新舊交接

如果沒有生日，現在的我一定更自我、更惹人嫌，生日給了我一個自省的時機，靜下心來誠實面對過往的自己，不強辯、不閃避，因為只有自己要交待。

如果沒有新年，我們家早就成了豬圈(雖然現在也相去不遠)，到了新年，總會不自覺的這裡清清、那裡理理，陳年圾垃就隨那少女的祈禱去吧。

有人的過年行程是：跨年晚會-->新年趴踢-->趕赴景點觀日出-->看升旗唱國歌，我想，他們一定是平時就勤於自省、每天打掃家裡，完美到不行的聖人。

<--光害、空污、噪音，外加擠死人的交通，我的新年新希望是：少點跨年晚會、少點煙火！！

顧客

中午到一家連鎖速食店去買午餐，等餐時一旁有兩個年輕男女向服務生抱怨個不停。仔細一聽，原來服務生送餐時先往樓上去，繞了幾圈沒看到人，再下樓瞧見他們的號碼牌才送到。

說起來沒什麼，但這兩個「顧客」嫌時間太久，食物冷掉，遂叨叨唸個不停(大部分是男生唸，女生附和)，還牽扯到速食店的服務程序不對之類的，好像你家那塊破布一樣，淊淊不絕一瀉千里，一直到我領了餐走出店門，都還在嘮叨中，可憐小工讀生俯首貼耳，站在一邊洗耳恭聽。

年紀輕輕就那麼嘮叨，為了區區一個漢堡能唸上十幾分鐘，好個厭物！

這事如果發生在父母親那輩人身上，根本沒什麼問題可言。但現在這樣的人好像多了起來，事關自己的利益是半點不吃虧、龜毛到極致，連食物冷掉都可以拿來大作文章一番，可以想見如果必須犠牲別人來成全自己，這些人也絕對不會猶豫。近來最佳範例就是那個擋路中指男，不讓就是不讓，管他什麼救護車上面載個老太太，你敢叭我就賞你個中指。

奇怪的是，這些錙銖必較的人，對於治政通常就冷漠到極點，什麼政策會影響到自己的生計生活、掏空自己口袋，完全沒在關心。因此原本應當是社會穩定力量的中間選民，到了台灣完完全全變成自私弱智的一群。

Chris de Burgh

最近(很長很長的最近)，OGS老是喜歡在開車時聽Chris de Burgh，而且把音響開到讓人以為他已經開始耳背的程度。

其實我對Chris de Burgh沒什麼特別的喜好，在他所有的曲子裡我只喜歡「The Lady in Red」和另一首詼諧小品「Patricia the Stripper」(講述一位鮮嫩可口脫衣舞孃的故事)，其餘那些史詩企圖的大曲子我嫌它們太過虛矯濫情，有點華而不實。

也許這是我的偏見，對一個在阿根廷出生，住過馬爾他、奈及利亞、剛果的農莊，最後定居在愛爾蘭某個城堡的英國人來說，寫唱這樣的歌，也只是剛好而已。



Lyrics

Dennis is a menace
With his "Anyone for tennis?"
And he'd beseech me to come keep the score
And Maude said, "Oh Lord, I'm so terribly bored"
I really can't stand it anymore...

I'm going...out to dinner
With a gorgeous singer
To a little place I found
Down by the key

Her name is Patricia
She calls herself delicia
And the reason isn't
Very hard to see

She said, God made her a sinner
Just to keep fat men thinner
As they tumble down in heaps
Before her feet

They hang around in groups
Like battle weary troops
One can often see them
Queue right down the street

You see, Patricia Or Delicia
Not only is a singer
She also removes all her clothing

For Patricia
Is the best stripper in town...

And with a swing of her hips
She started to strip
To tremendous applause
She took off her drawers

And with a lick of her lips
She undid all her clips
And threw it all in the air
And everybody stared

And as the last piece of clothing
Fell to the floor
The police were banging on the door
On a Saturday night
In 1924

Take it away boys...

Well, Patricia was arrested
And everyone detested
The terrible manner in which
she was exposed

Later on in court
where everyone thought
A summer's run in jail
would be proposed..

But the judge said Patricia
Or may I say Delicia
The facts of this case lie before me
(knock, knock, knock)
Case dismissed...
This girl was in her working clothes...

And with a swing of her hips
She started to strip
To tremendous applause
She took off her drawers

And with a lick of her lips
She undid all her clips
Threw it all in the air
And everybody stared

And as the last piece of clothing
Fell to the floor
The police were yelling out for more (more)
On a Saturday night
In 1924

Rocket Man

近來翻出許多舊時的歌曲，再來一首。

Elton John，這位出道快50年的歌手，除了華麗浮誇的羽毛、眼鏡、高跟鞋之外，其實是一位作品相當有深度的音樂人，他的鋼琴造詣沒話說，歌曲中讓人耳目一新的鋼琴演出，是他的招牌。

Elton John的名曲一卡車，年輕朋友最有印象的，大概就是以「黛安娜好友」身份演出的Candle in the Wind；年紀稍長的，還記得Nikita、Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me。我最愛的是這首Rocket Man：



Lyrics

She packed my bags last night pre-flight
Zero hour nine a.m.
And I’m gonna be high as a kite by then
I miss the earth so much I miss my wife
It’s lonely out in space
On such a timeless flight

And I think it’s gonna be a long long time
Till touch down brings me round again to find
I’m not the man they think I am at home
Oh no no no I’m a rocket man
Rocket man burning out his fuse up here alone

Mars ain’t the kind of place to raise your kids
In fact it’s cold as hell
And there’s no one there to raise them if you did
And all this science I don’t understand
It’s just my job five days a week
A rocket man, a rocket man

And I think it’s gonna be a long long time...

在孤冷黑暗的外太空注視水藍色發光的地球，是只有極少數人才有的機會，但歌曲裡的火箭人卻像是個平凡、朝九晚五的戀家男人，在幾十萬哩遠的距離之外，想念自己的家小。如此凜冽卻又溫暖的情境，非常真切的表現在音樂裡。

這首歌歌詞靈感來自於同名小說，內容敘述前往火星殖民地執行任務的太空人，在離家前的複雜心情；而整首歌曲創作的動機，則是向David Bowie於1969年發表的Space Oddity 看齊(或致敬？較量？)



Lyrics

Ground control to major Tom
Ground control to major Tom
Take your protein pills and put your helmet on
(Ten) Ground control (Nine) to major Tom (Eight)
(Seven, six) Commencing countdown (Five), engines on (Four)
(Three, two) Check ignition (One) and may gods (Blastoff) love be with you

This is ground control to major Tom, you've really made the grade
And the papers want to know whose shirts you wear
Now it's time to leave the capsule if you dare

This is major Tom to ground control, I'm stepping through the door
And I'm floating in a most peculiar way
And the stars look very different today
Here am I floatin' 'round my tin can far above the world
Planet Earth is blue and there's nothing I can do

Though I'm past one hundred thousand miles, I'm feeling very still
And I think my spaceship knows which way to go
Tell my wife I love her very much, she knows
Ground control to major Tom, your circuits dead, there's something wrong
Can you hear me, major Tom?
Can you hear me, major Tom?
Can you hear me, major Tom?
Can you...
Here am I sitting in my tin can far above the Moon
Planet Earth is blue and there's nothing I can do