2009年9月アーカイブ

TITLE: The Sick Note　（ザ・シック・ノート）
AUTHOR: Pat Cooksey　（パット・クックシー）
PERFORMER: The Dubliners　（ザ・ダブリナーズ）

アイルランド人は飢饉や貧困のため島を離れ、新天地で体を使った仕事に従事していた、なんて書いてあるものを読みますが、この歌は建設現場で働く男の身に起こった出来事をコミカルに描いています。

こんなことが現実に起こるかどうかを考えるのは野暮というもの。同情、憐憫の類も不要。笑い飛ばすのが一番。

「ザ・ガーデン・ウェア・ザ・プレイティーズ・グロー(The Garden Where The Praties Grow)」という曲に歌詞をのせたもので、タイトルの「シック・ノート(The Sick Note)」以外に、いろいろな題名をつけて、いろいろなアーチストが歌っています。

Dear Sir I write this note to you to tell you of my plight
For at the time of writing I am not a pretty sight
My body is all black and blue my face a deathly grey
And I write this note to say why Paddy's not at work today

Whilst working on the fourteenth floor some bricks I had to clear
To throw them down from such a height was not a good idea
The foreman wasn't very pleased the bloody awkward sod
He said I had to cart them down the ladders in my hod

Now clearing all these bricks by hand it was so very slow
So I hoisted up a barrel and secured the rope below
But in my haste to do the job I was too blind to see
That a barrel full of building bricks was heavier than me

And so when I untied the rope the barrel fell like lead
And clinging tightly to the rope I started up instead
I shot up like a rocket till to my dismay I found
That half way up I met the bloody barrel coming down

Well the barrel broke my shoulder as to the ground it sped
And when I reached the top I banged the pulley with my head
I clung on tightly, numb with shock from this almighty blow
And the barrel spilled out half the bricks fourteen floors below

Now when these bricks had fallen from the barrel to the floor
I then outweighed the barrel and so started down once more
Still clinging tightly to the rope my body racked with pain
When half way down I met the bloody barrel once again

The force of this collision half way up the office block
Caused multiple abrasions and a nasty state of shock
Still clinging tightly to the rope I fell towards the ground
And I landed on the broken bricks the barrel scattered round

I lay there groaning on the ground I thought I'd passed the worst
But the barrel hit the pulley wheel and then the bottom burst
A shower of bricks rained down on me I hadn't got a hope
As I lay there bleeding on the ground I let go the bloody rope

The barrel then being heavier then started down once more
And landed right across me as I lay upon the floor
It broke three ribs, and my left arm and I can only say
That I hope you'll understand why Paddy's not at work today

TITLE: Peggy Gordon
AUTHOR:
PERFORMER: The Dubliners

ペギー・ゴードンという名の女性に思慕の念を抱く男性がテーマのスコットランドの曲です。

途中、Ingo（インゴ）という地名が出てくるのですが、これはどこなのでしょうか。何を調べてもこれといったものがなく、架空の地なのかな、なんて考えてしまいます。

ご存知の方がいらっしゃいましたら、是非お知らせください。

Oh, Peggy Gordon you are my darling
Come sit you down upon my knee
Come tell to me the very reason
Why I am slighted so by thee

I'm so in love I can't deny it
My heart lies smothered in my breast
It's not for you to let the world know it
A troubled mind can know no rest

I did put my head to a cask of brandy
It was my fancy I do declare
For when I'm drinking I am thinking
And wishing Peggy Gordon was here

I wish I was away in Ingo
Far across the briny sea
Sailing o'er the deepest ocean
Where love nor care never bother me

I wish I was in some lonesome valley
Where womankind can not be found
Where the pretty small birds do change their voices
And every moment a different sound

Oh, Peggy Gordon you are my darling
Come sit you down upon my knee
Come tell to me the very reason
Why I am slighted so by thee

TITLE: Seven Drunken Nights　（セブン・ドランクン・ナイツ）
AUTHOR:
PERFORMER: The Dubliners　（ザ・ダブリナーズ）

一週間、いや、毎日酒びたりの生活をしている男の歌です。旦那が酒におぼれている間、女房は男に．．．　どっちがどうだ、というわけではないのですが、歌に描かれるぐらいですから、ここまでひどくはなくても、きっとこういう夫婦はいたのでしょう。いるのでしょう、世界中に。

月曜日から始まって日曜日で終わるのですが、歌は５番、つまり金曜日までです。理由は、言わずもがなです。

ボーカルはロニー・ドリュー(Ronnie Drew)で、この歌にはぴったりの声だとおもいます。失礼。

As I went home on Monday night as drunk as drunk could be
I saw a horse outside the door where my old horse should be
Well, I called me wife and I said to her, will you kindly tell to me
Who owns that horse outside the door where my old horse should be

Ay, you're drunk, you're drunk you silly old fool, still you can not see
That's a lovely sow that me mother sent to me
Well, it's many a day I've travelled a hundred miles or more
But a saddle on a sow sure I never saw before

And as I went home on Tuesday night as drunk as drunk could be
I saw a coat behind the door where my old coat should be
Well, I called me wife and I said to her, wiill you kindly tell to me
Who owns that coat behind the door where my old coat should be

Ay, you're drunk, you're drunk you silly old fool, still you can not see
That's a woollen blanket that me mother sent to me
Well, it's many a day I've travelled a hundred miles or more
But buttons in a blanket sure I never saw before

And as I went home on Wednesday night as drunk as drunk could be
I saw a pipe up on the chair where my old pipe should be
Well, I called me wife and I said to her, will you kindly tell to me
Who owns that pipe up on the chair where my old pipe should be

Ay, you're drunk, you're drunk you silly old fool, still you can not see
That's a lovely tin whistle that me mother sent to me
Well, it's many a day I've travelled a hundred miles or more
But tobacco in a tin whistle sure I never saw before

And as I went home on Thursday night as drunk as drunk could be
I saw two boots beneath the bed where my old boots should be
Well, I called me wife and I said to her, will you kindly tell to me
Who owns them boots beneath the bed where my old boots should be

Ay, you're drunk, you're drunk you silly old fool, still you can not see
They're two lovely geranium pots me mother sent to me
Well, it's many a day I've travelled a hundred miles or more
But laces in geranium pots I never saw before

And as I went home on Friday night as drunk as drunk could be
I saw a head upon the bed where my old head should be
Well, I called me wife and I said to her, will you kindly tell to me
Who owns that head upon the bed where my old head should be

Ay, you're drunk, you're drunk you silly old fool, still you can not see
That's a baby boy that me mother sent to me
Well, it's many a day I've travelled a hundred miles or more
But a baby boy with his whiskers on sure I never saw before

And as I went home on Saturday night as drunk as drunk could be
I saw two hands upon her breasts where my old hands should be
Well, I called me wife and I said to her, will you kindly tell to me
Who owns them hands upon your breasts where my old hands should be

Ay, you're drunk, you're drunk you silly old fool, still you can not see
That's a lovely night gown that me mother sent to me
Well, it's many a day I've travelled a hundred miles or more
But fingers in a night gown sure I never saw before

As I went home on Sunday night as drunk as drunk could be
I saw a thing in her thing where my old thing should be
Well, I called me wife and I said to her, will you kindly tell to me
Who owns that thing in your thing where my old thing should be

Ay, you're drunk, you're drunk you silly old fool, still you can not see
That's a lovely tin whistle that me mother sent to me
Well, it's many a day I've travelled a hundred miles or more
But hair on a tin whistle sure I never saw before

TITLE: The Fairytale Of New York　（フェアリーテール・オブ・ニューヨーク）
AUTHOR: Shane McGowan / Jem Finer　（シェーン・マガウワン／ジェム・ファイナー）
PERFORMER: The Pogues & Kirsty MacColl　（ザ・ポーグス＆カースティー・マッコール）

クリスマス・ソングといえば、テレビやラジオから聞こえてくるのはロマンチックなものばかりですが、個人的には人間臭漂うこの曲のほうが好みです。

登場するのはアイルランドから移民としてやってきた長年連れ添った喧嘩が絶えない夫婦、ニューヨークを舞台に昔と今がまるで理想と現実のように対比して描かれています。

最後の男のセリフが、なかなか、です。

ポーグス(The Pogues)にカースティー・マッコール(Kirsty MacColl)がボーカルとして加わった「ザ・フェアリーテール・オブ・ニューヨーク(The Fairytale Of New York)」という曲です。

シェーン・マガウワン(Shane McGowan)とジェム・ファイナー(Jem Finer)による1987年の作品で、ポーグスは80年代から活躍しているバンド、カースティー・マッコールはもうこの世にはいない女性歌手です。

It was Christmas Eve babe in the drunk tank
An old man said to me, won't see another one
And then he sang a song The Rare Old Mountain Dew
I turned my face away and dreamed about you

Got on a lucky one came in eighteen to one
I've got a feeling this year's for me and you
So happy Christmas I love you baby
I can see a better time when all our dreams come true

They've got cars big as bars, they've got rivers of gold
But the wind goes right through you it's no place for the old
When you first took my hand on a cold Christmas Eve
You promised me Broadway was waiting for me

You were handsome, you were pretty, queen of New York City
When the band finished playing they howled out for more
Sinatra was swinging all the drunks they were singing
We kissed on a corner then danced through the night

The boys of the NYPD choir were singing Galway Bay
And the bells were ringing out for Christmas day

You're a bum, you're a punk, you're an old slut on junk
Lying there almost dead on a drip in that bed
You scumbag, you maggot, you cheap lousy faggot
Happy Christmas your arse I pray God it's our last

The boys of the NYPD choir still singing Galway Bay
And the bells were ringing out for Christmas day

I could have been someone, well so could anyone
You took my dreams from me when I first found you
I kept them with me babe I put them with my own
Can't make it all alone I've built my dreams around you

The boys of the NYPD choir still singing Galway Bay
And the bells were ringing out for Christmas day