Jimmie Rodgers 的 "Waiting For A Train" 是我時不時要聆聽的曲子。曲子對我的意義深長,這是在1928年所錄製的。其實很難準確歸納Jimmie Rodgers音樂的類型，因為他的曲子都集合了鄉村，民謠，yodelling, 傳統藍調還有爵士的元素。他是第一位把鄉村和藍調混合演奏的歌手，在他之前沒有歌手作出這樣的嘗試。這其實和他的生活背景有關係。他生於密西西比，在鐵路旁邊長大。年輕的時候，他找了一分工作專門給在鐵路工作的黑人送水。通過和黑人多次的交流，他學會了黑人利用音樂表達情緒的方式，隨後他也把這種方式運用在自己的音樂裡面。 至於yodeling, 其實很難用中文翻譯。這是一種獨特山歌歌唱的方式，用真假嗓音陡然互換的歌唱。在所有Jimmie Rodgers的作品裡面都有他的yodelling，這可是他的個人標誌。但是能把民謠山歌和藍調成功結合的人，卻是很少的。著名的鄉村歌手 Hank Williams 其實從Jimmie Rodgers的身上學了不少。
除此以外，Rodgers也會在他音樂裡面引入其他非鄉村民謠的樂器，例如夏威夷的鋼棒吉他，爵士的單簧管和小號等等。這首歌最吸引我的地方，除了Rodgers的歌唱以外就是那單簧管的獨奏，由Jame Rikard演奏。獨奏給人帶來一種溫暖的沈澱感。從單簧管的獨奏到其與短號的互相吹捧，就能看得出Rodgers對傳統爵士的鍾愛。
我對這種混雜的傳統爵士藍調聲音情有獨鍾，這不一定要和鄉村音樂混合，其實也有和牙買加卡裡普索音樂和夏威夷音樂結合過的例子呢。
牛津今天下雨，我看著你送給我的Jimmie Rodgers名信片，回想起你的音樂在2011年喚醒我的靈魂。
八月五號，我們不是說好要回家的嘛？
Jimmie Rodgers' "Waiting For A Train" is a song that I have to listen to every now and then. This song also means something special to me. It is quite hard to categorize Jimmie Rodgers' music genre, as his music includes elements from country, ballads, yodelling, traditional blues and jazz. His is the first musician to mix yodelling, country and blues, noone tried this style before him. Actually, this has a lot to do with his background.
Born in Mississippi, Rodgers grew up by the railroad. He took a job of delivering water to the African American raildroad workers, and there he learnt a great deal from them. He learnt about blues, and the ways black people express their emotions through music. Later, he applied what he learnt to his own. Almost all Rodgers' music feature his yodelling. It is like his musical signiture. Though, not many can successfully mix the yodel and the blues. Hank Williams was certainly heavilly influenced by Rodgers in many ways.
I particularly adore the sound of hybrid traditional jazz and blues. It does not have to be a mixture with country music, in fact, there are also examples with Jamaican calypso and Hawaiian music.
It's rainy in Oxford today, I look at the Jimmie Rodgers postcard you gave me, and think about how you woke my soul through music in 2011.
The 5th of August, shouldn't you be with me here at home?
歌词/lyrics:
All around the water tank, waiting for a train
A thousand miles away from home, sleeping in the rain
I walked up to a brakeman just to give him a line of talk
He said "If you got money, boy, I'll see that you don't walk
I haven't got a nickel, not a penny can I show
"Get off, get off, you railroad bum" and slammed the boxcar door
He put me off in Texas, a state I dearly love
The wide open spaces all around me, the moon and the stars up above
Nobody seems to want me, or lend me a helping hand
I'm on my way from Frisco, going back to Dixieland
My pocket book is empty and my heart is full of pain
I'm a thousand miles away from home just waiting for a train