卡洛爾·金：音樂才女依然寶刀未老

Carole King是美國最成功的“創(chuàng)作歌手”之一，她的作品再現(xiàn)了上世紀60年代早期的風范。在1971年發(fā)布的專輯《織錦畫》（Tapestry）位居歷史上最暢銷的專輯行列中。她與第一任丈夫Gerry Goffin共贏得了4個格萊美獎，并入選歌曲名人堂（Songwriters Hall of Fame）和搖滾名人堂（Rock and Roll Hall of Fame）。她擁有女歌手音樂專輯和流行榜No.1上榜時間最長的紀錄。時至今日，70歲高齡的Carole King不但沒有被喜愛音樂的人們遺忘，而且更是音樂才女的不朽代表。

Interviewer： Shes had 100 hit singles and written songs for The Beatles， Aretha Franklin， Kylie Minogue and Adele. Carole King is quite simply the most successful and 1）prolific female songwriter of all time. In fact， over the last 50 years， her music has been recorded by 1000 singers. For those too young or too 2）befuddled to recall the 1960s and early 70s， the songs of Carole King provide a perfect 3）snapshot of the time. It was an age when love and optimism reigned supreme and the Earth moved in quite wonderful ways.

Ive never have said this at the beginning of an interview， but your achievements are so 4）prodigious I really dont know where to start.

Carol： （Laughs）

Interviewer： Let me name some songs： “Will You Love Me Tomorrow？”， “5）Locomotion”， “One Fine Day”， “Pleasant Valley Sunday”， “Youve Got a Friend”， “I Feel the Earth Move”， and thats just the tip， just the tip of the Carole King iceberg.

Carol： Well， Ive lived， Im now…this year I turned 70， and in all that time Ive been writing songs for a very long time， and the lucky thing for me is that people like them， but thats why theres so many of them.

Interviewer： Carole Kings amazing musical “Dream run”began way back in 1960， when， at only 17 years of age， she wrote “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow？”， recorded by The Shirelles， the first black girl band to top the American charts. It was co-written with her first husband Gerry Goffin. “Will You Still Love Me…” was the first of an astonishing 100 number ones for Carol King， a 6）feat thats unlikely ever to be beat.

Carol： When a person is creative， you must write， you must have some of that. When youre writing and the words just flow out of your pen or your computer or whatever， thats what happens. When Im truly present， I get out of the way and all this stuff comes through.

Interviewer： And that is the question， isnt it？ If we knew where it came from， we would know how to do it and there would be no great mystery to writing a great song.

Carol： But even if I…I am someone who knows how to do it and is lucky enough…

Interviewer： You know how to build it.

Carol： …to have it come through， and I can still feel that sense of “Oh my god， this is so beautiful”， its coming through me and Im watching it at the same time， and Im so moved that I cant sing it. This happens sometimes when Im performing. “Youve Got a Friend” is one of the…the songs.

Interviewer： Well， theres never a dry eye in the house.

Carol： Never a dry eye in the house， and including my own—but I have to， you know， think about something else so that I can stay focused on being the channel for it to get to the people instead of being one of the people affected by it.

Interviewer： In the 1960s， Carole King was part of the “great American hit-making machine”. Song after song written by King and Guffin became signature pieces for the decades biggest names； from Hermans Hermits to Dusty Springfield， and even The Monkees. She was writing the soundtrack for the lives of a whole generation. When we think of Aretha Franklin， we think of “Natural Woman”.

Carol： If I may say， many…many people have sung“Natural Woman”， most better than I. Arethas is the 7）definitive version， and， you know，…

Interviewer： But…but yours aint bad.

Carol： Mine is another thing. Mine is not that great soaring vocal. Its—heres how I can sing this song， and its honest and its real and its 8）authentic， and so thats the appeal of that， but when it comes to just a presentation—Aretha.

Interviewer： When Aretha Franklin sang “Natural Woman”in 1967， it was a 9）tumultuous time in the United States. Aside from the social and political 10）upheaval， the music business was forced to adapt as a new wave of reformers， led by The Beatles， launched an 11）assault on the United States.

Carol： They changed the music business in a big way because， before that， we songwriters could write for artists who needed songs. They didnt need songs， and neither did anyone else in the “British invasion”， as we called it. The Rolling Stones， Gerry & The Pacemakers， all the…all the artists that came over that wrote their own songs. And then there was Bob Dylan coming up on the “folk” side， again a lot of singers writing their own songs， so that was a big change for us. Its like， “Oh， what do we do now？”

Interviewer： You wrote melodies in a sense and cooperated on songs， often， mostly， initially， for other people. Was that a great amount of generosity on your part， or was it…？ If I could sing like you， Im saying， and I had those lyrics， Id be so jealous Id be doing them myself.

Carol： But I never thought of myself as a singer， and I think I grew into becoming one， and， to this day， they may review a performance and say， “Well， her voice 12）cracked on the high notes”. Du-u-uh！ Im not a singer！ （laughs）

Interviewer： Had it not been for her long-time friend and 13）collaborator， James Taylor， Carole King might have remained in the shadows， an almost 14）anonymous songwriter. James Taylor， it was， who really convinced you to get out there in the spotlight and be a performer.

Carol： It was more than convinced. He said， “Youre gonna sing up on the roof” and “No， no， no， please， please dont make me”.

Interviewer： You were on tour.

Carol： We， yeah we were on a sort of a mini college weekend tour thing.

Interviewer： Yeah. He dragged you out to sing your song， introduced you as the writer.

Carol： Introduced me， and said，…

Interviewer： And people said， “Ah， did she write that song？”

Carol： And they did do that. They were quite， “a-a-ah”.

Interviewer： Yeah of course they did， and how did you feel about this？ You were 15）white-knuckled.

Carol： I was terrified， and I began to sing， and it was very timid， and then as I， you know， got into it more， I could feel that little shift that， you know， where people were open to the idea， but I had to win them over， but I didnt know how to win them over， so I just sang the song， and there was a shift， and they were with me. And once that happened， I have rarely had moments of lack of confidence.

Interviewer： This new-found confidence encouraged Carole King to record what became one of the biggestselling albums of all time—it sold 25 million copies—the rich collection of songs called “16）Tapestry” about love and 17）heartache. King has been married four times. She should know a bit about the subject. What are your conclusions about love and its place in the human condition？

Carol： Cant live without it.

Interviewer： （laughing） I cant live with it either.

Carol： Well， sometimes cant live with it， but cant live without it. Love is…its the best， and everybody should have it.

采訪者：她已經(jīng)擁有100首暢銷單曲，并為甲殼蟲樂隊、艾瑞莎·弗蘭克林、凱莉·米洛和阿黛爾寫歌。簡而言之，卡洛爾·金是史上最成功最多產(chǎn)的女性創(chuàng)作歌手。事實上，在過去的50多年來，她的音樂已被1000位歌手錄制。對于那些太年輕或太糊涂的人去回憶20世紀60年代和70年代初，卡洛爾·金的歌能提供一種完美的時間快照。那是個愛與樂觀占主導地位、世界以相當奇妙的方式發(fā)展的年代。

我從未在開始一個采訪的時候說過這樣的話，但你的成就太卓越，我真的不知道從哪里開始。

卡洛爾·金：（笑）

采訪者：我先羅列一些歌名吧：《明天你是否依然愛我》、《舞動》、《晴朗的一天》、《周日愉悅的山谷》、《你得到一個朋友》和《我感覺大地在移動》，那僅僅是一小部分，是卡洛爾·金所寫歌曲中的冰山一角。

卡洛爾·金：嗯，我已經(jīng)活了……今年我已經(jīng)70歲了，我一直在寫歌，寫了很長很長時間，幸運的是，人們都喜歡這些歌，所以我能夠?qū)懥四敲炊唷?/p>

采訪者：卡洛爾·金那了不起的音樂“夢幻之旅”開始于1960年，當時，年僅17歲的她寫了一首歌曲，名叫《明天你是否依然愛我》，由夏瑞麗樂隊—首個黑人女孩樂隊錄制，占據(jù)了美國各排行榜的榜首。《明天你是否依然愛我》是她和她第一任丈夫格里·戈芬共同創(chuàng)作，也是卡洛爾·金100首冠軍歌曲中的第一首，有著不可被超越的成績。

卡洛爾·金：當你有創(chuàng)意時，你就必須寫作，必須做類似的事情。當你寫作的時候，文字就會通過你的筆、電腦或任何工具噴涌而出，作品就是這樣形成。當靈感真的來臨，我會毫不猶豫地（寫下來），于是作品就出來了。

采訪者：那就是問題的所在，是吧？如果我們都知道靈感的來源，知道如何去做，那么創(chuàng)作一首好歌就不是個很大的秘密了。

卡洛爾·金：但是盡管我知道如何創(chuàng)作，并且很幸運地……

采訪者：你知道如何制造靈感。

卡洛爾·金：……創(chuàng)作出來了，然而我仍然有種感覺就是：“哦，我的天，這太美了?！备枨鷮懲?，我一邊看著，由于太感動而無法哼唱。這種情況有時也在我的演唱過程中出現(xiàn)，《你得到一個朋友》就是其中的一首。

采訪者：嗯，現(xiàn)場人人眼泛淚光。

卡洛爾·金：現(xiàn)場人人眼泛淚光，包括我自己。但是你知道，我必須轉(zhuǎn)移注意力，才能讓自己集中精力引導粉絲，才不至于成為受感染的粉絲之一。

采訪者：在20世紀60年代，卡洛爾·金就如一部高性能的美國創(chuàng)作機器。金和戈芬寫了一首又一首，這些歌曲成為了那十年里大牌歌星們的傳世佳作。從赫爾曼的隱士們樂隊到達斯汀·史普林菲爾德，甚至門基樂隊，她為整整一代人寫歌。當我們想到艾瑞莎·弗蘭克林，我們就想到《本色女人》。

卡洛爾·金：如果我要說，很多人都唱過《本色女人》，大部分都唱得比我好，而艾瑞莎的是最權(quán)威的版本，你知道，而且……

采訪者：但是你的也不賴。

卡洛爾·金：我的是另一種感覺。我的不是飆高音，這是我對這首歌曲的表達，實實在在的、真實可信的，那是它的吸引之處。但要說到現(xiàn)場的效果，非艾瑞莎莫屬。

采訪者：1967年艾瑞莎·弗蘭克林演唱《本色女人》的時候，正是美國的動蕩年代。除了社會和政治的劇變，音樂界也被迫適應新的改革浪潮，以甲殼蟲樂隊為首，對美國樂壇展開了一場沖擊。卡洛爾·金：他們對音樂界產(chǎn)生了巨大的影響，以前我們這些歌曲創(chuàng)作者可以為有需求的歌手寫歌。后來他們不需要歌了，那些受英國人影響（我們稱之為“英國人入侵”）的人也不需要歌。滾石樂隊、Gerry & The Pacemakers樂隊，所有這些外來的歌手都自己寫歌。接著鮑勃·迪倫在民謠方面嶄露頭角，于是（民謠）歌手也自己寫歌，所以對我們是種巨大的沖擊。就好像“哦，那我們現(xiàn)在能做什么”？

采訪者：在某種意義上說，你譜寫樂章、與人合作填詞，最開頭主要是給別人寫的，那是因為你自己很慷慨大方還是……？如果我像你那樣能唱，我是說，我有歌詞，我就會很嫉妒說我自己也可以演唱。

卡洛爾·金：但是我從來沒想過自己能成為歌手，我是慢慢發(fā)展成為一名歌手的，時至今日，有人回顧我的某個演出會說：“哦，高音部分她的聲音都爆掉了?！焙冒?，我不是個歌手！（笑）

采訪者：要不是她多年的好友兼合作人詹姆斯·泰勒，卡洛爾·金可能還停留在別人的光環(huán)下，仍是個默默無聞的歌曲寫手。真的是詹姆斯·泰勒說服你走出來，站在聚光燈下，成為一名演唱者。

卡洛爾·金：不僅僅是說服，他說：“你將在歌唱方面名揚四海。”我說：“別，別，別，求你別戲弄我?！?/p>

采訪者：你開了巡回演唱會。

卡洛爾·金：是的，我們開了一系列小型的校園巡回演唱會。

采訪者：是吧，他把你拽出來演唱自己的歌曲，介紹你是一名歌曲作者。

卡洛爾·金：他介紹了我，并且說……

采訪者：而人們就說：“啊，那首歌是她寫的？”

卡洛爾·金：他們確實是那樣做，他們不大相信。

采訪者：是啊，他們當然不相信，你當時有什么感覺？很緊張。

卡洛爾·金：我很害怕，于是我開始唱，很膽小害羞，當我投入更多的時候，我感覺自己有所領(lǐng)悟，人們有這樣的想法，我就必須贏得他們的支持，但我不知道怎樣做，于是我全情投入演唱，人們也漸漸沉浸在我的演唱中。這種情況一發(fā)生，我就總是信心滿滿的了。

采訪者：新找到的自信鼓勵卡洛爾·金錄制了史上最暢銷的唱片之一—《織錦畫》，該唱片售出了兩千五百萬張，當中收錄了一系列關(guān)于愛與痛的情歌。金結(jié)過四次婚，應該會了解一些這個主題。你對于愛和它在人類生命中的位置有什么結(jié)論？

卡洛爾·金：沒有愛就無法生存。

采訪者：（笑）我也是沒有愛就無法生存。

卡洛爾·金：是啊，有時候雖然有愛也無法生存，但是沒有愛肯定無法生存。愛是最好的，每個人都應該擁有。