2016-03-06 17:29:55流浪阿狗
老歌亂談(552)Good Time Charlie's Got The Blues
Danny O'Keefe是美國歌手兼作曲家,早期在明尼蘇達州的咖啡館駐唱,後參加過重迷幻搖滾樂隊 ( heavy psychedelic rock band )及出過一張專輯。目前仍進出錄音室及從事舞台表演。
此首《Good Time Charlie's Got The Blues》為Danny O'Keefe所寫,於1967由自己錄唱,唯未發行。1968,The Bards樂團將此曲作為另首單曲的B面發行。
Charlie是一個虛構的人物,有點巧的是,Danny O'Keefe後來的經理就是叫做Charlie Greene,這位經理Charlie 老兄也是Atlantic唱片公司的老闆Ahmet Ertegun的星探耳目。Ahmet Ertegun在聽了Danny O'Keefe以鋼弦吉他彈唱此曲之後,即與之簽約,並且製作包含了此曲在內的首張專輯 ( 1970 ),這也是這首歌最初的版本。
1972,Danny O'Keefe將這首歌在編曲上作了些改變,錄唱了新的版本,並以單曲發行。這一次,成為了大熱門曲,在告示牌熱門榜獲得了第9名的佳績。
歌曲內容說的是一位男子,眼看著朋友陸續離開沒什麼發展的家鄉小鎮,分赴外地去打拼,因而感到有些鬱悶和不安。這樣的意象,應該能觸動曾經或是仍陷於類似處境的人的心弦 ( 台灣早期的留學潮及後來的移民潮,對於那些想出國卻條件不夠的人來說,應該也覺得有些悶吧!)。這雖然是Danny O'Keefe唯一著名的暢銷曲,但因為貓王Elvis Presley也曾翻唱過此曲,又採用和他相同的伴奏樂隊,而被他視為是畢生的榮耀和成就。
Everybody's gone away
Since they're movin' to L.A.
There ain't a soul I know around
Everybody's leavin' town
Some caught a freight, some caught a plane
Find the sunshine leave the rain
They say this town'll waste your mind
Must be right 'cause it's wasted mine
Some got to win, some got to lose
Good time Charlie's got the blues
My old heart keeps telling me
There ain't no kid at thirty-three
Play around and lose your wife
You play too long and lose your life
I got my pills to ease the pain
Can't find a thing to ease the rain
Sometimes I'd like to try and settle down
But everybody's leavin' town
Some got to win, some got to lose
Good time Charlie's got the blues