John Denver-Take Me Home, Country Roads

  有一首在Pop流行、Rock搖滾、Pop-Punk流行龐克、Country鄉村、Reggae雷鬼、Soundtrack電影插曲、EDM電子舞曲、Cow-Punk牛仔龐克 及 R&B節奏藍調這些流行歌曲的流派都有人翻唱過。

   John Denver的“Take Me Home, Country Roads*就是這樣的一首歌。

  首先要說明的是 : Denver的歌有他的吸引力，“Take Me Home, Country Roads“就是其一，這首歌是越戰時期寫的，John Denver當年是反戰的，這首歌抓住了70年代早期美國的時代思潮，現在還有誰抓得到這個重點 ?

  全世界的大多數來自鄉村的青少年(女)，誰不懷念回鄉，誰不敬畏大自然的偉大?

   翻唱“Take Me Home, Country Roads“的歌者始自R&B巨星Ray Charles，而Olivia Newton John在主演電影《Grease》「火爆浪子」之前也翻唱過此曲，著名的流行歌曲管弦樂團，不少的鄉村歌曲藝人，還有日本藝團都翻唱過“Take Me Home, Country Roads“，藍調靈魂歌手Ted Hawkins ，歐洲舞曲樂團、牛仔龐克合唱團Jason & the Scorchers、 蘇格蘭鄉村歌曲樂隊，重金屬搖滾樂...都在其列，雖然不見得都很偉大，但有一個來自牙買加的特例。  

  Toots and Maytals 以雷鬼調翻唱了“Take Me Home, Country Roads“，像是鄉村男孩來到了牙買加，他唱過各種不同的歌唱類型，這種唱腔也是其一。

  Ted Hawkins則了解如何切入一首歌變成他的作品，他唱各種不同的歌唱類型，他的歌喉加上他的臨場模仿力，讓他組成pity & sadness，他也完成了“Take Me Home, Country Roads“這首有感染力很棒的翻唱歌。

  重點是不管甚麼類型的唱法，“Take Me Home, Country Roads“就是有各種不同的唱法，唱得好的有感染力，唱得爛的就當笑話吧。

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vrEljMfXYo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZ8AIBRAQwc

 

Take Me Home, Country Roads

Lyrics：Bill Danoff / John Denver / Taffy Nivert Danoff

 

Almost heaven, West Virginia
Blue Ridge Mountains, Shenandoah River
Life is old there, older than the trees
Younger than the mountains, growin' like a breeze

Country roads, take me home
To the place I belong
West Virginia, mountain mama
Take me home, country roads

All my memories gather 'round her
Miner's lady, stranger to blue water
Dark and dusty, painted on the sky
Misty taste of moonshine, teardrop in my eye

Country roads, take me home
To the place I belong
West Virginia, mountain mama
Take me home, country roads

I hear her voice in the mornin' hour, she calls me
The radio reminds me of my home far away
Drivin' down the road, I get a feelin'
That I should've been home yesterday, yesterday

Country roads, take me home
To the place I belong
West Virginia, mountain mama
Take me home, country roads

Country roads, take me home
To the place I belong
West Virginia, mountain mama
Take me home, country roads

Take me home, (down) country roads
Take me home, (down) country roads

 

 

Al Stewart-Year of the Cat

  《Year of the Cat》是Al Stewart1976年發行的第七張專輯，製作和錄音工程由Alan Parsons協助，這張專輯因暢銷曲曲"Year of the Cat"而受到歌迷們的喜愛，詞曲分別由Al  Stewart / John Wood完成，樂評人認為此曲為mysterious woman' songs「神祕女子之歌」，《Year of the Cat》專輯在美國曾進入排行榜前5名，專輯其它幾首單曲"On the Border"及Stewart 寫的"Lord Grenville"是講伊莉莎白時代與探險家Sir Richard Grenville (1542–1591)的故事。

  Stewart寫所有的歌及配樂並完成錄音，當時的那些歌甚而只有歌名而已，在一次加拿大的電台訪問時，他表示:在前六張專輯都是如此，他常寫四種不同的版本給一首歌。專輯標題原來是他1966年的作品"Foot of the Stage" ，此曲對Tony Hancock有先見之明，此一英國著名的諧星二年後自殺身亡。Stewart發現Hancock在美國不是很有名，他回頭用"Year of the Cat"當標題歌。

  Al Stewart 1945年出生於蘇格蘭Glasgow，"Year of the Cat"在Billboard Hot 100單曲排行榜最高獲得過第8名，僅次於獲得第7名的Time Passages。

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqZc7ZQURMs

 

Year of the Cat

Lyrics：Alistair Ian Stewart / Peter John Wood

 

On a morning from a Bogart movie
In a country where they turn back time
You go strolling through the crowd like Peter Lorre
Contemplating a crime
She comes out of the sun in a silk dress running
Like a watercolor in the rain
Don't bother asking for explanations
She'll just tell you that she came
In the year of the cat

She doesn't give you time for questions
As she locks up your arm in hers
And you follow 'till your sense of which direction
Completely disappears
By the blue tiled walls near the market stalls
There's a hidden door she leads you to
These days, she says, I feel my life
Just like a river running through
The year of the cat

While she looks at you so cooly
And her eyes shine like the moon in the sea
She comes in incense and patchouli
So you take her, to find what's waiting inside
The year of the cat

Well morning comes and you're still with her
And the bus and the tourists are gone
And you've thrown away your choice you've lost your ticket
So you have to stay on
But the drum-beat strains of the night remain
In the rhythm of the newborn day
You know sometime you're bound to leave her
But for now you're going to stay
In the year of the cat

Year of the cat

 

The Beatles-A Day in the Life

  一張專輯的結尾歌曲通常意圖留給歌迷最後的印象，而有時候也會留下一個疑問，有一點像一部電影的結尾畫面，它歸總這一張專輯，也許留個問題的感覺給你。它也許提供藝人未來的意圖，有時候這首結尾歌曲可能與專輯其它部分步調不一致，以至於無法自然地出現在專輯的任何位置，我們熟悉的結尾歌曲有The Who《Who's Next》的“Won't Get Fooled Again”， The Beatles 《Revolver》的“Tomorrow Never Knows”， The Beatles《Sgt Pepper》的“A Day In The Life”等歌。

  The Beatles披頭合唱團的《 Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band 》是他們1967年6月24日推出的專輯，在Billboard專輯排行榜獲得15週冠軍，是滾石雜誌500大專輯榜的冠軍專輯，除了它是Concept Album「概念專輯」在搖滾樂界有開創性之外， "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band"、 "With a Little Help from My Friends"、    "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds"、        "She's Leaving Home"、 "When I'm Sixty-Four"、  "A Day in the Life"這些歌雖然沒有推出單曲，但都非常獲得歌迷們的喜好。

  "A Day in the Life"這一首結尾歌曲是Lennon 與McCartney最後一首合作的歌，為《Sgt Pepper》這張專輯構思了一個偉大的結局，至少有Paul McCartney設想的演唱會感，在滾石雜誌歷年500大歌曲排行榜獲得第28名，是搖滾樂歌迷們必聽的一首歌。

  John Lennon寫頭尾部分，Paul McCartney在歌曲中間“Woke up/Fell out of bed”之前，請來40位古典音樂樂師，他們都穿無尾晚禮服，戴了逗趣的帽子，Paul並交代他們有15個小節從樂器上的最低音升到最高音，聽了那些小號的錄音他倆嚇壞了，Paul McCartney說 : 最終雷鳴般的鋼琴和弦結束了《 Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band 》專輯，使搖滾樂有了無限的可能。

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=usNsCeOV4GM

 

A Day in the Life

作詞/作曲：John Lennon / Paul McCartney

 

I read the news today, oh boy
About a lucky man who made the grade
And though the news was rather sad
Well, I just had to laugh
I saw the photograph

He blew his mind out in a car
He didn't notice that the lights had changed
A crowd of people stood and stared
They'd seen his face before
Nobody was really sure if he was from the House of Lords

I saw a film today, oh boy
The English Army had just won the war
A crowd of people turned away
But I just had to look
Having read the book
I'd love to turn you on

Woke up, fell out of bed
Dragged a comb across my head
Found my way downstairs and drank a cup
And looking up, I noticed I was late
Found my coat and grabbed my hat
Made the bus in seconds flat
Found my way upstairs and had a smoke
And somebody spoke and I went into a dream

I read the news today, oh boy
Four thousand holes in Blackburn, Lancashire
And though the holes were rather small
They had to count them all
Now they know how many holes it takes to fill the Albert Hall
I'd love to turn you on

 

Santana-Smooth

    拉丁搖滾吉他手 Carlos Santana 7月6日晚間在密西根州舉行的露天演唱時於舞台上昏倒，隨後被抬上擔架送醫。

     Carlos Santana 1947年7月20日出生於墨西哥Autlan de Navarro，現年75歲，被譽為有史以來最偉大的吉他手之一，是Latin Rock「拉丁搖滾」的代表性藝人，早年他於洛杉磯組成Santana樂團，是歷年暢銷歌星與合唱團排行榜第108名的知名團體，共拿下10座葛萊美獎（Grammy Awards）及3座拉丁葛萊美獎（Latin Grammys）。

Carlos Santana在就醫後情況已經好轉。他在臉書上寫道，他忘記吃東西及喝水，以致他脫水及昏倒，感謝粉絲為他祈禱。

Santana以1968年獲得第4名的 "Black Magic Woman"一曲成名，在Billboard Hot 100 排行榜成績最好的歌是1999年連續獲得12週冠軍的"Smooth"。Carlos Santana是一位天才吉他手，他邀請的主唱總是能搭配他的音樂唱出絕佳的歌曲，"Smooth"的主唱是Rob Thomas。

好歌 !

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Whgn_iE5uc

 

Smooth

Itaal Shur / Robert Thomas

 

Man, it's a hot one
Like seven inches from the midday sun
Well, I hear you whisper and the words melt everyone
But you stay so cool
My muñequita, my Spanish Harlem Mona Lisa
You're my reason for reason
The step in my groove

And if you said this life ain't good enough
I would give my world to lift you up
I could change my life to better suit your mood
Because you're so smooth
And it's just like the ocean under the moon
Oh, it's the same as the emotion that I get from you
You got the kind of lovin' that can be so smooth, yeah
Give me your heart, make it real, or else forget about it

But I'll tell you one thing
If you would leave it'd be a crying shame
In every breath and every word
I hear your name calling me out
Out from the barrio
You hear my rhythm on your radio
You feel the turning of the world, so soft and slow
It's turning you round and round

And if you said this life ain't good enough
I would give my world to lift you up
I could change my life to better suit your mood
Because you're so smooth
Well, and it's just like the ocean under the moon
Well, it's the same as the emotion that I get from you
You got the kind of lovin' that can be so smooth, yeah
Give me your heart, make it real, or else forget about it

Well, and it's just like the ocean under the moon
Oh, it's the same as the emotion that I get from you
You got the kind of lovin' that can be so smooth, yeah
Give me your heart, make it real, or else forget about it

Or else forget about it
Or else forget about it
Oh, let's don't forget about it
Give me your heart, make it real
Let's don't forget about it (hey)
Let's don't forget about it (now, oh, now, oh)
Let's don't forget about it (now, now, now, oh)
Let's don't forget about it (hey, now, now, oh)
Let's don't forget about it (hey, hey, hey)