2007-09-13 20:55:21Yvette

"If you please, Reb Tevye....Pardon me, Reb Tevye..."

這首歌很熟吧!
Yvette 一直提的《屋頂上的提琴手》


If I Were a Rich Man

[TEVYE]
”Dear God, you made many, many poor people.
I realize, of course, that it’s no shame to be poor.
But it’s no great honor either!
So, what would have been so terrible if I had a small fortune?”

If I were a rich man,
Ya ha deedle deedle, bubba bubba deedle deedle dum.
All day long I’d biddy biddy bum.
If I were a wealthy man.
I wouldn’t have to work hard.
Ya ha deedle deedle, bubba bubba deedle deedle dum.
If I were a biddy biddy rich,
Yidle-diddle-didle-didle man.

I’d build a big tall house with rooms by the dozen,
Right in the middle of the town.
A fine tin roof with real wooden floors below.
There would be one long staircase just going up,
And one even longer coming down,
And one more leading nowhere, just for show.

I’d fill my yard with chicks and turkeys and geese and ducks
For the town to see and hear.
Squawking just as noisily as they can.
And each loud ”cheep” and ”swaqwk” and ”honk” and ”quack”
Would land like a trumpet on the ear,
As if to say ”Here lives a wealthy man.”

If I were a rich man,
Ya ha deedle deedle, bubba bubba deedle deedle dum.
All day long I’d biddy biddy bum.
If I were a wealthy man.
I wouldn’t have to work hard.
Ya ha deedle deedle, bubba bubba deedle deedle dum.
If I were a biddy biddy rich,
Yidle-diddle-didle-didle man.

I see my wife, my Golde, looking like a rich man’s wife
With a proper double-chin.
Supervising meals to her heart’s delight.
I see her putting on airs and strutting like a peacock.
Oy, what a happy mood she’s in.
Screaming at the servants, day and night.

The most important men in town would come to fawn on me!
They would ask me to advise them,
Like a Solomon the Wise.
”If you please, Reb Tevye...”
”Pardon me, Reb Tevye...”
Posing problems that would cross a rabbi’s eyes!
And it won’t make one bit of difference if I answer right or wrong.
When you’re rich, they think you really know!

If I were rich, I’d have the time that I lack
To sit in the synagogue and pray.
And maybe have a seat by the Eastern wall.
And I’d discuss the holy books with the learned men, several hours every day.
That would be the sweetest thing of all.

If I were a rich man,
Ya ha deedle deedle, bubba bubba deedle deedle dum.
All day long I’d biddy biddy bum.
If I were a wealthy man.
I wouldn’t have to work hard.
Ya ha deedle deedle, bubba bubba deedle deedle dum.

Lord who mad ethe lion and the lamb,
You decreed I should be what I am.
Would it spoil some vast eternal plan?
If I were a wealthy man.
每次聽這首歌都哭得亂七八糟,開車的時候聽也一樣。想想周圍那麼多年幼失學的長輩,有多少「民智」浪費在養家、糊口裡?

哭,倒不是「悲」的表現,而是 Catharthis. 反過來想,有那麼多的人儘管少年失學,也要想辦法想像自己留在教堂裡和 rabbi 討論聖經。 Wow!

(YouTube 有29個版本,其中還有 Placido Domingo 版!


這首聽了也會起雞皮疙瘩!
裡頭有所有父母的期望。


好棒的舞蹈!
好美的聲音!
(雖然從猶太教徒的觀點來看,和平不是這麼回事。)

順著YouTube右方的小格子看下去,電影也不用買了!
”Sunrise, Sunset” 及其他!