逆风竞舟

    书名说是蓝调，但是全书根本没有几处谈及Blues音乐。所以莫如说是关于地下音乐的乡愁，又或者说是作者对于某些时代的音乐、音乐人的怀念。美国的20世纪60年代的嘻皮、台湾的80年代民歌运动，前者甚至在作者出生以前就已经结束——甚至生于1971年也无法赶上1969年的woodstock音乐节。

    而在1969年woodstock以后，有些事情就结束了——we haven't had that spirit here since nineteen sixty nine，Eagles们说自那以后我们就没有了spirit，这里的spirit不仅仅是说酒精。

    所以作者其实在写关于上辈人的青春回忆，音乐成为这种青春回忆的跨代载体。其实，当年在八里台立交桥下翻找打口磁带的时候，那些打口磁带何尝又不是这种载体呢？Bob Dylan、Neil Young、Paul Simon&Garfunkel、Joan Baez的声音，还有那张woodstock 1969双磁带专集里面的泥浆画面，它们原本不属于那个时代的八里台。然而它们却又都关乎我的那年记忆。

    有人说“在别处”，但是有的时候，其实是“在那时”。

    在火车上看这书的时候，mp3里恰好放了首歌，Joan Baez的Children of the Eighties。发现很应景，来回放着听。歌词说，我们喜欢60年代的歌曲，包括滚石乐队、甲壳虫乐队和大门乐队；歌词说，我们不介意Bob Dylan是否皈依基督、Jimi Hendrix是否还在弹吉他；歌词说我们知道Janis Joplin是玫瑰……

    全部歌词：

we're tender as a lotus and we're tougher than a stone
and the age of our innocence is somewhere in the garden

we like the music of the sixties
it's the rolling stones, the beatles and the doors
flower children, woodstock and the war
oh but it's getting harder to deceive us
and we don't care if dylan's gone to jesus
jimi hendrix is playing on
we know janis joplin was the rose
out of all the stuff that she put in her arm
we're not alarmed

we're the children of the eighties, haven't we grown?
we're tender as a lotus and we're tougher than a stone
and the age of our innocence is somewhere in the garden

some of us are the sisters and the brothers
who take a leather jacket and a single golden earring
hang out at discos, rock shows, lose our hearing
take uppers, downers, blues and reds and yellows
our brains are turning to jell-o
we are looking forward to the days
when we live inside of a purple haze
and the salvation of the soul is rock 'n' roll

we're the children of the eighties, haven't we grown?
we're tender as a lotus and we're tougher than a stone
and the age of our innocence is somewhere in the garden

recently have you looked in our eyes?
maybe we're your conscience in disguise
we're well informed and we are wise
please stop telling us lies
we know afghanistan's invaded
and we know el salvador's dictated
oh but our lives are just begun
we are the warriors of the sun
we're the golden boys
and the golden girls
for a better world

we're the children of the eighties, haven't we grown?
we're tender as a lotus and we're tougher than a stone
and the age of our innocence is somewhere in the garden