場就軟掉了...

在網路查一下資料，怪怪！Powderfinger是首經典謎曲，還有人專門研究呢！儘管Neil Young關於這首歌的解釋語焉不詳，文字上卻有足夠多的線索讓人可以進行釋義...

這首歌在講一個故事，和我以前的想像差很多，是描述一個22歲的年輕人喪命的過程。有一解釋是他來自一個亡命家族，爸爸走了、哥哥上山打獵，獨留他一個人舉槍面對查緝的水警，結果命喪槍下；另一個則是把場景放在美國南北戰爭，他獨自面對軍隊的掃蕩。Powderfinger指的是帶有火藥的手指（扣板機的手指），可以是亡命之徒、也可以是軍人或警察，那些用武力解決問題的人，也指一切壓迫的來源。

這個故事可能對美國人比較有意義，西部年代、南北戰爭、槍械問題...，比較可以同理的是一個涉世未深的年輕人，面對無法逃避的命運短短幾分鐘的掙扎（一首歌的長度）。Neil Young一直以來都很關注die young，他對Kurt Cobain的自殺無限輓惜而出了"Sleeps with Angels"專輯。當初衷不再，是繼續長大？還是選擇不繼續長大？

這個研究Neil Young的人Mark還針對音樂部份評介，所有很棒的歌絕對不會只是單歌詞吸引人或是音樂好，一定都要具備的。這個是完全同意，一張專輯中即使沒有仔細聽，還是有些歌會跳出來，有些不會...。這裡或可試聽，歌詞在下：

Powderfinger by Neil Young

Look out, Mama, there's a white boat comin' up the river
With a big red beacon, and a flag, and a man on the rail
I think you'd better call John,
'Cause it don't look like they're here to deliver the mail
And it's less than a mile away
I hope they didn't come to stay
It's got numbers on the side and a gun
And it's makin' big waves.

Daddy's gone, my brother's out hunting in the mountains
Big John's been drinking since the river took Emmy-Lou
So the Powers That Be left me here to do the thinkin'
And I just turned twenty-two
I was wonderin' what to do
And the closer they got,
The more those feelings grew.

Daddy's rifle in my hand felt reassurin'
He told me, Red means run, son, numbers add up to nothin'
But when the first shot hit the docks I saw it comin'
Raised my rifle to my eye
Never stopped to wonder why.
Then I saw black,
And my face splashed in the sky.

Shelter me from the powder and the finger
Cover me with the thought that pulled the trigger
Think of me as one you'd never figured
Would fade away so young
With so much left undone
Remember me to my love,
I know I'll miss her.

This Wheel's on Fire

Bob Dylan的歌，除了Like A Rolling Stone，還挑了Siouxsie & the Banshees翻唱的This Wheel's on Fire，輪子著火了！放在微笑單車專輯中...

如果我第一次是聽到Bob Dylan的原曲，大概不會印象深刻，因為聽不懂。是Siouxsie & the Banshees（台灣曾叫「蘇西與冥妖」）才讓我可以接受，當時凡是和Punk有關的一概吸收...。歌詞還是不大了，但是Siouxsie & the Banshees把披星載月、風塵僕僕、有點公路電影的那種感覺演繹得很好，飆車赴約時配這首音樂不錯...。是「這個」輪子不是那個輪子...

If your mem'ry serves you well,
I was goin' to confiscate your lace,
And wrap it up in a sailor's knot
And hide it in your case.
If I knew for sure that it was yours . . .
But it was oh so hard to tell.
But you knew that we would meet again,
If your mem'ry serves you well.
This wheel's on fire,
Rolling down the road,
Best notify my next of kin,
This wheel shall explode!

·This Wheel's on Fire官方試聽(WindowsMedia)
·This Wheel's on Fire官方版歌詞

No woman no cry

買了隨車喇叭，也買了第一台iPod（不是Mac就一定非用iPod不可），把一些自己喜歡的歌放進去，打算在每次微笑單車活動中發聲，自己爽也好！
從這篇開始，陸續回顧這些打動我心的聲音，大都是有歌詞的，所以歌詞盡量找到，如果有音樂連結也好...

如果西洋音樂界有一位歌手地位可以比擬切哥拉瓦，那應就是Bob Marley。愛咪囈語隨便記提到No women no cry的意思應是「女人不要哭」，而這首歌常被解讀為「沒有女人，就沒有眼淚」、「如果沒有女人，就不會流淚」或「你沒有女人，也別哭」...，但我以前總以為是「沒有女人是不哭的」，我還是覺得比「女人不要哭」更...

YouTube慢歌版：


大概歌詞：
No woman no cry, no woman no cry
No woman no cry, no woman no cry

Seh, seh, said I remember when we used to sit
In a government yard in Trenchtown
Obba, obba, observing the hypocrites
As the would mingle with the good people we meet
Good friends we have, oh, good friends we've lost
Along the way
In this great future,
You can't forget your past
So dry your tears, I seh

No woman no cry, no woman no cry
Little darling, don't shed no tears, no woman no cry
Seh, seh, said I remember when we use to sit
In the government yard in Trenchtown
And then Georgie would make the fire lights
As it was, log would burnin' through the nights
Then we would cook cornmeal porridge
Of which I'll share with you
My feet is my only carriage
So I've got to push on thru
Oh, while I'm gone

Everything 's gonna be alright, everything 's gonna be alright
Everything 's gonna be alright, everything 's gonna be alright
Everything 's gonna be alright, everything 's gonna be alright
Everything 's gonna be alright, everything 's gonna be alright

No woman no cry, no, no woman no cry
Oh, my little sister
Don't shed no tears
No woman no cry