中古年代 聊聊老歌、老人和老故事，留下一些個人歷史的痕跡。 (若有侵權或陳述不實敬請告知，將會刪除或予修正。)

213愛的鼓勵 220訂閱站台

此首《Games People Play》為美國歌手兼詞曲作家Joe South自寫自唱，於1968年底所推出的歌曲。雖僅獲得告示牌排行榜第12名，卻在1970年為他奪得了「當代最佳歌曲」及「年度最佳歌曲」的兩座葛萊美獎項。

這是一首批判及省思的歌曲，在歌詞中對於社會人際間的虛偽、無情及偏執都顯現出其憎惡。從正面來看，當然是希望不要跟隨著這股惡習潮流，而保有原有的良知和純真。Joe South的這些想法，是和溝通分析 ( transactional analysis ) 大師Eric Berne的論述有關，故歌名就直接引用了Eric Berne在1964年出版的書名《Games People Play / 遊戲人間 》。歌曲的旋律則是改編自Balfa Brothers樂團所演奏傳統的Cajun ( 註 ) 樂曲《Tit Galop Pour Mamou》。

在歌曲開始時極有特色的吉他聲，是使用Danelectro廠牌的電西塔琴 ( electric Sitar )，此樂器也曾被使用在Aretha Farklin知名的熱門曲《Chain of Fools》的前奏。



此曲翻唱者甚多，包含有Tom Jones、Dolly Parton等知名歌手。但在此曲之後，Joe South即未再有熱門暢銷曲，倒是在1971年替Lynn Anderson所寫的《Rose Garden》，獲得了極為成功的銷售佳績，Lynn Anderson也因《Rose Garden》奪得了一座葛萊美獎。

註：Cajun---美國阿拉巴馬州西南部和密西西比州毗鄰地區白人、印第安人、黑人混血種族之一。



許久沒看排舞了，歌曲為Nathan Carter的版本。

Oh the games people play now
Every night and every day now
Never meaning what they say now
Never saying what they mean
And they wile away the hours
In their ivory towers
Till they're covered up with flowers
In the back of a black limousine
[Chorus:]
La-da da da da da da da
La-da da da da da de
Talking 'bout you and me
And the games people play
Oh we make one another cry
Break a heart then we say goodbye
Cross our hearts and we hope to die
That the other was to blame
Neither one will give in
So we gaze at our eight by ten
Thinking 'bout the things that might have been
It's a dirty rotten shame
[Chorus]
People walking up to you
Singing glory hallelulia
And they're tryin to sock it to you
In the name of the Lord
They're gonna teach you how to meditate
Read your horoscope, cheat your faith
And further more to hell with hate
Come on and get on board
[Chorus]
Look around tell me what you see
What's happening to you and me
God grant me the serenity
To remember who I am
Cause you've given up your sanity
For your pride and your vanity
Turns you sad on humanity
And you don't give a da da da da da