A song for 2006 -- Praying for time

幾天前在報紙上看到一些關於英國歌手 George Michael 的新聞,有壞的,也有好的.

壞的部份是,繼以前的吸毒事件後,發生了酒駕事件,遭到英國警方提起"不適任駕駛"的告訴.

好的是,俄羅斯的某位大亨,重金禮聘George Michael到他的豪宅為他的朋友們慶祝聖誕節的演唱,創下平均每分鐘演唱費最高的世界紀錄.

在西洋樂壇上,George Michael確實是個極具爭議與話題性的人物. 但他驚人的才華與創意,卻也是令人不得不佩服.

早期的少男團體Wham,當時迷死了全球跟我年紀相仿的女生們,雖然我對那種奶油小生型的藝人實在是興趣缺缺,但也注意到了George Michael的創作功力.

Wham時期最令人而熟能詳的兩首超級名曲,當屬全球翻唱到爆的 Wake Me Up Before You Go Go ,與聖誕節必備經典名曲 Last Christmas , 而這兩首歌,都是由 George Michael 所寫.

由於George Michael 自認為能力遠高於Wham的令外一位伙伴,終究導致這個團體的解散.

解散後,1987年西洋樂壇的超級天碟-- George Michael 的第一張個人專輯 Faith 出現了,當場碎了一堆少男少女的心,絡腮鬍,皮衣都出現了,那個大家印象中,乾乾淨淨的奶油小生變成性格派的男人.

不同於Wham時期的類似disco曲風,首支單曲 Faith 卻乾淨到只用吉他伴奏,甚至於在 Kissing a fool 裡面,完整的利用了jazz的方式表現出 George Michael 令人忽略的vocal功力.

當然,如果只是這樣,還不算勁爆,專輯裡面討論的議題也是挺猛的, 單曲monkey討論的是毒癮, I want your sex part I & II 還拍了個被全球都列為限制級的MV.

不過,由於首張個人專輯太過成功,顯得後續雖仍有極佳的作品,卻有顯得無法超越的感覺.

2006年12月31日的最後幾分鐘,我腦子裡突然想到要聽 Praying for Time 這首出自於他第二張個人專輯 Listen without prejudice Vol. 1 ,專輯與歌詞裡面想要傳達的意思,跟我對2006這紛亂的一年想表達的意念相同. 所以作為這一年的 ending曲,實在是恰當不過.



"Praying For Time" by George Michael

These are the days of the open hand
They will not be the last
Look around now
These are the days of the beggars
And the choosers

This is the year of the hungry man
Whose place is in the past
Hand in hand with ignorance
And legitimate excuses

The rich declare themselves poor
And most of us are not sure
If we have too much
But well take our chances
Because God stopped keeping score
I guess somewhere along the way
He must have let us all out to play
Turned his back and all gods children
Crept out the back door

Chorus
And its hard to love,
Theres so much to hate
Hanging on to hope
When there is no hope to speak of
And the wounded skies above
Say its much too late
Well maybe we should all be
Praying for time

These are the days of the empty hand
Oh you hold on to what you can
And charity is a coat you wear
Twice a year

This is the year of the guilty man
Your television takes a stand
And you find that what was over there
Is over here

So you scream from behind your door
Say whats mine is mine and not yours
I may have too much
But Ill take my chances
Because God stopped keeping score
And you cling to the things
They sold you
Did you cover your eyes when
They told you
That he cant come back
Because he has no children
To come back for