The Blower's Daughter

                
                
大米Damien Rice，一直都了解不多。只知道是爱尔兰人，声音柔和。没有买过他的专辑，但以前他的碟却很常见。一般是简单朴素，纸质包装的O那一张，基调是米白色，封面上画着稀奇古怪的小人。问老板这是个什么人，答说唱民谣的，电视台也放过他的歌。插进CD机，发现不是我喜欢的调调，就又放了回去。
后来又很多次的听了他的歌，越来越听出了味道。但是也从未买过，或者下载过他的专辑。这样其实也很好，就像偶遇，不必有太多深厚的了解，只记得那些值得挂念的事情就够。走太近了，怕心里生出疲惫来，辜负了相遇的好光景。
就这样让他的歌躲在豆瓣电台的某个角落，或者是网络上某个人的博客里就挺好。如果偶然蹦出来了，就像是再次相遇，心里也好有一些惊喜。早些年不喜欢他温柔的风格，那时候心里住着太多喧嚣，听音乐则必然要是躁动的声音，对于柔和的旋律确是不屑一顾。但现在不一样，因为知道了狂欢后的沉静也是珍贵，所以听歌也不再局限，变得更喜欢那些能让人略微回味一下的歌曲。
大米的嗓音不算最好听，甚至说不上特别，编曲也不华丽，大部分是挺简单的吉他弹唱，间或有些钢琴。不过歌声里透着一股坦诚，居然听过后就不容易忘记。有两首歌记得很深，一首叫volcano，火山。一首叫The blower's daughter,不好翻译。都是情歌。符合我的观念，好情歌不会把爱字翻来覆去的说，只需要书写一些合适的意象，懂的人自然就懂了。
说说The blower's daughter。这是我记住的第一首大米的歌，因为他翻来覆去的唱那句can't take my eyes off you，听来很动情，旋律也很好。一度以为这就是歌名，结果发现那应该是Frankie Valli完全不同的一首歌，而有同样误会的人也绝对不少，所以在youtube上搜can't take my eyes off you，也能找到The blower's daughter。
MV是沉静的海岸，damien默默的望着女人的背影。中间插入的是《偷心》的画面，原来还是这电影的插曲。开始时只是低吟，好像只是一个失意的男人在喃喃自语那些关于得不到的爱情的事情，直到再不能压抑自己的情感，变得激动起来，却又明白世事难以强求，便声声压抑，复又回归低声的自语。这首歌，就是在数次这样的情绪起伏中开始结束。
其实就是不被接受。很多时候，当你怀揣了最真实的情感，你以为你能打动一个人，可是得来的也只不过是冷眼。大部分人一生中，都有这样的时刻。你能怎么办呢，你只能凝望啊，你看他笑，你看着她懊恼，你看着他和她过着与你无关的生活，越走越远。可仍旧只能坐在原地，只能自说自话，自己唱自己的歌给自己听，某种程度上期待着直到某天，可能的某人将你拉出这一切。一首关于愤怒和迷惑的歌。
damien似乎从未仔细讲述过这首歌背后的故事，所以即使是国外的歌迷也总是在揣测是什么样的经历让他写出了这样一曲。流传较广的是黑管老师女儿的版本，但是被他本人否定了。另一个版本是关于一个欺骗了他的电话女孩，我以为更加可信，因为的确切合歌词里的情感：
The Blower in question wasn't a clarinet teacher, but the cockney rhyming slang for the telephone (Stick with me, I know it sounds ambiguous!). Before he was in Juniper Damien worked at a call centre selling mortgages and loans, and spent all day on the telephone. He grew sick of speaking to people for 8 hours a day without seeing anyone's face, and he began to fantasize about the people behind the many voices he heard. One summer day he phoned a house and a girl with a melodic soft, sweet voice answered the phone. He was calling for her father, but he wasn't in. Protocol said he should have ended the call and phoned back another time, but he was mesmerized and enchanted by her voice and ended up chatting to her for over an hour. Damien began a secret relationship of sorts with the girl, always calling when he knew her father wouldn't be home just so they could talk, despite knowing that it could get him sacked. He dreamed of her at night, daydreamed about her all day long.
This continued for over a month, but one day he called and there was no answer. For the next week he called again numerous times a day, but still nobody picked up the phone. Confused by this abrupt end to the relationship, Damien became angry and obsessive (you were right about the obsessive bit) and found out the address of the girl. He took a day off work and got the bus out to the address.Hidden in a hedge he watched the front door fervently for any signs of life, but he didn't expect what he finally saw. The voice was unmistakably the same, and as she shouted 'bye mum', closing the front door behind her Damien was amazed to see that this dreamgirl of his was wearing a school uniform. He couldn't believe his eyes and could not stop staring at her in shock. All the pieces of the puzzle finally fell into place - she was at home during the school holidays, led him on and played games, then when school started back she just stopped. Damien was angry but obviously couldn't tell anybody about it for fear of being branded a perv. He left the company and formed Juniper shortly after.
damien现场演绎的这个版本里，把The blower's daughter和radiohead的名作creep连在一起唱了。倒是很贴切，你以为是深情的守望，他人看来或许不过是痴傻。说到底，我还是没办法给歌名一个合理的翻译；直译缺失了歌的内涵，意译又不好琢磨。我看见有些人把The blower's daughter这个短语译为“学会说谎”。大概有几分这个意思。你也可以理解为，可能总有这么个人，欺骗了你，或者说，让你不断的欺骗着你自己。
挺耐人寻味的地方是，不知是否damien有意为之，在原曲快结尾时，那女声的和声，当她唱到Did I say that I loathe you时，听来分明就是Did I say that I love you。原来爱和恨，听来是这么的相似；相似的音节，由你所渴慕的人口中说出，却注定只能带你去往两个互相不可企及的世界。
 
"The Blower's Daughter"
And so it is
Just like you said it would be
Life goes easy on me
Most of the time
And so it is
The shorter story
No love, no glory
No hero in her sky
I can't take my eyes off of you
I can't take my eyes off you
I can't take my eyes off of you
I can't take my eyes off you
I can't take my eyes off you
I can't take my eyes...
And so it is
Just like you said it should be
We'll both forget the breeze
Most of the time
And so it is
The colder water
The blower's daughter
The pupil in denial
I can't take my eyes off of you
I can't take my eyes off you
I can't take my eyes off of you
I can't take my eyes off you
I can't take my eyes off you
I can't take my eyes...
Did I say that I loathe you?
Did I say that I want to
Leave it all behind?
I can't take my mind off of you
I can't take my mind off you
I can't take my mind off of you
I can't take my mind off you
I can't take my mind off you
I can't take my mind...
My mind...my mind...
'Til I find somebody new