small music – the trunk

“It might get loud” 是一部以Jack White、The Edge和Jimmy Page三位吉他手为原形的纪录片。影片结束Jack White把9岁的小孩装进皮箱,放在了汽车的后备箱离去。这个镜头一度让我非常不解,直到今天我有了一些新的发现。尽管Jack以及他所在White Stripes 乐队都以摇滚乐著称,但在片中,他反复提到了Blues音乐对他的影响。影片29:52处,插入了Blind Gary Davis的录音 “Death don’t have no mercy in this land”。(Youtube 链接)

Jack旁白,

You want to figure out 你想知道
how you want to play guitar, 你多么想弹吉他
what your niche will be. 你应该从事什么职业
You just start digging deeper. 你开始深入挖掘
When you’re digging deeper into rock ‘n’ roll, 当你挖掘摇滚乐越来越深的时候
you’re on a freight train 你就如同坐上了一架直通布鲁斯的列车
headed straight for the blues.
(播放Gary Davis的录音)
1930s, really scary version of the blues. 30年代的这些布鲁斯有些糟糕
If you go back and listen 如果你回过头去听一些当时的歌曲
to some of these songs,
I mean, you can’t really believe 你真的不会相信
that they were even recorded to wax. 它们竟然被记录了下来

Minor key, anti the establishment. 小调, 反权威
Questioning themselves. 自省
Painful. 痛苦
There’s a tension in that music 你可以在他们的音乐中感到一丝不安
that you can feel.
It just feels like there’s this place where, 感觉就像是有一个我的灵魂停留的地方
you know,
my soul rests
and those guys were expressing it. 被这些人用音乐表达了出来

In the Bible, God cursed the ground, 圣经中,上帝诅咒了大地
so that the man will always be… 所以人们注定要一直
Will have to work hard. 辛勤工作
Whether you’re a farmer, or a carpenter, 无论你是农民还是木匠
or a guitar player, or whatever it is, 或者是吉他手,无论是什么
you have to fight these man-made materials. 你都需要跟这些人造物品打交道

在影片1:00:00处,插入了老式放音机播放的Jack White最喜爱的Son House的 GRINNIN IN YOUR FACE (youtube 链接)

By the time I was about 18, 我18岁的时候
somebody played me Son House. 有人给我唱了Son House的歌
That was it for me. That was it for me.
This spoke to me in 1,000 different ways. 这首歌用1000种不同的方式对我诉说
I didn’t know that you could do that. 我不信他能做到这一点
Just singing and clapping. 仅仅通过歌唱和拍手
And it meant everything. 就表达了一切
It meant everything about rock ‘n’ roll, 摇滚乐的一切
everything about expression 艺术,创造力,表现的一切
and creativity and art.
One man against the world in one song. 在这首歌中他一个人向世界发出挑战

最后我找到的歌是这一首向Blues致敬的歌 Fly Farm Blues

Download link here 或者直接访问youtube这一页

[Full Lyrics]
Spider got eight legs and I got two
That’s guitar’s got six strings
What about you?
Well, what do you got?
What did you get for free?
Well, better get all your things together, girl
And make sure to give ’em all to me
Stone or rock ain’t movin’
Neither is a tree
That may be good for you, girl
But it ain’t good for me, I’m rollin’
Yeah, I’m takin’ what I need for free
You still got to get it all together
Put it in the trunk of my car
And I’m gonna take it all for free
What do you got that I ain’t got?
That’s what I wanna know
Can I get a piece of it?
A piece before you go?
Well, give it up, yeah
Yeah, shove it right down my throat
one last thing to say to you
Have you seen my coat?

好了上面贴了这么几大段,只是大致展示了布鲁斯音乐对Jack White的影响,往前倒推70年(1933年),John Lomax订制了当时最好的一套“便携式”(重达159公斤)电动录音设备,固定在福特汽车的后备箱里,带着他15岁的儿子在整个美国南部“探险”,收集山村民歌。也就是说,JW之所以能听到Son House的珍贵录音,完全有可能是JL和他的便携录音机的功劳啦 其实就是Lomax 一家的功劳(Wiki. Son House recorded for Paramount Records in 1930 and for Alan Lomax from the Library of Congress in 1941 and 1942. 这个Alan Lomax 就是JL的儿子 )。

至于JL的传奇和收集民歌的功劳,请看《来自民间的叛逆》第二章 JL & Lead Belly。

以上即是我关于“皮箱”这个桥段的大串联。

ps

下图这辆是JW在剧中开的车,他坐在车上对着后座9岁的男孩说,

Technology is a big destroyer of emotion and truth.
Opportunity doesn’t do anything for creativity.
Yeah, it makes it easier,
and you can get home sooner,
but it doesn’t make you a more creative person.
That’s the disease you have to fight in any creative field.

对这一段,yes or no, 看官请自辨。

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