泠泠夜歌

在看美國輕鬆偵探影集<<CASTLE>>時聽到的歌，充滿文化鄉愁的歌詞瞬間讓我眼眶泛淚。不，不是我的故鄉也不是我的記憶，我甚至不曾踏入深植歐美文化的"酒館"；只是太多的閱讀經驗與腦補讓人"神遊書中世界"，讀過太多次的場景於是勾起想像的鄉愁。閱讀歌詞彷彿能嗅到酒館的氣味，充斥字裡行間是酒客言談與昏黃燈光；人們為忘卻生活煩惱而造訪的酒館，是集體記憶中小小的避風港。

Billy Joel "Piano Man", 1973

"鋼琴師" 

It's nine o'clock on a Saturday
The regular crowd shuffles in
There's an old man sitting next to me
Makin' love to his tonic and gin

星期六晚上九點
老客人一擁而入
我身邊坐著一位老人
與他的琴湯尼難分難捨 

He says, "Son, can you play me a memory
I'm not really sure how it goes
But it's sad and it's sweet and I knew it complete
When I wore a younger man's clothes."

他說孩子，能否為我演奏記憶中那首歌曲
我不太記得詳細的曲調，但我記得那首歌憂鬱又甜蜜
當我還是個年輕人的時候，整首歌我能倒被如流 

la la la, di da da
La la, di di da da dum

啦啦啦，滴答答
啦啦，滴滴答答噹 

Chorus:
Sing us a song, you're the piano man
Sing us a song tonight
Well, we're all in the mood for a melody
And you've got us all feelin' all right

合唱:
為我們唱首歌，鋼琴師呀
今晚為我們唱首歌吧
我們都想隨歌聲搖擺
你讓我們陶醉在歌裡 

Now John at the bar is a friend of mine
He gets me my drinks for free
And he's quick with a joke and he'll light up your smoke
But there's some place that he'd rather be
He says, "Bill, I believe this is killing me."
As his smile ran away from his face
"Well I'm sure that I could be a movie star
If I could get out of this place"

吧檯的約翰是我朋友
他總給我免費飲料
他幽默風趣  他會馬上幫你點菸
不過他的目標不在這裏
他收起笑容說了，"比爾啊，這工作真是難熬"
"如果能離開這地方，我絕對能當個電影明星" 

Oh, la la la, di da da
La la, di da da da dum

噢，啦啦啦，滴答答
啦啦，滴答答答噹 

Now Paul is a real estate novelist
Who never had time for a wife
And he's talkin' with Davy, who's still in the Navy
And probably will be for life

保羅是個想當小說家的房地產經紀人
他忙得沒時間過生活
跟他聊天的大衛在海軍服役 
大概下半輩子都離不開海軍 

And the waitress is practicing politics
As the businessman slowly gets stoned
Yes, they're sharing a drink they call loneliness
But it's better than drinkin' alone

女服務生正在揮灑政治手腕
商人們慢慢都開始醉了
是的，他們共享一杯名為寂寞的飲料
但共享總勝過獨飲寂寥 

Chorus:
sing us a song you're the piano man
sing us a song tonight
well we're all in the mood for a melody
and you got us all feeling alright

合唱:
為我們唱首歌，鋼琴師呀
今晚為我們唱首歌吧
我們都想隨歌聲搖擺
你讓我們陶醉在歌裡 

It's a pretty good crowd for a Saturday
And the manager gives me a smile
'Cause he knows that it's me they've been comin' to see
To forget about their life for a while
And the piano, it sounds like a carnival 
And the microphone smells like a beer
And they sit at the bar and put bread in my jar
And say, "Man, what are you doin' here?"

以週六來說今天生意很好
經理對我微笑
他知道客人都是衝著我才來店裡
來暫時忘卻現實生活的煩惱
琴聲喧囂如嘉年華會
麥克風聞起來像啤酒
他們坐上吧台把小費投進我的罐子
一邊說著"老兄，你來這裡幹嘛?" 

Oh, la la la, di da da
La la, di da da da dum

噢，啦啦啦，滴答答
啦啦，滴答答答噹 

Chorus:
sing us a song you're the piano man
sing us a song tonight
well we're all in the mood for a melody
and you got us all feeling alright

合唱:
為我們唱首歌，鋼琴師呀
今晚為我們唱首歌吧
我們都想隨歌聲搖擺
你讓我們陶醉在歌裡 

----

這邊有一篇解釋詳盡的翻譯，由林文淇所撰寫：Piano Man 鋼琴師

以及與Elton John合唱版本：