老歌亂談(1131)One Horse Town
此曲為美國南方/鄉村搖滾樂團Blackberry Smoke於2012發行的第3張專輯《The Whippoorwill》中的歌曲。此專輯為樂團首度成功的打進排行榜,在告示牌鄉村榜獲得第8名,截至2012年10月,在美國已售出51,000張。Whippoorwill有譯為「北美夜鶯,以其叫聲Whip-poor-will而得名。
Blackberry Smoke樂團成立於2000年,已發行過7張錄音室、2張現場及6張延伸專輯,卻是首位未有簽約唱片公司的協助、以獨立發行 (independently-released) 獲得鄉村專輯排行榜冠軍的樂團。2021的專輯《You Hear Georgia》更奪下告示牌美國/民謠 ( Americana/Folk ) 專輯排行榜的冠軍 ( 鄉村榜No.5 ),銷售長紅自是不在話下,知名度更是水漲船高,前途一片光亮。
One-horse town 意為「鄉村小鎮」,指的是那種無足輕重、生活步調緩慢、沒有娛樂場所,而便利措施也少之又少的小鎮 ( 以上摘自「英語之家」的釋義 )。歌詞所述小鎮的場景也常出現在美國電影中:子隨父業、早婚成家、認命渡日、終此一生。但若不滿現狀又無法改變環境,只能像歌曲中的主角,騎著他的小馬離開。而能否追尋到他的夢想,那又是另外一件事了。
電吉他版本,在家鄉Atlanta現場演唱。
In the tiny town where I come from
You grew up doing what your daddy does
And you don't ask questions you do it just because
You don't climb to high or dream too much
With a whole lot of work and a little bit of luck
You can wind up right back where your daddy was
This little bitty town it ain't nothing new
We all stick around 'cause they all tell us too
Swallow your pride just to make your family proud
If I didn't think that it would shut the whole place down
I'd ride my pony right out of this one horse town
Yeah this one horse town
I'm an old married man at the age of twenty three
Got two little boys on the baseball team
And that might be their only ticket out
All they got is a worn out name
And a daddy that could've gone all the way
But I hung my saddle up and I settled down
This little bitty town, oh it ain't nothing new
We all stick around 'cause they all tell us too
Swallow your pride just to make your family proud
If I didn't think that it would shut the whole place down
I'd ride my pony right out of this one horse town
Yeah this one horse town
Oh yeah
This little bitty town, oh yeah it ain't nothing new
We all stick around 'cause they all tell us too
Swallow your pride just to keep your family proud
If I didn't think that it would shut the whole thing down
I'd saddle that one horse and ride it right out of this town