他说 “我不知道”
And he went, “I don’t know.”
我 去了葬礼 唱了歌♥…
I, er, was at the funeral, and I sang…
我之前从来没在葬礼上唱过歌♥
I’ve never sung at a funeral before, ever.
这可是MJ的葬礼 他们过来
So, this is Michael Jackson’s funeral, and they come in
对我说 “Mariah 你是第一个”
and go, “Mariah, you’re on first.”
I Never Dreamed You’d Leave In Summer 是我
I Never Dreamed You’d Leave In Summer was a song that myself
和Syreeta Wright –
and Syreeta Wright –
她是我的第一任妻子 Syreeta 我们一起写的
well, she was my first wife, Syreeta – wrote together.
当年我唱这首歌♥的时候 就在Michael…悼念仪式时演唱的时候
When I sang it, at Michael’s…homecoming service,
我从没想过 我会比Michael Jackson活得久
I never, ever imagined that I would be outliving Michael Jackson.
真是太痛苦了
It’s very, very painful.
还是无法相信他真的走了
It’s still unbelievable to me that he’s actually dead
我们都应该感到惭愧 我们每一个人
and we should all be ashamed. Each of us to a one.
我不知道该看谁
And I don’t know who to look at.
我想Michael会说 看镜中人吧
Michael said, I guess, look at the man in the mirror.
约翰列侬去世的时候 人们会去听Imagine
Just like when John Lennon died, people turned to Imagine,
Michael Jackson去世时 人们会去听Man in the mirror(镜中人)
when Michael Jackson died, people turned to Man In The Mirror.
之前的专辑里从来没有过 让人振奋起来的颂歌♥
It really doesn’t have that inspirational pop anthem on it,
像Greatest Love of All 或者Whitney Houston的Saving All My Love For You
like Greatest Love of All, Whitney Houston, Saving All My Love For You,
以前的专辑里从来没有过 有趣的是Bad却收录了一首
that kind of thing, and it’s interesting that Bad does.
我们一直说如果能有一首颂歌♥就好了
We kept talking about how nice it would be to get an anthem
那感觉一定很棒 就像
that had a good feel to it, you know, just like
墙上的一缕阳光
some sunshine on the world.
他就叫了一些词曲家们在西海岸开会
So he called a meeting with his West Coast songwriters,
我记得 当时我们有六个人
I think there were like, six of us.
他说 他想要首乐观向上的歌♥
He said he wanted something upbeat,
他说想要一首让人振奋起来的歌♥…
he said he wanted something that felt good…
Whitney Houston的第二张专辑 正在席卷排行榜
Whitney Houston’s second solo album was storming the charts
她应该是带起了一阵子流行潮
and I think she provided a little bit of heat,
我想 当时公♥司♥就在考虑
and I think that the label was concerned about how to kind of
怎么才能把被Whitney Houston吸引走的听众 吸引过来
appeal to this audience that had gravitated to Whitney Houston.
我去了Glen Ballard的家 他是我那时的创作伙伴
Went to Glen Ballard’s house, who was my writing partner at the time,
我说 这就是Quincy的要求
I said, “This is what Quincy wants”.
他说 好吧 让我们想想能做点什么
He said, “Well, let’s just see what we come up with”.
他站起来 走到键盘边
He stands up, goes over to the keyboard,
打开键盘
turns on the keyboard
开始弹
and starts playing…
同时我翻着我的歌♥词本 …
So I’m flipping through my lyric book…
他还在那弹着
While he’s playing these…
直接在键盘上创作…
Just getting sounds on the keyboard.
正好这个会面的两年前
Cut to two years before this meeting.
我正和John Beasley一起创作 他是个爵士钢琴家
I’m writing with John Beasley, jazz pianist.
他的电♥话♥响了
His phone rings,
他接起电♥话♥ 而不是让答录机接
and he picked the phone up instead of letting the machine pick it up.
嗯 什么事情啊 啊 没干啥啊
“Yeah, what’s happening? I’m not doing nothing.
我心里说 什么叫没干啥啊
And I’m thinking, “He’s doing something!”
我就开始乱翻 心里嘀咕
And I’m flipping through my book,
他竟然说什么都没干 才不是呢
no, he didn’t say he’s not doing nothing. No, he didn’t.
我一边翻一边听到他说 “什么人? ”
So I’m flipping through this book and I hear him say, “The man?”
“什么人? 哦 镜中人哦”
“What man? Oh, the man in the mirror.”
我就写下来Man in the mirror(镜中人)
I wrote, “man in the mirror”.
两年后在Glen家里
So two years later, I’m at Glen’s house and the phrase
这句镜中人就突然出现在我脑海里
“man in the mirror” just popped out at me
我开始奋笔疾书歌♥词
and I started writing these lyrics
就嫌还写得不够快
that I couldn’t write them fast enough,
就嫌还写得不够快 15分钟后 我们就写完了
I couldn’t get it all out fast enough and in like, 15 minutes,
Man in the mirror的第一段和副歌♥
we had the first verse and the chorus for Man In The Mirror.
“我相信会有改变”
“I’m certain there will be a change
“一切就从镜中人开始…”
“and starting with that man in the mirror…”
后来的展开很漂亮
The lyrics evolved into what they are,
但就是从这样一个开头开始的
but these are the humble beginnings.
Glen说 “你去把歌♥词写完”
Glen said, “You go finish the lyrics,
“我把曲子写完 周五我们出样带”
“and I’ll finish the track and we’ll demo the song on Friday”.
周五我们完成的时候 已经过了时间 很晚了
Friday night we finished it after the Quest publishing was closed.
所以我给Quincy家里打电♥话♥
So I called Quincy at home.
他说”我在开会 我不…”
He said, “I’m having a meeting, I can’t…
“你不要来 周一再带到办公室去吧”
“You can’t drop it off. Just take it to the office on Monday.”
我说 “我…”
I said, “I…
“我等不到周一了”
“I can’t wait till Monday.
“就让我…让我拿过去吧” “Sied…” “Quincy 就…”
“Let me just, let me just drop it… “Sied…” “Quincy, let me just…”
“好吧 夭寿”
“All right, shit.”
我跑去他家…
And I go to his house…
我迅速的塞给他一个卡带 我说
I give Quincy this really quickly, this cassette, I say just,
“你听完马上打电♥话♥给我…”
“All I ask is you just call me as soon as…”
他说 “好吧 要命”
He said, “All right, shit”.
两三个小时后 电♥话♥来了 Quincy在电♥话♥里说
Two, three hours later, I get a call and Quincy goes,
“Sied 这是我这十年来听到的”
“Sied, this is the best song that I’ve heard
“最棒的歌♥”
“in ten years”.
我就高兴坏了
– And I’m like…
样带的调…
The key…
对Michael来说高了一个音
was one step too high for Michael,
Quincy让我用新调再重录一盘样带
so Quincy wanted me to re-sing the demo in the new key.
所以我就到这儿来再录一遍
So I come here and I’m singing the demo in the new key
而Michael…在给我录像
and Michael…is filming me.
准备好了随时开始 Siedah小姐
Whenever you’re ready, Miss Siedah.
我之所以想到这段
I got that image
因为有一次我在纽约的街上走
cos I was walking down the street in New York, walking past
路过一幢被围起来的褐色建筑物 基本都已经塌了
this brownstone that had been torn down and it was fenced.
玻璃全是碎的
Just a lot with broken glass
还有一棵树…
and this tree…
树上刻着什么人的开头字母
that someone had carved their initials into this tree…
这首歌♥从一开始就是首好歌♥
It was really a great song from inception,
不过我觉得Michael让这首歌♥
but I think what Michael did is he took that song
成为了自己的一个标注
and he made it his own.
在流行乐这个圈子里 有这么一种看法
In popular music, there’s often this idea that you are either
要么你就是写出你个人经历的写歌♥人
the songwriter of your own material
要么你就只是个”转述者”
or you are the interpreter.
但Michael Jackson就是两者兼顾
The interesting thing about Michael Jackson is that he was both.
你可能都不明白他在唱什么
You may not even know what he’s talking about,
一只破碎的酒瓶盖 各种各样的画面
a broken bottle top, all kinds of images are floating,
但他为这首歌♥加注的信念和热情
but it’s the conviction and the fervour with which
才是让歌♥真正打动人的地方
he brings to the song that is really spectacular.
他说 Andrae 我有首歌♥
He said, “Andrae, I got a song.
听听这首歌♥ 你觉得合声应该放在哪里呢
“If you were listening to this and wondered where a choir should be…”
他说 我很想在歌♥曲里加入你的合声
He said, “I would love to have a choir and I’ve heard your music.”
Change 我说就这里 他说我也是这么想的
“Change,” I said, “Right there, you’re exactly right”.
然后和声组唱道
And the choir sang…
Andrae Crouch的和音组非常出色
Andrae Crouch’s choir seriously threw it on the end
唱出了很多歌♥手的特色 居然包括Winans 太让我意外了
and it featured all kinds of singers, including, I didn’t realise the Winans were on there!
我兄弟Marvin问他
My brother Marvin asked him,
你想让我们怎么处理 怎么来表演
“Exactly what do, how do you want us to do it?”
他跟Quincy Jones耳语了一番
He was whispering into Quincy Jones’ ear
然后Quincy
and Quincy would actually…
给我们传了话
..relay the message to us
然后我兄弟Marvin问 “Michael 你不能说吗?”
and my brother Marvin said, “Well, Michael, can you talk?”
Michael一改那害羞劲 坐到了钢琴边
Mike broke out of the shell, sat down on the piano,
开始弹… 我都不知道Michael会弹钢琴
started playing the part… I didn’t even know Michael PLAYED piano.
这是我最喜欢的一段 就这段
OK, here’s my favourite link, right here.
那时候我可红了啊
That’s when I was hot, back in the day!
Man In The Mirror Quincy说必须上大♥师♥级的
Man In The Mirror, Quincy said give me the masterclass.
这就是里面出现的掌声
Those handclaps, that’s what you hear.
我们仨围着麦克风 现场实时直录
The three of us would surround the mic, we’d nail it in real-time.
然后
Then, what we would do,
播放器加速15%
we would speed this machine up maybe 15%,
声轨快速播放
so the track’s going by really fast
但打拍子的节奏不变 再录入一次
and we’re still clapping the same thing, then when you play back at a regular speed,
这样用正常的速度放出来 有两组拍子的声音 一组是实时的
it’s fat, so we have two sets of claps – in real-time
但同时还有一组相合的慢拍子
and the fat claps underneath which are exactly in the same time.
所以听听我们录的所有歌♥曲
That’s why if you listen to all those records we’ve done –
会发现这样做的背景节拍是最棒的
some of the best clap sounds you’ll ever hear.
