Westlife的《flying without wings》，从第一句歌词的something引导大家去想他究竟是什么？后面每一句歌词都围绕这个something在阐述，到最后你发现那就是“爱”Everybody's looking for that something每人都在寻觅某些事物One thing that makes it all complete那个让生命完整的奇迹You'll find it in the strangest places你会在最奇特的地方找到它Places you never knew it could be就在那你从未想到的地方Some find it in the face of their children有的在孩童的脸上寻见Some find it in their lover's eyes有的则在爱人的眼中Who can deny the joy it brings谁能否认它带来的快乐When you've found that special thing当你找到那特别的存在之时You're flying without wings你无翼而翔/你展翅高飞Some find it sharing every morning有的在每个和人共度的清晨Some in their solitary lives有的则在孑然一身的日子之中You'll find it in the words of others你会在他人的言语中发现a simple line can make you laugh or cry一句简单的话会令你欢笑或哭泣You'll find it in the deepest friendship你会在最深厚的友谊中发现The kind you cherish all your life那种感情你永生珍藏and when you know how much that means当你知道那感情的珍贵时You've found that special thing你已经找到了那特别的东西You're flying without wings你无翼而翔/你展翅高飞So impossible as they may seem所以，尽管看起来难以置信You've got to fight for every dream你却必须为你的每一个梦想而奋斗'cause who's to know因为无人知晓which one you let go你放弃的哪一个（梦想）would've made you complete原本会让你更完整Well, for me it's waking up beside you嗯，对我而言它是在你身边醒来To watch the sunrise on your face看见洒在你脸上的朝阳To know that I can say I love you知道我可以说出我爱你At any given time or place无论何时何地It's the little things that only I know这些只有我知道的小事Those are the things that make you mine让你归属于我And it's like flying without wings并使我如同无翼般飞行/并使我如同展翅高飞'Cause you're my special thing因为你就是我特殊的事物I'm flying without wings我无翼而翔/我展翅高飞And you're the place my life begins你是我生命的源头and you'll be where it ends亦是我生命的尽头I'm flying without wings我无翼而翔/我展翅高飞And that's the joy you bring这是你所带来的快乐I'm flying without wings我无翼而翔/我展翅高飞
英文歌曲的歌詞是值得欣賞的。大概分了好幾個不同階段，都有佳作。沒有誰獨尊。20~60年代口語與書面語結合，大量漂亮的比喻和對照，大有詩經“賦比興”的意思。請隨便打開Billie Holiday和Ella Fitzgerald等人的專輯亂序播放。60~70年代的folk song有不少純美之作，也有描寫現實的批判之聲。Bob Dylan絕對是後者的代表人物。同期的流行曲絕對也是很精心雕琢的。Barbra Streisand的好友Alan Bergman, Marilyn Bergman夫婦寫了很多經典歌曲，而且其中漂亮的句子數不勝數。她前幾年出專輯專門灌錄二人的詞作經典，專輯名為What Matters most，其中的something new in my life寫得極漂亮。幾個詩人歌手身份重疊的就更不必提了，Joni Mitchell和Cohen都是可以出詩集的人。八九十年代有各種不同的創作組合，不少vocalists對自己歌曲的歌詞是很有要求的。只是兩千年開始，唱片公司開始主打唱作人，不論英文學得好不好都要歌手自己寫歌詞，好像作詞人也就沒落了。流行歌的歌詞也越來越爛。只剩下過去的資深藝人還保證了以前歌詞的水準，。
"The Temptation Of Adam" - Josh Ritter? "If this was the cold war we could keep each other warm,"I said on the first occasion that I met MarieWe were crawling through the hatch that was the missile silo doorAnd I don't think that she really thought that much of meI never had to learn to love her like I learned to love the bombShe just came along and started to ignore meBut as we waited for the big one and I started singing her my songsAnd I think she started feeling something for meWe passed the time with crosswords that she thought to bring inside"What five letters spell apocalypse?", she asked meI won her over saying, 'W' 'W' 'I' 'I' 'I'.Oh, we smiled and we both knew that she misjudged meOh Marie, it was so easy to fall in love with youIt felt almost like a home of sorts or somethingAnd you would keep the warhead missile silo good as newAnd I watched you with my thumb above the buttonThen one night you found me in my army issue cotAnd you told me of your flash of inspirationYou said, "Fusion was the broken heart that's lonely's only thought"And all night long you drove me wild with your equationsOh Marie, do you remember all the time we used to takeMaking love and then ransack the rationsI think about you leaving now in the avalanche cascadesAnd my eyes get washed away in chain reactionsOh Marie, if you would stay and we could stick pins in the mapOf all the places where you thought that love would be foundAnd I would only need one pin to show where my love is atIn a top secret location three hundred feet under the groundOh, we could hold each other close, stay up every nightLooking up into the dark like it's the night skyPretend this giant missile is a old oak tree insteadCarve our name in hearts into the warheadOh Marie, there's something tells me things just won't work out aboveThat our love would live a half life on the surfaceSo at night while you are sleeping, I hold you closer just becauseAs our time grows short I get a little nervousSo I think about the big one, WWIIIWould we ever really care, the world had ended?You could hold me here forever like you're holding me tonightI think about that big red button and I'm tempted I'm a fan of poetry and The Temptation of Adam is the most poetic song I've heard in the last five years. The lyrics tell a vivid story of an unlikely love in a missile silo under the backdrop of nuclear apocalypse. What's even more beautiful is how it intertwines the three motifs ofThe Fall of Man exegesis from Genesis Chapter 3Idealistic romanceNuclear physicsYou may notice that The Temptation of Adam has no chorus, which is different from most modern songs, and is very reminiscent of Bob Dylan's song-writing (check out ). In fact, I'll just refer to the lyrics as 'the poem' from now on to emphasize its literary qualities. The Temptation of Adam is 10 stanzas of 4 lines each, written in alternate rhyme, with the exception of stanza 8. I like to divide the poem into what I consider the 4 arcs of the story,"The Wooing of Marie" - stanzas 1, 2 & 3"The Passion" - stanzas 4, 5 & 6"The Prayer" - stanzas 7 & 8"The Realization and The Temptation" - stanzas 9 & 10The tone of the poem is also soothing and melodic, primarily due to the assonance of 'o' and 'ah' syllables throughout the poem. For example, "If this was the cold war we could keep each other warm,""Fusion was the broken heart that's lonely's only thought"Of all the places where you thought that love would be foundWhen set to music, the song reverberates with the tenderness of a high school love ballade. It's always difficult to divorce the lyrics of a song from its music, but in this case, the poem, The Temptation of Adam could proudly stand on its own.I have a lot more to talk about (just look at these notes!), but I'll take a break for now.To be continued...- - - - -"On the Radio Lyrics" - Regina Spektor?This is how it worksIt feels a little worseThan when we drove our hearseRight through that screaming crowdWhile laughing up a stormUntil we were just boneUntil it got so warmThat none of us could sleepAnd all the StyrofoamBegan to melt awayWe tried to find some wordsTo aid in the decayBut none of them were homeInside their catacombA million ancient beesBegan to sting our kneesWhile we were on our kneesPraying that diseaseWould leave the ones we loveAnd never come againOn the radioWe heard, 'November Rain'That solo's really longBut it's a pretty songWe listened to it twice'Case the DJ was asleepThis is how it worksYou're young until you're notYou love until you don'tYou try until you can'tYou laugh until you cryYou cry until you laughAnd everyone must breatheUntil their dying breathNo, this is how it worksYou peer inside yourselfYou take the things you likeAnd try to love the things you tookAnd then you take that love you madeAnd stick it into someSomeone else's heartPumping someone else's bloodAnd walking arm in armYou hope it don't get harmedBut even if it doesYou'll just do it all againAnd on the radioYou hear, 'November Rain'That solo's awful longBut it's a good refrainYou listen to it twice'Cause the DJ is asleepOn the radio, on the radio
- - - - -"Fuel Up" - Stornoway?Curled up in the back of the carNine years old, you don't know where you areAnd your head's on the window, your eyes are just closedThere's a voice in the front and a hush on the roadYou're a passenger but your mind is traveling onOpen your eyes and you're nine years olderHands on the wheel and you're racing on overTo lie with your first love, you can't wait to see herYou borrowed the car and you think you're the driverBut now you're the passenger to your own heartAnd it takes you traveling, traveling onWhen the morning broke and the sky fell downIt went black as night and the wind blew roundAnd stole your directions, you lost your way homeAnd you felt like a passenger left by the roadBut I'll tell you the reason you couldn't get home'Cause there's nowhere you've been and it's nowhere you're goingHome is only a feeling you get in your mindFrom the people you love and you travel besideYou may feel like a passenger but now you're the driverYou've got to go traveling, traveling onBecause if you break down, it's a cold, hard shoulderSo fuel up your mind and fire up your heart and drive onDrive on, drive onAnd when your days are darker, put your foot down harderDrive on, drive onAnd it's 9 more years you've been driving nowBut tonight you're stumbling through your old townYou met up with a school friend who's still just the sameAnd you talked all the same shit you talked in those daysAnd now you're drunk and you're sad for the old times passing you byFor there's no rewind so you might as well playWhile your time is rolling awayAnd get back on the road, it's a beautiful dayPick up all the friends you can find on your wayAnd if you lose direction they'll be there guiding you onGuiding you, guiding you onWe're all going the same way down this long road(So fuel up)Yes, we're all bound the same way down this long, long roadSo fuel up your mind and fire up your heartAnd drive on, drive on, drive onAnd when your days are darker, put your foot down harderDrive onFuel up and drive onFuel up and drive onDrive on - - - - -"Born To Run" - Bruce Springsteen?In the day we sweat it out in the streets of a runaway American dream
At night we ride through mansions of glory in suicide machines
Sprung from cages out on Highway 9
Chrome wheeled, fuel injected and stepping out over the line
Baby, this town rips the bones from your back
It's a death trap, it's a suicide rap
We got to get out while we're young
Because tramps like us, baby we were born to run
Wendy let me in, I want to be your friend
I want to guard your dreams and visions
Just wrap your legs around these velvet rims
And strap your hands across my engines
Together we could break this trap
We'll run until we drop, baby we'll never go back
Will you walk with me out on the wire
Because baby, I'm just a scared and lonely rider
But I got to find out how it feels
I want to know if love is wild
Girl, I want to know if love is real
Beyond the Palace hemi-powered drones scream down the boulevard
The girls comb their hair in rear-view mirrors
And the boys try to look so hard
The amusement park rises bold and stark
Kids are huddled on the beach in a mist
I want to die with you Wendy on the streets tonight
In an everlasting kiss
The highway's jammed with broken heroes on a last chance power drive
Everybody's out on the run tonight but there's no place left to hide
Together Wendy, we can live with the sadness
I'll love you with all the madness in my soul
Someday girl I don't know when we're going to get to that place
Where we really want to go and we'll walk in the sun
But until then tramps like us, baby we were born to run - - - - -"November Rain" - Guns N' Roses?When I look into your eyes, I can see a love restrainedBut darlin' when I hold you, don't you know I feel the same? Nothin' lasts forever and we both know hearts can changeAnd it's hard to hold a candle in the cold November rainWe've been through this such a long, long timeJust tryin' to kill the pain, ooh yeahBut lovers always come and lovers always goAn' no one's really sure who's lettin' go today...walking awayAnd if we take the time to lay it on the lineI could rest my head just knowin' that you were mine, all mineSo if you want to love me then darlin' don't refrainOr I'll just end up walkin' in the cold November rainDo you need some time on your own?Do you need some time all alone?Everybody needs some time on their ownDon't you know you need some time all alone?I know it's hard to keep an open heartWhen even friends seem out to harm youBut if you could heal the broken heartWouldn't time be out to charm you?Sometimes I need some time on my ownSometimes I need some time all aloneEverybody needs some time on their ownDon't you know you need some time all aloneAnd when your fears subside and shadows still remain, oh yeahI know that you can love me when there's no one left to blameSo never mind the darkness we still can find a wayNothin' lasts forever, even cold November rain不得不提OneRepublic的&Counting Stars&（歌的旋律很美，词很有韵味，其中'No more counting dollars,we'll be counting stars'的观念也是我深表认同的。）Lately, I’ve been, I’ve been losing sleep最近我总是辗转反侧 难以入眠Dreaming about the things that we could be对我们曾有过的愿景 浮想联翩But baby, I’ve been, I’ve been praying hard,但亲爱的 我早已在内心深处祈祷着Said, no more counting dollars祈祷自己不再迷失于金钱的追逐中we’ll be counting stars我们可以细数满天繁星Yeah, we’ll be counting stars细数满天繁星 品味生活乐趣I see this life like a swinging vine生活就像一株跃动的藤蔓Swing my heart across the line长驱直入 激活我的内心In my face is flashing signs在我脸上 划过迹象Seek it out and you shall find遍寻之后 你能发现Old, but I'm not that old我虽上年纪 但不致老态龙钟Young, but I'm not that bold虽还年轻 却未必鲁莽失礼And I don't think the world is sold坚信这个世界美好如初I'm just doing what we're told 我只是循规蹈矩地生活着I ，feel something so right Doing the wrong thing惯于离经叛道中 体味心安理得And I feel something so wrong Doing the right thing亦于按部就班中 痛感乏善可陈I ，could lie, could Iie, could lie我欺骗过 伪装过 失真过Everything that kills me makes me feel alive但置我于死地者 必将赐我以后生I feel the love and I feel it burn我感觉到爱火在胸中熊起Down this river, every turn于河流的每个迂回处翻腾Hope is a four–letter word希望只是个粗俗字眼Make that money, watch it burn身外之物 皆可抛却Old, but I'm not that old我虽上年纪 但未必老态龙钟Young, but I'm not that bold虽还年轻 却不致鲁莽失礼I don't think the world is sold坚信这个世界美好如初I'm just doing what we're told 我只是循规蹈矩地生活着I feel something so wrong doing the right thing亦于按部就班中 痛感乏善可陈I could lie,could lie, could lie我欺骗过 伪装过 失真过Everything that drowns me makes me wanna fly但置我于低谷者 定能助我以崛起Take that money, watch it burn身外之物 皆可抛却Sing in the river The lessons are learnt泛舟当歌 人生几何Take that money, watch it burn身外之物 皆可抛却Sing in the river The lessons are learnt泛舟当歌 人生几何Take that money, watch it burn身外之物 皆可抛却Sing in the river The lessons are learnt泛舟当歌 人生几何Take that money, watch it burn身外之物 皆可抛却Sing in the river The lessons are learnt泛舟当歌 人生几何Everything that kills me makes me feel alive但置我于死地者 必将赐我以后生
英文歌曲的歌詞是值得欣賞的。大概分了好幾個不同階段，都有佳作。沒有誰獨尊。20~60年代口語與書面語結合，大量漂亮的比喻和對照，大有詩經“賦比興”的意思。請隨便打開Billie Holiday和Ella Fitzgerald等人的專輯亂序播放。60~70年代的folk song有不少純美之作，也有描寫現實的批判之聲。Bob Dylan絕對是後者的代表人物。同期的流行曲絕對也是很精心雕琢的。Barbra Streisand的好友Alan Bergman, Marilyn Bergman夫婦寫了很多經典歌曲，而且其中漂亮的句子數不勝數。她前幾年出專輯專門灌錄二人的詞作經典，專輯名為What Matters most，其中的something new in my life寫得極漂亮。幾個詩人歌手身份重疊的就更不必提了，Joni Mitchell和Cohen都是可以出詩集的人。八九十年代有各種不同的創作組合，不少vocalists對自己歌曲的歌詞是很有要求的。只是兩千年開始，唱片公司開始主打唱作人，不論英文學得好不好都要歌手自己寫歌詞，好像作詞人也就沒落了。流行歌的歌詞也越來越爛。只剩下過去的資深藝人還保證了以前歌詞的水準，。
"The Temptation Of Adam" - Josh Ritter? "If this was the cold war we could keep each other warm,"I said on the first occasion that I met MarieWe were crawling through the hatch that was the missile silo doorAnd I don't think that she really thought that much of meI never had to learn to love her like I learned to love the bombShe just came along and started to ignore meBut as we waited for the big one and I started singing her my songsAnd I think she started feeling something for meWe passed the time with crosswords that she thought to bring inside"What five letters spell apocalypse?", she asked meI won her over saying, 'W' 'W' 'I' 'I' 'I'.Oh, we smiled and we both knew that she misjudged meOh Marie, it was so easy to fall in love with youIt felt almost like a home of sorts or somethingAnd you would keep the warhead missile silo good as newAnd I watched you with my thumb above the buttonThen one night you found me in my army issue cotAnd you told me of your flash of inspirationYou said, "Fusion was the broken heart that's lonely's only thought"And all night long you drove me wild with your equationsOh Marie, do you remember all the time we used to takeMaking love and then ransack the rationsI think about you leaving now in the avalanche cascadesAnd my eyes get washed away in chain reactionsOh Marie, if you would stay and we could stick pins in the mapOf all the places where you thought that love would be foundAnd I would only need one pin to show where my love is atIn a top secret location three hundred feet under the groundOh, we could hold each other close, stay up every nightLooking up into the dark like it's the night skyPretend this giant missile is a old oak tree insteadCarve our name in hearts into the warheadOh Marie, there's something tells me things just won't work out aboveThat our love would live a half life on the surfaceSo at night while you are sleeping, I hold you closer just becauseAs our time grows short I get a little nervousSo I think about the big one, WWIIIWould we ever really care, the world had ended?You could hold me here forever like you're holding me tonightI think about that big red button and I'm tempted I'm a fan of poetry and The Temptation of Adam is the most poetic song I've heard in the last five years. The lyrics tell a vivid story of an unlikely love in a missile silo under the backdrop of nuclear apocalypse. What's even more beautiful is how it intertwines the three motifs ofThe Fall of Man exegesis from Genesis Chapter 3Idealistic romanceNuclear physicsYou may notice that The Temptation of Adam has no chorus, which is different from most modern songs, and is very reminiscent of Bob Dylan's song-writing (check out ). In fact, I'll just refer to the lyrics as 'the poem' from now on to emphasize its literary qualities. The Temptation of Adam is 10 stanzas of 4 lines each, written in alternate rhyme, with the exception of stanza 8. I like to divide the poem into what I consider the 4 arcs of the story,"The Wooing of Marie" - stanzas 1, 2 & 3"The Passion" - stanzas 4, 5 & 6"The Prayer" - stanzas 7 & 8"The Realization and The Temptation" - stanzas 9 & 10The tone of the poem is also soothing and melodic, primarily due to the assonance of 'o' and 'ah' syllables throughout the poem. For example, "If this was the cold war we could keep each other warm,""Fusion was the broken heart that's lonely's only thought"Of all the places where you thought that love would be foundWhen set to music, the song reverberates with the tenderness of a high school love ballade. It's always difficult to divorce the lyrics of a song from its music, but in this case, the poem, The Temptation of Adam could proudly stand on its own.I have a lot more to talk about (just look at these notes!), but I'll take a break for now.To be continued...- - - - -"On the Radio Lyrics" - Regina Spektor?This is how it worksIt feels a little worseThan when we drove our hearseRight through that screaming crowdWhile laughing up a stormUntil we were just boneUntil it got so warmThat none of us could sleepAnd all the StyrofoamBegan to melt awayWe tried to find some wordsTo aid in the decayBut none of them were homeInside their catacombA million ancient beesBegan to sting our kneesWhile we were on our kneesPraying that diseaseWould leave the ones we loveAnd never come againOn the radioWe heard, 'November Rain'That solo's really longBut it's a pretty songWe listened to it twice'Case the DJ was asleepThis is how it worksYou're young until you're notYou love until you don'tYou try until you can'tYou laugh until you cryYou cry until you laughAnd everyone must breatheUntil their dying breathNo, this is how it worksYou peer inside yourselfYou take the things you likeAnd try to love the things you tookAnd then you take that love you madeAnd stick it into someSomeone else's heartPumping someone else's bloodAnd walking arm in armYou hope it don't get harmedBut even if it doesYou'll just do it all againAnd on the radioYou hear, 'November Rain'That solo's awful longBut it's a good refrainYou listen to it twice'Cause the DJ is asleepOn the radio, on the radio
- - - - -"Fuel Up" - Stornoway?Curled up in the back of the carNine years old, you don't know where you areAnd your head's on the window, your eyes are just closedThere's a voice in the front and a hush on the roadYou're a passenger but your mind is traveling onOpen your eyes and you're nine years olderHands on the wheel and you're racing on overTo lie with your first love, you can't wait to see herYou borrowed the car and you think you're the driverBut now you're the passenger to your own heartAnd it takes you traveling, traveling onWhen the morning broke and the sky fell downIt went black as night and the wind blew roundAnd stole your directions, you lost your way homeAnd you felt like a passenger left by the roadBut I'll tell you the reason you couldn't get home'Cause there's nowhere you've been and it's nowhere you're goingHome is only a feeling you get in your mindFrom the people you love and you travel besideYou may feel like a passenger but now you're the driverYou've got to go traveling, traveling onBecause if you break down, it's a cold, hard shoulderSo fuel up your mind and fire up your heart and drive onDrive on, drive onAnd when your days are darker, put your foot down harderDrive on, drive onAnd it's 9 more years you've been driving nowBut tonight you're stumbling through your old townYou met up with a school friend who's still just the sameAnd you talked all the same shit you talked in those daysAnd now you're drunk and you're sad for the old times passing you byFor there's no rewind so you might as well playWhile your time is rolling awayAnd get back on the road, it's a beautiful dayPick up all the friends you can find on your wayAnd if you lose direction they'll be there guiding you onGuiding you, guiding you onWe're all going the same way down this long road(So fuel up)Yes, we're all bound the same way down this long, long roadSo fuel up your mind and fire up your heartAnd drive on, drive on, drive onAnd when your days are darker, put your foot down harderDrive onFuel up and drive onFuel up and drive onDrive on - - - - -"Born To Run" - Bruce Springsteen?In the day we sweat it out in the streets of a runaway American dream
At night we ride through mansions of glory in suicide machines
Sprung from cages out on Highway 9
Chrome wheeled, fuel injected and stepping out over the line
Baby, this town rips the bones from your back
It's a death trap, it's a suicide rap
We got to get out while we're young
Because tramps like us, baby we were born to run
Wendy let me in, I want to be your friend
I want to guard your dreams and visions
Just wrap your legs around these velvet rims
And strap your hands across my engines
Together we could break this trap
We'll run until we drop, baby we'll never go back
Will you walk with me out on the wire
Because baby, I'm just a scared and lonely rider
But I got to find out how it feels
I want to know if love is wild
Girl, I want to know if love is real
Beyond the Palace hemi-powered drones scream down the boulevard
The girls comb their hair in rear-view mirrors
And the boys try to look so hard
The amusement park rises bold and stark
Kids are huddled on the beach in a mist
I want to die with you Wendy on the streets tonight
In an everlasting kiss
The highway's jammed with broken heroes on a last chance power drive
Everybody's out on the run tonight but there's no place left to hide
Together Wendy, we can live with the sadness
I'll love you with all the madness in my soul
Someday girl I don't know when we're going to get to that place
Where we really want to go and we'll walk in the sun
But until then tramps like us, baby we were born to run - - - - -"November Rain" - Guns N' Roses?When I look into your eyes, I can see a love restrainedBut darlin' when I hold you, don't you know I feel the same? Nothin' lasts forever and we both know hearts can changeAnd it's hard to hold a candle in the cold November rainWe've been through this such a long, long timeJust tryin' to kill the pain, ooh yeahBut lovers always come and lovers always goAn' no one's really sure who's lettin' go today...walking awayAnd if we take the time to lay it on the lineI could rest my head just knowin' that you were mine, all mineSo if you want to love me then darlin' don't refrainOr I'll just end up walkin' in the cold November rainDo you need some time on your own?Do you need some time all alone?Everybody needs some time on their ownDon't you know you need some time all alone?I know it's hard to keep an open heartWhen even friends seem out to harm youBut if you could heal the broken heartWouldn't time be out to charm you?Sometimes I need some time on my ownSometimes I need some time all aloneEverybody needs some time on their ownDon't you know you need some time all aloneAnd when your fears subside and shadows still remain, oh yeahI know that you can love me when there's no one left to blameSo never mind the darkness we still can find a wayNothin' lasts forever, even cold November rain