最近不知道爲什麼,腦子裡總想著兩首歌. 一首是陶吉吉的望春風, 一首是George Michael的這首"BROTHER, CAN YOU SPARE A DIME?" 我試著把歌詞翻譯在下面.可能翻譯得不大好.中文歌詞下則是英文歌詞. 還有一些關於這首歌的資料.
Lyrics as recorded by Bing Crosby, 1932, transcribed by Manfred Helfert.
他們總告訴我,
我在實現一個夢想.
所以我跟著人群扛槍,犁田.
我總是在那兒,盡著本分.
他們總告訴我
我在實現一個和平,榮耀的夢想
然而,爲何現在的我站在隊伍中
只爲了等待麵包?
我曾經築過鐵路.
我讓火車飛奔,
讓他跟時間賽跑.
我築過鐵路.
現在鐵路完工了
兄弟啊,可以分我一毛錢嗎?
我蓋過一個直指艷陽的高塔,
我堆磚,鉚接,塗上石灰.
我蓋過一個高塔.
現在高塔完工了.
兄弟啊,可以分我一毛錢嗎?
那時我們穿的卡其服,
嘿,那看起來真是一流.
我不知穿破了幾雙工作靴
我以前就是那個帶著鼓的小孩啊!
嘿,你不記得了嗎?
他們都叫我Al.
他們總是叫我Al.
爲什麼你不記得了?
我是你朋友啊.
那這樣,你能分我一毛錢嗎?
****************************************
BROTHER, CAN YOU SPARE A DIME?
They used to tell me
I was building a dream.
And so I followed the mob
When there was earth to plow
Or guns to bear
I was always there
Right on the job.
They used to tell me
I was building a dream
With peace and glory ahead.
Why should I be standing in line
Just waiting for bread?
Once I built a railroad
I made it run
Made it race against time.
Once I built a railroad
Now it's done
Brother, can you spare a dime?
Once I built a tower up to the sun
Brick and rivet and lime.
Once I built a tower,
Now it's done.
Brother, can you spare a dime?
Once in khaki suits
Gee we looked swell
Full of that yankee doodle dee dum.
Half a million boots went sloggin' through hell
And I was the kid with the drum!
Say don't you remember?
They called me Al.
It was Al all the time.
Why don't you remember?
I'm your pal.
Say buddy, can you spare a dime?
Once in khaki suits,
Ah, gee we looked swell
Full of that yankee doodle dee dum!
Half a million boots went sloggin' through hell
And I was the kid with the drum!
Oh, say don't you remember?
They called me Al.
It was Al all the time.
Say, don't you remember?
I'm your pal.
Buddy, can you spare a dime?
When Bing recorded this song in October, 1932, one out of every four Americans who wanted work could not find work. The banking system was near collapse. Record sales had plummeted because Americans did not have the money for such luxuries. No song captures the dark spirit of the Great Depression more than "Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?" The song was written for a Broadway musical, "New Americana." The show flopped and closed two days before Bing stepped into the recording studio. Both Bing and Rudy Vallee each recorded the song shortly before President Roosevelt's election. Both versions went to No. 1 in the charts. Bing's interpretation, with his ominous baritone, proved to be the one that would stand the test of time.
資料來源
http://www.kcmetro.cc.mo.us/pennvalley/biology/lewis/crosby/brother.html
In "Brother, Can You Spare a Dime," Harburg creates an Everyman narrator for his song, a person who has built railroads, skyscrapers,. and tilled the fields. This person has contributed to the vast bounty of the land (through his plow) and kept faith with the promise of the land by bearing guns for it in time of war. There is even a veiled allusion to the mytheme of manifest destiny when the narrator tries to understand how, after he has helped build a dream of "peace and glory ahead," he can now be standing in a breadline. And there is a somewhat ironic allusion to the patriot's mytheme in the lines where he describes the half-million "boots" that went slogging through hell "Full of that Yankee Doodle-de-dum." This last line would remind listeners of the old Revolutionary War song, and also of George M. Cohan's "Yankee Doodle Dandy" and his "Over There." The allusion is veiled enough that Harburg wouldn't necessarily bring down the wrath of the man who once "owned Broadway" but the line serves as a mild indictment of the patriotism that swept us into war but seems not to be reciprocal. Harburg has said of his narrator that he isn't bitter, "He's bewildered. Here is a man who had built his faith and hope in this country. . . . Then came the crash. Now he can't accept the fact that the bubble has burst. He still believes. He still has faith. He just doesn't understand what could have happened to make everything go so wrong" (quoted in 1971, Green 69).
資料來源
http://www.fortunecity.com/tinpan/parton/2/brother.html
