Cogito & Microcosmos

我老爸年輕時很愛買唱片，家裡有一堆黑膠唱片，還有一台年代久遠的唱盤。我小時候沒零用錢，都用那台唱盤和黑膠唱片聽音樂，第一次聽是小學四年級，我還記得是一張大合輯，裡面有Leo Sayer的"More Than I Can Say", The Carpenters的"Jambalaya"，還有一首"Seven Lonely Days".後來就進展到ABBA,因為我老爸是超級ABBA迷，因此我也跟著聽。(說到這，免不了打個廣告，最近ABBA不是又出了什麼冠軍精選，記得要買那個有雙CD的，因為之前該團曾出一張冠軍唱片，那張我有買，裡面的曲目最近出的這一張相同，只有第二張CD的曲目很少發行，記得要買雙CD版的！)
1972年John Denver出了一首世界有名的鄉村歌曲，"Take Me Home,Country Road"(鄉村小路引我回家)，這首歌曲在亞洲大紅，我看六零年代的台灣青年沒有人不會唱的吧，連我那個ABC都搞不清楚的老爸都還能哼出來。
不過今天不是要介紹這首啦，因為實在太有名，我又老調重彈，不免乏味。
兩年前出了一張John Denver的精選集，叫做"A Song's Best Friend, The Very Best of John Denver",這張收錄了十幾首他最有名的歌曲，例如"Leaving On a Jet Plane", " Rocky Mountain High"等等。裡面有一首他和一位女歌手的合唱，並不是那麼有名，可是旋律十分好聽，那位女歌手叫做Emmylou Harris,歌聲嘹喨，我很喜歡，兩人用兩個聲部配合，恰到好處，而整首曲子也是鄉村風味，曲名是"Wild Montana Skies"(廣大的蒙大拿天空).
Montana是美國北部的一州，在North Dakota和Washiton的中間，標準的美國北部鄉村，產牛奶以及玉米之類的。不過John Deven是在New Mexico出生的，他的老爸是一位空軍飛行官，不久Jon Denver舉家搬至美國西南部，就是鄉村音樂的發源地。他年輕時得到祖母送給他的一把1910年的Gibson吉他，勤奮練習，當他大學時，他的歌藝好到可以去pub演奏。
我小時候知道這個歌手，覺得很奇怪，他的名字跟美國一個城市的名字一樣耶，"Denver",長大後我才知道，John Denver本名是"Henry John Deutschendorf Jr.", 他成年後因為太喜歡Denver市(科羅拉多州州省)，乾脆用這個名字當作他的姓氏。
他的活躍期大概是1971-1983年，今天放的這首"Wild Montana Skies"是他1983年的作品。



Wild Montana Skies
words and music by John Denver
sung by John Denver and Emmylou Harris
in album "It's About Time"

He was born in the bitterroot valley in the early morning rain
Wild geese over the water headin north and home again
Bringin a warm wind from the south
Bringin the first taste of the spring
His mother took him to her breast and softly she did sing

Oh montana, give this child a home
Give him the love of a good family and a woman of his own
Give him a fire in his heart, give him a light in his eyes
Give him the wild wind for a brother and the wild montana skies

His mother died that summer and he never learned to cry
He never knew his father and he never did ask why
He never knew the answers that would make an easy way
But he learned to know the wilderness and to be a man that way

His mothers brother took him in to family and his home
Gave him a hand that he could lean on and a strength to call his own
And he learned to be a farmer and he learned to love the land
And he learned to read the seasons and he learned to make a stand

Oh montana, give this child a home
Give him the love of a good family and a woman of his own
Give him a fire in his heart, give him a light in his eyes
Give him the wild wind for a brother and the wild montana skies

On the eve of his 21st birthday he set out on his own
He was 30 years and runnin when he found his way back home
Ridin a storm across the mountains and an aching in his heart
Said he came to turn the pages and to make a brand new start

Now he never told a story of the time that he was gone
Some say he was a lawyer, some say he was a john
There was somethin in the city that he said he couldnt breathe
And there was somethin in the country that he said he couldnt leave

Oh montana, give this child a home
Give him the love of a good family and a woman of his own
Give him a fire in his heart, give him a light in his eyes
Give him the wild wind for a brother and the wild montana skies

Now some say he was crazy and theyre glad that he is gone
But some of us miss him and well try to carry on
Giving a voice to the forest, giving a voice to the dawn
Giving a voice to the wilderness and the land that he lived on

Oh montana, give this child a home
Give him the love of a good family and a woman of his own
Give him a fire in his heart, give him a light in his eyes
Give him the wild wind for a brother and the wild montana skies

Oh montana, give this child a home
Give him the love of a good family and a woman of his own
Give him a fire in his heart, give him a light in his eyes
Give him the wild wind for a brother and the wild montana skies