Talking New York

Ramblin’ outa the wild West
Leavin’ the towns I love the best
Thought I’d seen some ups and downs
’Til I come into New York town
People goin’ down to the ground
Buildings goin’ up to the sky

Wintertime in New York town
The wind blowin’ snow around
Walk around with nowhere to go
Somebody could freeze right to the bone
I froze right to the bone
New York Times said it was the coldest winter in seventeen years
I didn’t feel so cold then

I swung onto my old guitar
Grabbed hold of a subway car
And after a rocking, reeling, rolling ride
I landed up on the downtown side
Greenwich Village

I walked down there and ended up
In one of them coffee-houses on the block
Got on the stage to sing and play
Man there said, “Come back some other day
You sound like a hillbilly
We want folk singers here”
Well, I got a harmonica job, begun to play

Blowin’ my lungs out for a dollar a day
I blowed inside out and upside down
The man there said he loved m’ sound
He was ravin’ about how he loved m’ sound
Dollar a day’s worth

And after weeks and weeks of hangin’ around
I finally got a job in New York town
In a bigger place, bigger money too
Even joined the union and paid m’ dues

Now, a very great man once said
That some people rob you with a fountain pen
It didn’t take too long to find out
Just what he was talkin’ about
A lot of people don’t have much food on their table
But they got a lot of forks ’n’ knives
And they gotta cut somethin’

So one mornin’ when the sun was warm
I rambled out of New York town
Pulled my cap down over my eyes
And headed out for the western skies
So long, New York
Howdy, East Orange說唱紐約

浪跡草莽西域
離開我最愛的鎮區
想我來到紐約城之前
世事起落已有識見
人群走入地中
建築伸向天空

冬日紐約城
風吹雪奔騰
到處亂走毫無目地
人可會被凍進骨裡
我真被凍進骨裡
《紐約時報》說是十七年來最冷冬
那時我並不覺得

轉身抱住我的老吉他
地鐵車廂我緊抓
歷經一趟震盪、搖晃與滾動的車班
我抵達市中心邊邊
格林威治村

我在那裡走著，最後停駐
街區中的一家咖啡屋
登上舞台唱又彈
那邊的老兄說，「再來吧改天
你聽起來像個鄉巴佬
我們這兒要人唱民謠」

於是，我弄到口琴工作，開始吹
一天賺一塊鼓脹胸肺
我吹得上下顛倒內外反向
那兒的老兄說他喜歡我聲響
說有多愛我聲音他用力讚賞
一天值一塊

連續閒混幾個星期
我終於在紐約城找到活計
在一個大點的地方，工資增倍
甚至加入工會，繳會費

好，某偉人曾言
有些人用鋼筆搶你錢
要了解他的意涵
用不著太多時間
很多人桌上沒有太多食物
但他們有很多刀叉
必得切點東西

因而一個暖洋洋的早晨
我漫步離開紐約城
拉下帽沿蓋住眼睛
朝向西邊的天空
再會了，紐約
您好，東橘市
（鍾永豐 譯）

Song to Woody

I’m out here a thousand miles from my home
Walkin’ a road other men have gone down
I’m seein’ your world of people and things
Your paupers and peasants and princes and kings

Hey, hey, Woody Guthrie, I wrote you a song
’Bout a funny ol’ world that’s a-comin’ along
Seems sick an’ it’s hungry, it’s tired an’ it’s torn
It looks like it’s a-dyin’ an’ it’s hardly been born

Hey, Woody Guthrie, but I know that you know
All the things that I’m a-sayin’ an’ a-many times more
I’m a-singin’ you the song, but I can’t sing enough
’Cause there’s not many men that done the things that you’ve done

Here’s to Cisco an’ Sonny an’ Leadbelly too
An’ to all the good people that traveled with you
Here’s to the hearts and the hands of the men
That come with the dust and are gone with the wind

I’m a-leavin’ tomorrow, but I could leave today
Somewhere down the road someday
The very last thing that I’d want to do
Is to say I’ve been hittin’ some hard travelin’ too

致烏地的歌

我跑來這裡，千哩離家鄉
走在一條其他人到過的路上
我看見你的世界裡的事物與人民
你的窮人、小農、王子及國王們

嘿，嘿，烏地．葛斯瑞，我給你寫首歌1
關於一個奇妙的舊世界隨行在側
看來病又餓，疲且裂崩
似在垂死，且幾乎沒出生

嘿，烏地．葛斯瑞，但我知道你懂得
我說的所有事，以及更多更多
我唱給你這首歌，但怎麼唱都不夠的
因為不多人做你做過的

這也獻給西斯科、桑尼和鉛肚皮2
以及所有同你旅行的好人
在此向他們的心與手致意
其與塵同來，飄逝在風裡

我明天離開，但可能今天上路
沿途而下，他日某處
我最不想要做的事
就是聲稱我也踏上了艱難旅途

（鍾永豐 譯）