史上信息量最大的一首單曲
文章來源: mychina2019-10-25 07:11:24

早在兩千多年前的歐洲,就有吟遊詩人帶著魯特琴或者其它簡單的樂器,到處傳頌著王公大臣的英雄事跡。這些吟遊詩人遊街串巷雲遊四海以吟唱為生。每到一處,根據收益的多少來決定吟唱的時間長短。如果地域富庶可以掙很多銀子,那就吟唱很長時間,有的時候,一個故事可以連續吟唱一個多月,一直到人們聽膩了才轉移戰場。很多年之後,我們國家也出現了類似的職業,比如評書,京韻大鼓,相聲,各種戲劇等等。

那個時候的藝術表現形式,以吟唱為主,不過,每次吟唱的內容都是不太一樣的。

後來,有了五線譜,人們記錄下來了曲調和歌詞,吟遊詩人逐漸被更專業的人取代。故事被分解,被細化,每一個段落或者每一個演出記錄的信息量有限。

1989年,Billy Joel 推出了他火爆幾十年的單曲:We Didn't Start the Fire.

那個時候,Billy Joel 火遍全世界而且曆久不衰。他的這首單曲信息量爆棚,一直到現在,仍然是信息量最大的一首單曲。

我們先讀一讀他這首歌的歌詞:

Harry Truman, Doris Day, Red China, Johnnie Ray 
South Pacific, Walter Winchell, Joe DiMaggio

(第一段就包含了美國總統杜魯門,好萊塢影星多瑞斯呆,紅色中國,美國歌手強尼雷,南太平洋,美國專欄作家沃爾特文切爾和美國棒球明星酒迪馬濟奧,這每一個名字都能寫一本厚厚的書。)

Joe McCarthy, Richard Nixon, Studebaker, television
North Korea, South Korea, Marilyn Monroe

Rosenbergs, H-bomb, Sugar Ray, Panmunjom
Brando, "The King and I" and "The Catcher in the Rye"

Eisenhower, vaccine, England's got a new queen
Marciano, Liberace, Santayana goodbye

We didn't start the fire
It was always burning
Since the world's been turning
We didn't start the fire
No we didn't light it
But we tried to fight it

Joseph Stalin, Malenkov, Nasser and Prokofiev
Rockefeller, Campanella, Communist Bloc

Roy Cohn, Juan Peron, Toscanini, Dacron
Dien Bien Phu falls, "Rock Around the Clock"

Einstein, James Dean, Brooklyn's got a winning team
Davy Crockett, Peter Pan, Elvis Presley, Disneyland

Bardot, Budapest, Alabama, Krushchev
Princess Grace, "Peyton Place", trouble in the Suez

We didn't start the fire
It was always burning
Since the world's been turning
We didn't start the fire
No we didn't light it
But we tried to fight it

Little Rock, Pasternak, Mickey Mantle, Kerouac
Sputnik, Chou En-Lai, "Bridge on the River Kwai"

Lebanon, Charlse de Gaulle, California baseball
Starkweather, homicide, children of thalidomide

Buddy Holly, "Ben Hur", space monkey, Mafia
Hula hoops, Castro, Edsel is a no-go

U2, Syngman Rhee, payola and Kennedy
Chubby Checker, "Psycho", Belgians in the Congo

We didn't start the fire
It was always burning
Since the world's been turning
We didn't start the fire
No we didn't light it
But we tried to fight it

Hemingway, Eichmann, "Stranger in a Strange Land"
Dylan, Berlin, Bay of Pigs invasion

"Lawrence of Arabia", British Beatlemania
Ole Miss, John Glenn, Liston beats Patterson

Pope Paul, Malcolm X, British politician sex
JFK, blown away, what else do I have to say

We didn't start the fire
It was always burning
Since the world's been turning
We didn't start the fire
No we didn't light it
But we tried to fight it

Birth control, Ho Chi Minh, (他居然還知道胡誌明)Richard Nixon back again
Moonshot, Woodstock, Watergate, punk rock
Begin, Reagan, Palestine, terror on the airline
Ayatollah's in Iran, Russians in Afghanistan

"Wheel of Fortune", Sally Ride, heavy metal, suicide
Foreign debts, homeless vets, AIDS, crack, Bernie Goetz
Hypodermics on the shores, China's under martial law
Rock and roller cola wars, I can't take it anymore

We didn't start the fire
It was always burning
Since the world's been turning
We didn't start the fire
But when we are gone
Will it still burn on, and on, and on, and on

We didn't start the fire
It was always burning
Since the world's been turning
We didn't start the fire
No we didn't light it
But we tried to fight it

We didn't start the fire
It was always burning
Since the world's been turning
We didn't start the fire
No we didn't light it
But we tried to fight it

這首歌的信息量超級大,各種人物、地名、事件說了個遍。提到和中國有關的就有幾個地方:紅色中國,周恩來,計劃生育,中國的軍事管製等等,有的版本還有 Chairman Mao 。

 

如今, Billy Joel 已經是一個老頭了,但是,依然活躍。

大藝術家:筆力酒!

《版權單曲所有,翻印信息不究》