老歌亂談(1013)Whatever Happened To Us
George Jones和Tammy Wynette這對鄉村歌手夫妻檔,在結婚6年之後於1975分手。事後Wynette在自傳中指控,說Jones不僅揍她,甚至還對她擊發霰彈槍 ( 研判應該只是嚇嚇她 ),顯然倆人的離婚是「不歡而散」。而有趣的來了,1976,唱片公司發行了一張倆人合唱的專輯《Golden Ring》( 其中部份歌曲是離婚前就錄好的 ),不僅專輯本身,其中與專輯同名的單曲及另首《Near You》均拿下了排行榜的冠軍,也為倆人最後的合作,留下了美好的記錄和回憶。
離婚後的George Jones,沉迷於酒精和藥物,在排行榜的成績是每下愈況,6年來未有一首冠軍曲,而和Wynette之間,也仍處於對立狀況。1979,不知是何種力量的推助,Wynette在Jones 1979的雙人專輯《My Very Special Guests》中貢獻了一首歌曲,或許是某些情結因而被打開,次年(1980),倆人又合作了一張專輯《Together Again》,其中的一首《Two Story House》,竟又拿下了排行榜的亞軍。
不過,自此後的15年,倆人並未再合作,直至1995的這張專輯《One》,此首《Whatever Happened To Us》即為此專輯中的歌曲。而奇怪的是Jones對專輯的態度,說:這根本不是我的主意。並在他1996的自傳中堅持道:「In fact, I hated to work with her. It brought back too many unpleasant memories, and when some fans saw us together, they got it in their heads that we were going to get back together romantically.」。倆人如此的嫌惡,且各自早已分別嫁娶,竟然還能一起合作,背後的原因當然還是為了「商業利益」。
聽George Jones唱歌,他的高低「轉音」具有相當的技巧。而Wynette在此曲中的表現,則顯得有些不夠用力( 缺少情感?)。此張《One》也是Wynette的最後一張專輯。1998,號稱「鄉村音樂第一夫人」的Tammy Wynette忽然辭世,僅享年55歲。
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Looking through this worn out book of pictures
Reliving all the love we once knew
Turning through the pages of my memory
And everywhere I look there's me and you
Whatever happened to us
Somehow through the years we lost touch
Lately I've been missing you so much
Whatever happened to us
I always thought we look so good together
How did we come to drift so far apart?
These pictures cry for answers to one question
Why did we break each other's hearts?
Whatever happened to us
Somehow through the years we lost touch
Lately I've been missing you so much
Whatever happened to us
Lately I've been missing you so much
Whatever happened to us