“Everything has a crack in it, that's how the light gets in.”
-萬物皆有裂縫,那是光進(jìn)來的地方

溫柔而深情,低沉而繾綣,他擁有一副與生俱來的金嗓子,有著一個為愛而生的老靈魂……他寫詩,寫給他的神;他唱歌,他唱給那些他愛的女人。人人都說他的歌是文青必修課,他的詩歌集《渴望之書》被李健帶上了“我是歌手”的舞臺……

他是作曲家,是詩人;他作曲,他唱歌;他又是小說家,是編劇……

他在今年九月剛剛發(fā)行了自己第14張專輯《《You Want It Darker》,他在《紐約客》的采訪中說:

“I am ready to die. I hope it’s not too uncomfortable. That’s about it for me.”
“我已經(jīng)做好了死亡的準(zhǔn)備。我希望這事兒不要那么痛苦。其他就沒什么了。”

然后就在今天,他真的永遠(yuǎn)離開了我們……

Leonard Cohen, the hugely influential singer and songwriter whose work spanned five decades, died at the age of 82. Cohen's label, Sony Music Canada, confirmed his death on the singer's Facebook page.
萊昂納德?科恩,這位極具影響力的傳奇歌手和詞曲創(chuàng)作人離世,享年82歲。他所在的公司索尼在他本人的官方臉書主頁上確認(rèn)了這個消息。

"It is with profound sorrow we report that legendary poet, songwriter and artist, Leonard Cohen has passed away. We have lost one of music's most revered and prolific visionaries. A memorial will take place in Los Angeles at a later date. The family requests privacy during their time of grief." A cause of death and exact date of death was not given.
“我們懷著沉痛的心情宣布,詩人、創(chuàng)作歌手和藝術(shù)家萊昂納德?科恩去世了。我們失去了音樂界最值得尊敬和多產(chǎn)的遠(yuǎn)見家。擇日將在洛杉磯舉辦科恩的悼念活動,科恩的家人希望能有私密的壞境來悼念他。”科恩的死因和具體死亡時間并未公布。

Cohen was the hugely influential singer to emerge in the Sixties and early Seventies. Only Bob Dylan exerted a more profound influence upon his generation, and perhaps only Paul Simon and fellow Canadian Joni Mitchell equaled him as a song poet.
科恩是上世紀(jì)60年代到70年代初極具影響力的歌手,只有鮑勃?迪倫的影響力能勝過他。和他比肩的、可以稱為“詩人”的歌手也只有保羅?西蒙(Paul Simon)和同是加拿大歌手的喬妮?米切爾(Joni Mitchell)。

Cohen's haunting bass voice that dealt with love and hate, sex and spirituality, war and peace, ecstasy and depression. He was also the rare artist of his generation to enjoy artistic success into his Eighties.
科恩嗓音低沉渾厚,演繹了愛恨、性愛和精神、戰(zhàn)爭與和平等眾多歌曲。他也是在80歲高齡還能享有如此高成就的罕見傳奇人物。

【關(guān)于詩,關(guān)于歌】

萊昂納德?科恩生于1934年9月21日,加拿大魁北克省蒙特利爾的一個猶太人家庭。9歲的時候,父親的早逝讓萊昂納德·科恩一生都帶著矜持而憂郁的氣質(zhì)。

他很少笑,他從來都不快樂,他穿黑色西裝,他不停的喝咖啡,不停的抽煙,他的眼神灼灼逼人“像兩口深井反射著陽光”。

他出版過很多詩集:1961年的《The Spice Box Of Earth》(大地香盒)最為暢銷;《Selected Poems: 1956-1968》(詩歌自選集)榮獲Gover nor-General Award(加拿大最高文學(xué)獎);2011年的《渴望之書》閃爍著點(diǎn)滴幽默又真摯動人。

關(guān)于詩歌他說過:

“Poetry is just the evidence of life. If your life is burning well, poetry is just the ash.”
詩乃生命的印記,倘使此生精彩,詩就是那灰燼。

很少有歌手能稱得上詩人,具有詩人氣質(zhì)的幾位里——吉姆·莫里森英年早逝黑暗迷幻,鮑勃迪倫功成名就任重道遠(yuǎn)……科恩的歌卻永遠(yuǎn)是那么滄桑,那么孤獨(dú),沒有起伏的音域或是絢爛的旋律,平淡、質(zhì)樸、卻源遠(yuǎn)流長……

他們都說他的歌是私密的,是私人的,擁有一顆躁動的心你永遠(yuǎn)聽不懂他……獨(dú)自一人的時候,你會感受到他的歌聲如同繾綣而留的流水,漫入你的心里……

If you are the dealer I'm out of the game
如果你是莊家,那我就退出牌局

If you are the healer it means I'm broken and lame
如果你是醫(yī)生,想必我就是一瘸一拐

If thine is the glory then mine must be the shame
如果你享受榮耀,那我只能忍受恥辱

You want it darker
如果你向往黑暗

We kill the flame
就讓我們撲滅光明

Magnified sanctified be thy holy name
你的名字神圣而光輝

Vilified crucified in the human frame
血肉之軀卻被折辱釘死

A million candles burning for the help that never came
千萬支蠟燭祈求著無法降臨的庇佑

You want it darker
如果你向往黑暗

Hineni hineni
我在這里,我在這里

——You Want It Darker

【關(guān)于自由,關(guān)于女人】

仿佛藝術(shù)家永遠(yuǎn)糾纏于兩個命題——自由和女人。

關(guān)于自由的態(tài)度,其實在《the tower of song》中他已經(jīng)說得再清楚不過了

I was born like this, I had no choice

I was born with the gift of a golden voice

And twenty-seven angels from the Great Beyond

They tied me to this table right here

In the Tower of Song

So you can stick your little pins in that voodoo doll

I'm very sorry, baby, doesn't look like me at all

I'm standing by the window where the light is strong

Ah they don't let a woman kill you

Not in the Tower of Song ”

對,他自戀,他害怕束縛,他狡黠幽默逃避沉默……而女人不就是這樣嗎?他越要逃開你越想追逐,他越是矜持猶豫你愈發(fā)深陷其中。

早在1966年他自己小說《美麗失敗者》(Beautiful Losers)中他就提出:

?“What is a saint? A saint is someone who has achieved a remote human possibility. It is impossible to say what that possibility is. I think it has something to do with the energy of love.”
“圣人是什么?圣人就是能實現(xiàn)那些看似不可能的事情。然而我沒法說出哪些是不可能的事。我想這可能和愛情的力量有關(guān)。 ”

科恩為她的情人們寫歌,《Suzamme》、《So Long, Marianne》,《Bird on a Wire》那么深情,那么痛苦,他卻無法和她們長久的走下去……

1975年在一段和保羅?威廉姆斯的采訪中他提到:

“I think marriage is the hottest furnace of the spirit today. Much more difficult than solitude, much more challenging for people who want to work on themselves. It’s a situation in which there are no alibis, excruciating most of the time… but it’s only in this situation that any kind of work can be done.”
“我認(rèn)為婚姻是世上最艱難的修行。比忍受孤獨(dú)更難,對那些想要獨(dú)立工作的人還更具挑戰(zhàn)性。在這種情況下,沒有借口,大部分時間令人痛苦不堪……但是只有在這種狀態(tài)下,你想做的任何工作都能夠完成?!?/div>

你可能一輩子都無法認(rèn)同這樣的他,但是你不得不承認(rèn),這樣的他真真切切讓人著迷,就像你聽一遍《I’m your man》就會被打動——

【關(guān)于死亡】

他的情人,他的繆斯,他為她寫歌的瑪麗安娜·伊倫在今年早些時候離世了,8月科恩寫給她的最后一封信中提到——

“We are really so old and our bodies are falling apart and I think I will follow you very soon.”
“我們真的已經(jīng)太蒼老了,我們的軀殼也在慢慢凋零,我覺得自己將隨你而去了?!?/div>

如今他走了,留在我們心中的那個他還是那般優(yōu)雅、從容,早在1984年的《哈利路亞》一曲中,他早對自己的一生有了一個最完整、最具詩意的總結(jié):

“I did my best, it wasn’t much. I couldn’t feel, so I tried to touch. I told the truth, I didn’t come to fool you. And even though it all went wrong, I’ll stand before the Lord of Song, with nothing on my tongue but Hallelujah…”
“我盡力了還不算多,我感覺不到,所以我設(shè)法碰觸,我講了實話,我沒有來愚弄你們,盡管都錯了,我在歌曲神明面前挺立,嘴邊什么都沒有,只有哈利路亞?!?/div>

--lyrics from his 1984 masterpiece, Hallelujah

聲明:本內(nèi)容為滬江英語原創(chuàng)整理,轉(zhuǎn)載需征得同意后,注明出處【滬江英語】。