大學時期,系上辦了好些優質的演講:聶光炎,賴聲川,顏元叔,劉森堯.....,都是令人印象深刻,言之有物的講者.可最有趣也最令人難忘的題目,是曾宣毅老師講的"熱門音樂與英詩."熱門音樂一詞如今已少聞.當年,只要是西洋流行音樂,無論是搖滾民謠流行,一律稱之"熱門."曾老師高高瘦瘦,戴著黑框眼鏡,很樸實的模樣.他發下一張講義,上面有流行歌曲的歌詞與若干英詩.那些歌曲都是經典,卻不是我慣常聽的.初次聆聽,開啟了新領域.他選得好,都是歌詞有深意,曲調好聽的歌曲.最喜歡的是披頭四的Norwegian Wood.簡單的配器,清清爽爽.素樸的歌詞,很有張力與情節.
I once had a girl, or should I say, she once had me...
She showed me her room, isn't it good, norwegian wood?
She asked me to stay and she told me to sit anywhere,
So I looked around and I noticed there wasn't a chair.
I sat on a rug, biding my time, drinking her wine
We talked until two and then she said, "It's time for bed"
She told me she worked in the morning and started to laugh.
I told her I didn't and crawled off to sleep in the bath
And when I awoke, I was alone, this bird had flown
So I lit a fire, isn't it good, norwegian wood.
英式幽默與驚人的結局.
我把這首歌牢牢記住了.
彼時村上紅透半邊天的"挪威的森林"尚未出版.何況那是一個謬誤的翻譯.
相對應的似乎(我的記憶不靈光,手邊也沒留下講義)是濟慈的La Belle Dame sans Merci: A Ballad.
O what can ail thee, knight-at-arms,
Alone and palely loitering?
The sedge has withered from the lake,
And no birds sing.
O what can ail thee, knight-at-arms,
So haggard and so woe-begone?
The squirrel’s granary is full,
And the harvest’s done.
I see a lily on thy brow,
With anguish moist and fever-dew,
And on thy cheeks a fading rose
Fast withereth too.
I met a lady in the meads,
Full beautiful—a faery’s child,
Her hair was long, her foot was light,
And her eyes were wild.
I made a garland for her head,
And bracelets too, and fragrant zone;
She looked at me as she did love,
And made sweet moan
I set her on my pacing steed,
And nothing else saw all day long,
For sidelong would she bend, and sing
A faery’s song.
She found me roots of relish sweet,
And honey wild, and manna-dew,
And sure in language strange she said—
‘I love thee true’.
She took me to her Elfin grot,
And there she wept and sighed full sore,
And there I shut her wild wild eyes
With kisses four.
And there she lullèd me asleep,
And there I dreamed—Ah! woe betide!—
The latest dream I ever dreamt
On the cold hill side.
I saw pale kings and princes too,
Pale warriors, death-pale were they all;
They cried—‘La Belle Dame sans Merci
Hath thee in thrall!’
I saw their starved lips in the gloam,
With horrid warning gapèd wide,
And I awoke and found me here,
On the cold hill’s side.
And this is why I sojourn here,
Alone and palely loitering,
Though the sedge is withered from the lake,
And no birds sing.
同樣都是被女性所迷惑.都是夢一場.悽慘的結尾.The beautiful lady without mercy.致命的吸引力.
還有Carly Simon用低沉的嗓音淡淡訴說婚姻的平凡與疲累:
"That's The Way I've Always Heard It Should Be"
My father sits at night with no lights on
His cigarette glows in the dark.
The living room is still;
I walk by, no remark.
I tiptoe past the master bedroom where
My mother reads her magazines.
I hear her call sweet dreams,
But I forgot how to dream.
But you say it's time we moved in together
And raised a family of our own, you and me -
Well, that's the way I've always heard it should be:
You want to marry me, we'll marry.
My friends from college they're all married now;
They have their houses and their lawns.
They have their silent noons,
Tearful nights, angry dawns.
Their children hate them for the things they're not;
They hate themselves for what they are-
And yet they drink, they laugh,
Close the wound, hide the scar.
But you say it's time we moved in together
And raised a family of our own, you and me -
Well, that's the way I've always heard it should be:
You want to marry me, we'll marry.
You say we can keep our love alive
Babe - all I know is what I see -
The couples cling and claw
And drown in love's debris.
You say we'll soar like two birds through the clouds,
But soon you'll cage me on your shelf -
I'll never learn to be just me first
By myself.
Well O.K., it's time we moved in together
And raised a family of our own, you and me -
Well, that's the way I've always heard it should be,
You want to marry me, we'll marry,
We'll marry.
以及俏皮動聽的You're So Vain.
同樣是寫前男友.這首歌比Joan Baez的"Diamond and Rust"怨懟多了.歌裡的花花公子,屬於所謂的人生勝利組.
雙十年華的我,從枯燥的理論與文學史裡得不到感動.倒是這樣把歌曲與文學結合的方式,讓人體會到生命的深厚與層次.而這豈不就是文學與藝術的入門?
