不会写歌词的吉他手不是一个好作家 | 石黑一雄

▲石黑一雄

2017年诺贝尔文学奖授予日裔英国作家石黑一雄。鲜为人知的是，相比写小说，石黑一雄更大的爱好是成为词曲作者。石黑一雄习惯把自己的作品看作是“长版歌曲”。直到现在，他仍然热爱音乐。

▲爵士女伶史黛西·肯特与石黑一雄的合影

石黑一雄一直是个铁杆的音乐爱好者，在《卫报》的访谈中甚至还提到，“我一直把自己看做一位音乐人”。

在全身心地投入写作之前，石黑一雄最大的爱好是音乐，他从15岁开始写歌，梦想成为莱纳德·科恩（Leonard Cohen）那样的歌手。“我开始用很多华丽的辞藻创作歌词”，当他20岁时，他的风格改变了，倾向于使用最简单的旋律、语言创作歌曲。“仿佛在写作，写歌词就算是写作的练习吧！”石黑一雄把自己的每一部作品都看做是一首“长版本的歌曲”，希望能够塑造一种氛围和情绪，吸引读者沉浸其中。

▲《别让我走》

村上春树在一次访谈中回忆起跟石黑一雄的第一次见面，当时石黑一雄告诉村上，他正在写一部长篇，将要完成(即《别让我走》)。小说还没出版，村上基于礼貌也没问石黑一雄小说内容和书名，两人只干杯祝福小说成功大卖。接着话题聊到了日本爵士音乐家，村上向石黑推荐大西顺子，石黑一雄很有兴趣，于是隔天村上就送了大西顺子的CD给石黑一雄。 

几个月后《别让我走》出版，村上看见书名《Never Let Me Go》大吃一惊，《Never Let Me Go》正是村上送给石黑一雄的大西顺子专辑里有收的曲目。《Never Let Me Go》收在大西顺子1995年发行的专辑《ビレッジ?バンガードII”》(Junko Onishi Live At The Village Vanguard 2)里，这首歌是一首50年代的爵士老歌，原作者为Jay Livingston&Ray Evans。

改编自石黑一雄小说《别让我走》的同名日剧于2016年1月在日本TBS播出，由绫濑遥、三浦春马主演。

▲专辑封面

石黑一雄曾为史黛西·肯特于2007年发布的专辑《早安幸福Breakfast On The Morning Tram》写下4首歌词，作为一名小说家，其歌词作品显得有些冗长。对此，史黛西表示：这正是我欣赏他的地方，他跳脱了爵士乐歌词的创作框架，以长篇幅的文字歌词、完整叙述了一个人生情节或故事，这反而让我更能理解歌词的思想意境。

两人的相识也充满了戏剧性。2002年，石黑一雄曾参与BBC一档广播节目，作为嘉宾，他列出了自己最喜欢的8首歌，其中一首就是史黛西肯特的歌曲《They can't take that away from me》。之后，两人因此相识，并达成了一部爵士专辑的合作。

此张专辑顺利提名第51届格莱美最佳爵士演唱专辑。对于二人在专辑中的合作，史黛西谈到：我就像是他小说创作里笔下的人物，他写下我的过去和未来。对此，石黑一雄则开玩笑说：史黛西让我知道，原来除了小说创作外，我也可以涉足音乐界作为副业经营呢。

The Changing Lights

Were we leaving Rio

Or were we in New York?

I remember bossa nova on the breeze

We were in the back seat

Of a cab we couldn't afford

You were holding my old rucksack on your knees You leaned towards your window

To see the traffic up ahead

"These commuters here," you said

"Could be the walking dead."

And we vowed to guard our dreams

From all the storms that lay ahead

From the winds of fear and age and compromise And we laughed about thehopelessness

Of so many peoples lives

As we slowly moved towards the changing lights

It was near Les Invalides

Or perhaps Trafalgar Square

It was late at night the city was asleep

You were clowning in the back seat

With some friends we'd found somewhere

The kind, back then, we always seemed to meet. There were those in this greatworld you said

Just fated to go far

And among the lucky ones

Were we inside that car

And your friends began to sing

When You Wish Upon A Star

And you clapped along like you didn't have a care But once I turned to glanceat you

As we drove across the square

And your face looked haunted in the changing lights

Was it last September?

It was autumn more or less

You were waiting to cross some busy boulevard Talking on your phone

To your family I guess

Your briefcase tucked up high beneath your arm

As I approached you turned around

A question in your eye

As though I might ignore you

And just simply walk on by

But we smiled and talked awhile

About each others lives

And once or twice I caught a wistful note

Then you moved towards the crossing

As the cars slowed to a halt

And we waved and parted beneath the changing lights

来源 | 凤凰文化

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