Folk Song

 

我喜愛民歌，簡單的結他聲，小提琴聲，口琴聲及鋼琴聲互相配搭，絲絲入扣，令人沉醉。

 

而歌手透過歌聲傳遞的訊息，內容豐富及富啓發性，是我喜歡民歌的另一原因。在熟識的民歌中，概括可分以下幾類：

 

勸勉大家要珍惜時間的：

 

Time of your life (Good morning yesterday, you wake up and time has slipped away…)

 

Circle Game (We’re captive on the carousel of time, we can’t return we can only look from behind where we came…..so take your time it won’t be long now)

 

Time in a bottle (If I could save time in a bottle, the first thing I’d like to do is to save everyday till eternity passes away..)

 

Memory (When the dawn comes tonight will be a memory too…)

 

歌頌愛情偉大的：

Love Story (Where do I begin to tell the story of how great a love can be …)

 

The end of the world (Don’t they know it is the end of the world, it ended when you said goodbye….)

 

What is a youth? (Comes a time when one sweet smile, has its season for a while…then love’s in love with me…)

 

因愛成恨的:

Flora (I stepped up to my rival, my dagger in my hand, I seized him by the collar and I ordered him to stand. All in my desperation, I stabbed him in his breast…

 

Delilah (I felt the knife in my hand and she laughed no more ….)

 

反戰的：

The Cruel War (The cruel war is raging, Johnny has to fight…)

 

Blowing in the Wind (How many deaths will it take till he knows that too many people have died..)

 

Gone the rainbow (I sold my flax I sold my wheel to buy my love a sword of steel, so it in battle he might wield.

 

聽民歌除了消磿時間外，亦可從中學到人生哲理。而一些描寫景物或地方民情的民歌，竟促成我日後外遊的動機。

 

我從John Denver 的Rocky mountain high，知悉在加拿大有處名勝叫洛機山；從Simon and Garfunkel的Scarborough Fair，知道多倫多士嘉堡有個巿集，專售當地土產，例如香芹，鼠尾草，迷迭香及百里香等等；從Scott Mckenzie的San Francisco中，知道三藩巿內佈滿鮮花，最著名的花街Lombard street，是該巿的地標。故洛磯山，士嘉堡巿集及三藩巿是我從少響往的地方，幸好都曾先後到訪過。

 

                              Rocky mountain

Scarborough Fair

                            San Francisco

雖然我對Ralph McTell的Street of London耳熟能詳，但有點遺憾，我就是未到過倫敦街頭。其中一段: Let me take you by the hand and lead you through the streets of London. I’ll show you something to make you change your mind。我有點好奇，歌者所指，「帶你穿梭倫敦街頭，及向你展示一些事物，會令你對對倫敦改觀。」那是好的？還是不好的觀感？我深深被這句說話所吸引，終有一天，我會踏足倫敦街頭，再細味這句說話的含意。