一個多禮拜, 上下班commute的路上一再重覆地聽著這首歌: A面最後一首。這卷錄音帶是Birdy錄給我的, 裡面有不同的男聲有不同的女聲有broadway show musical有日劇主題曲, 沒有歌詞也沒有曲目, 我很難說明白到底是哪一首, 只能老追著Birdy問, A面最後一首, 到底是誰唱的, 有沒有歌詞有沒有歌詞。 很多年過去了, 沒有回音。
曾想過帶著隨身聽拿去給我的美國同事聽, 請他們幫我寫歌詞, 怎麼想都很丟臉, 始終猶豫中。被我載過的人都被要求過幫我聽歌詞, 卻從來沒有人真的認真過。 於是又是很多年過去了。
第一次聽時就愛上了這首歌, 好想好想知道它到底在講什麼故事。只因為聽錯一個字, 整盤棋便一步錯步步錯: 我把India聽成Indian。到現在我還不清楚, 這個字後面跟著的, 到底是語助詞的音, 還是到今天我仍聽到的"whole life"。
只聽到"Boston" "fly" 之類key word的我, 開始自己編故事。一個男孩跟一個女孩, (有, 我有聽到she's frail but she's handsome, 不明白為什麼只提女孩不提男孩) 男孩選擇到都市營生, 要飛來飛去做生意, 女孩想從此餘生去過印第安人生活, 希望男孩跟她走。為什麼是女孩要去當印第安人? 為什麼要當一輩子的印第安人? 賺了很多錢的男孩究竟跟了她去了沒有? (是的, 我還是覺得我聽到的是"I make a lot of money" ...)
幾年來始終沒有明白過。
反反覆覆地聽這首歌聽了一個多禮拜, 聽懂的字越來越多, 卻還是拼不全一個故事。禮拜五, 下著雨的下班尖峰, 把音量開得很大, 歌聲迴蕩在小小的密閉空間中, 黑暗的雨打車窗中我被在highway上等待的年輕女孩包圍, 被十二月的皚皚白雪包圍, 被回憶的女孩包圍, 被springtime paradise包圍, 被berry包圍被vine包圍, 卻仍舊不知道what's left behind。我衝進門打開電腦接上網路, 記得住的歌詞一句句去google, 終於找到。
沒有男孩沒有鹿皮(好吧, 你應該看到我是把哪個字聽成deer了), 波士頓也不重要... 多年來的懸案終於撥雲見日, 真的好開心。把歌詞記下來, 繼續聽, 直到字字句句都聽懂了。錄給我的錄音帶裡歌沒唱完就到底了, 我始終不確定最後六句是不是真的歌詞。
Wild Berries
© 1983 Sally Fingerett
A young girl on the highway stranded in the snow
December south of Cleveland, Ohio.
I'm stopping out of pity for a stranger I don't know
Just a young girl on the highway, like me so long ago.
I check my rearview mirror and I'm taken by surprise
By silver studded strands of hair in the bangs around my eyes,
Oh, my eyes.
She's frail but she is handsome just 19 or so.
Dropping out of Antioch and drifting like the snow
On her way to Boston to make dinner for some friends
"Guess to where I'm off to next" she said "India. . .
. . like the wind I'm off and running, I'm alone there is no race"
I saw a silver studded diamond pin and a smile upon her face,
Oh, her face . . it said:
CHORUS
Come with me, go with me
We will be free birds again
You'll see, just like me,
We will be free birds and when
You fly there's no time only
Your wings and your free.
She speaks of her adventures, Alaska and the ice
Wildberries on a doorstep in springtime paradise.
I'm off to the city to window shop downtown
I make a little money like a slave it ties you down, but this
Spirit right beside me she's off to see the world
And my silver studded memory longs to be just like this girl,
Just like this girl. . . she says:
CHORUS
Come with me, go with me
My free bird generation's come and gone, what's left behind
But a young girl on the highway, the last berry on the vine
Our lost forgotten causes lie deep within her eyes,
Where berries grow on doorsteps there in paradise,
And I look into her garden,I see myself upon that vine
I see silver studded dew that falls on berries lost in time
Lost in time:
CHORUS
Come with me, go with me.
We lolly and linger like our lipstick on Linen,
losing and winning as we come and as we go.
I'm having lunch with the ladies,
The kind who are proud to be crazy
They swear that they'll never have babies,
so there'll be plenty of time for lunch.
網路上試聽(第十一首)
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