2016-11-18 10:10:49流浪阿狗
老歌亂談(645)Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues
此曲為Bob Dylan自寫自唱，最早是收錄在其1965發行的專輯《Highway 61 Revisited》中，而隨後又發行了兩個不同的現場演唱版本，其中之一是單曲《I Want You》的B面。
歌曲述說一位男子在墨西哥Juarez的一段不堪的經歷，在失落和消極中充斥著藥丸、酒精、妓女及腐敗的當局這些，最後在幡然醒悟後回到了紐約。Tom Thumb其實是英國民間故事的一個人物，Bob Dylan在1966巡迴演唱時曾談到這首歌，說故事是取材自一位被他們綽號為Tom Thumb的老畫家，曾經在Juarez渡過一段憂鬱期 ( blue period )，所以才會將歌名取為《Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues》，不同的是老畫家最後是回到愛阿華州的Des Moines。
此曲包含了多處的文學引用，像是：
有來自Malcolm Lowry的小說《Under The Volcano》中的影像再現。
街道名取自Edgar Allan Poe的短篇故事《The Murder In the Rue Morgue》。
歌詞housing project hill引自Jack Kerouac的小說《Desolation Angels》。
而howling at the moon也是鄉村歌手Hank Williams的一首歌名。
也有認為歌名的Tom Thumb引自Arthur Rimbaud的詩《My Bohemian Life (Fantasy)》。
翻唱此曲的知名歌手也不少，像是Gordon Lightfoot、Linda Ronstadt、Neil Young、Grateful Dead 樂團等，美國歌手Adam Zwig於2015發行的版本在AC ( Adult Contemporary ) 排行榜獲得第9名。
Gibson-Les Paul吉他的聲音的確是不錯聽
When you're lost in the rain in Juarez
And it's Eastertime too
And your gravity fails
And negativity don't pull you through
Don't put on any airs
When you're down on Rue Morgue Avenue
They got some hungry women there
And they really make a mess outa you.
Now if you see Saint Annie
Please tell her thanks a lot
I cannot move
My fingers are all in a knot
I don't have the strength
To get up and take another shot
And my best friend, my doctor
Won't even say what it is I've got.
Sweet Melinda
The peasants call her the goddess of gloom
She speaks good English
And she invites you up into her room
And you're so kind
And careful not to go to her too soon
And she takes your voice
And leaves you howling at the moon.
Up on Housing Project Hill
It's either fortune or fame
You must pick up one or the other
Though neither of them are to be what they claim
If you're lookin' to get silly
You better go back to from where you came
Because the cops don't need you
And man they expect the same.
Now all the authorities
They just stand around and boast
How they blackmailed the sergeant-at-arms
Into leaving his post
And picking up Angel who
Just arrived here from the coast
Who looked so fine at first
But left looking just like a ghost.
I started out on burgundy
But soon hit the harder stuff
Everybody said they'd stand behind me
When the game got rough
But the joke was on me
There was nobody even there to bluff
I'm going back to New York City
I do believe I've had enough.