寻找小糖人（2012）

was quite a brutal way of ensuring the song
是非常野蛮的
would never be heard on the air.
大多数的歌♥都在 南非广播电视台的禁播曲目单里
Most of those tracks were on the banned list at SABC
政♥府♥也完全掌控者广播电视行业
and they ran the broadcast industry completely.
没有任何独♥立♥的广播站或电视台
There weren’t any independent radio stations or TV stations.
很明显 被禁的话一放出
Obviously, when that word got out,
斯蒂夫·M·哈里斯 罗德里格兹当时在南非的唱片公♥司♥老板
就会让专辑变得更有吸引力
it just made the record more desirable.
哇 有东西被禁了
You know, it’s like having something banned.
就像一个十六七岁的孩子 他居然有东西被禁了
You’re 16, 17 years old and you’ve got something that’s banned.
简直太完美了
It was absolutely perfect.
《无法逃离》 罗德里格兹 1973
Can’t Get Away by Rodriguez
南非 开普敦
出生在这个问题城市
Born in the troubled city
美国的摇滚之都
In Rock and Roll, USA
在最高的大厦的阴影里
In the shadow of the tallest building
我发誓要逃离
I vowed I would break away
周日节目里的演员
Listened to the Sunday actors
他们却只会说
But all they would ever say
你是逃不掉的
That you can’t get away from it
逃不掉
No, you can’t get away
《冷事实》只是我们众多唱片收藏中的一张
Cold Fact was just one of the albums we had in our collections,
过了10年 20年
and for 10, 20 years,
它只是我们非常喜欢的一张专辑而已
it was just a record we listened to and enjoyed.
但一件关键的转折事件 彻底改变了我
But then a pivotal event happened that changed everything for me.
我们当时在坎普斯湾海滩
We were down in Camps Bay beach.
我们坐在海滩上 有一个朋友
We were sitting around on the beach and a friend of mine,
她是南非人
a woman, who was from South Africa,
后来结婚移居去了洛杉矶
but she had got married and emigrated to Los Angeles,
她问”在南非哪里可以买♥♥到《冷事实》”
she said to me, “Where can I buy Cold Fact in South Africa?”
我转过身 指着街对面的一家店
And I turned round and I pointed to a store across the road
那家店有CD卖♥♥ 我就说”那里就可以买♥♥到”
that sold CDs and I said, “You can buy it at that store.”
她说”真的 因为
She said, “Really? Because,
在美国你到处都找不到哪里有卖♥♥”
you know, you can’t buy it anywhere in America.
“我在美国到处问 甚至都没人听说过”
“I’ve asked everywhere in America, no one’s even heard of it.”
这就是那个关键时刻 因为我之前完全不知道
And that was a pivotal moment, ’cause I didn’t know that.
我以为人人都认识罗德里格兹
I thought everybody knew Rodriguez,
尤其是在美国 他是美国人嘛
especially in America ’cause he was American.
所以我接下来就像”啊 罗德里格兹啊 有意思”
So my next thought was, “Ah, Rodriguez, that’s interesting. ”
我回到家 翻出自己的罗德里格兹的专辑
I went back… I came back home and I took out my Rodriguez records
那时候我才意识到 唱片上没有任何内容…
and that’s when I realised there was nothing on the record
告诉我们他是谁 他是哪里人
to tell us who he was or where he was from.
《冷事实》上面有四个名字
On Cold Fact there are four names.
正面只有”罗德里格兹”
On the front cover it just says “Rodriguez.”
但如果我们把唱片拿出来 看上面的标签
But if we take the record out and examine the sleeve,
名字是”西斯托·罗德里格兹”
the artist’s name is Sixto Rodriguez.
但如果继续看曲目表
But if you look at the tracks,
其中有6首
six of these tracks
作者写的是”上帝·罗德里格兹”
are credited to Jesus Rodriguez,
还有4首
and four of these tracks
作者写的是”六王子”
are credited to Sixth Prince.
所以这些歌♥到底是谁写的
So who actually wrote these songs
这些人又是谁呢
and who are all these people?
我们除了一张唱片以外 再无别的线索
We didn’t have any more information than a record
封面上的他 也戴着帽子和墨镜
with him sitting on the cover with a hat and sunglasses on.
我们也不知道他有多高 因为他是盘腿坐着的
We didn’t know how tall he was ’cause he was sitting cross-legged.
一个谜团要怎么解开呢
So how do you solve a mystery?
要尽可能利用手头的信息
You use whatever information’s available.
我们有什么呢 唱片上的歌♥词
What did we have? A record cover with lyrics.
所以我们开始深入研究歌♥词
So we started looking quite deeply at the lyrics
看看是在说什么
and seeing what they said,
有几句 非常少 提到了地理位置信息
and some of them, very few of them, had geographical references.
《无法逃离》的开头唱道
The one You Can’t getaway starts off,
“出生在这问题城市”
“Born in the troubled city
“美国的摇滚之都”
“In Rock and Roll, USA.”
哪个”问题城市”啊
Born in which troubled city?
60年代末的城市似乎都还挺有问题的
Seems all the cities were troubled in the late ’60s.
“最高大楼的阴影下”
“In the shadow of the tallest building.”
当时最高的楼 据我所知 在纽约
The tallest building, as far as we knew, was in New York.
歌♥下面这里有句写道
And at the bottom of the song this verse says,
“在阿姆斯特丹的旅馆房♥间内”
“In a hotel room in Amsterdam.”
这里还有
Then it says,
“灰尘弥漫的乔治亚州路上 我漫游着” 乔治亚州
“Going down a dusty Georgian side road I wander.” Georgia?
所以现在我们有阿姆斯特丹 有乔治亚州
So we’ve had Amsterdam, we’ve had Georgia,
还有世界第一高楼
we’ve had the world’s tallest building.
没有更多线索了
Not much to go on.
我听说的版本是
Well, what I heard,
各个版本有很大差别
and the story differs a lot,
很多人听说的都是不同的版本 但我听说的是
and a lot of people have different versions of the story, but what I heard,
他已经很久没有表演过了
he hadn’t played a concert in a very long time.
宣传方让他开演唱会
And a promoter got him to play a concert,
他期待会是一场成功的演出
and he was hoping it was gonna be a great show.
不过当然演出没有成功
Of course, the show didn’t work out that way. It started out…
声音不对 地点也不对
The sound wasn’t good. The venue wasn’t good.
这个演出的一切都不太对
A lot of the factors surrounding the show wasn’t good.
演出不断进行的过程中
And as the show went on and on,
完全是走下坡路 人们开始嘲笑他
it started going downhill from there. People started ridiculing him.
朝他吹口哨 或者不断向他提起
People started whistling or making mention of the fact that,
演出跟想象得差太远了
you know, the show wasn’t going as planned.
直到最后 他安静又温柔的
And it got to a point where, just very quietly, very gently,
唱了最后一首歌♥
he just sang his last song.
“谢谢你们的时间 然后你们也能谢谢我的”
“But thanks for your time Then you can thank me for mine
“最后都忘了吧”
“And after that’s said forget it.”
然后他就掏出手♥枪♥ 扣动了扳机
And he reached down and pulled up a gun and pulled the trigger.
非常戏剧化的结尾
And that was the dramatic, very dramatic ending,
尽管他的整个生涯都谈不上成功
to what was actually a non-career.
1996年 南非的发行公♥司♥
In 1996, the South African record label
发行了罗德里格兹的第二张专辑《从现实来》
released Rodriguez’s second album, Coming From Reality,
在南非第一次以CD格式发行
on CD for the first time in South Africa.
因为他们觉得我比较了解罗德里格兹
And because they thought I knew a lot about him,
他们问我愿不愿意一起写 专辑册子里面的文章
they asked if I wanted to co-write the liner notes for the booklet,
我写了
which I did.
这里我念一点 开始是说
And I’ll read some of it to you. They start off by saying,
“如果一个流行艺术家身上 有诡异和神秘的气息”
“if ever there is an air of intrigue and mystery around a pop artist,
“那个人就是罗德里格兹”
“it is around the artist known as Rodriguez.
“世界上其他所有地方
“There’s no air of intrigue and mystery
他都没有任何诡异和神秘的”
around him anywhere else in the world
“因为他的两张专辑《从现实来》 和《冷事实》”
“because his two albums, Coming From Reality and Cold Fact,
“全都无人问津”
“were monumental flops everywhere else.”
关键的来了
And this is the important part.
“关于罗德里格兹 我们没有任何’铁的事实'”
“There were no concrete cold facts about the artist known as Rodriguez.
“有没有音乐学侦探来帮忙”
“Any musicologist detectives out there?”
这就是改变了一切的一句话
And that, that’s the line that changed everything.
我开始寻找罗德里格兹是在
I started searching for Rodriguez
我和一群人还在部队的时候
when a few of us were sitting around in the Army
有人问”罗德里格兹到底怎么死的”
and somebody said, “How did Rodriguez die?”
仅仅是巧合
And just coincidence,
那个时候我正在寻找吸引人的文章题材
at the time I was looking for subject matter to write an article.
我记得我在纸上写了五点
I remember having, like, five points on a piece of paper.
第四条就是”弄明白罗德里格兹到底怎么死的”
And number four, or something, was “Find out how Rodriguez died.”
我觉得那肯定会是重磅新闻
I thought it would make a good story.
这件事被我抛诸脑后若干年
So that was in the back of my mind for many years
很多年过去以后 我看到这个
and then, many years later, I came across this, um,
《从现实来》的重新发行版本 里面这里写道
re-release of Coming From Reality and inside, the liner notes said,
“罗德里格兹没有’铁的事实'”
“There were no concrete cold facts about the artist known as Rodriguez.
“有没有音乐学侦探来帮忙”这个问题
“Any musicologist detectives out there?” Um, was the question,
对我来说 就像是邀请函
and I think that to me, was like an invitation.
我想”那或许我来吧”
I thought, “Well, maybe it’s me”.
我想到的第一个方法 就是追踪钱的下落
The first way I tried to find him was to just follow the money.
通常来说都是靠追踪钱
Normally, you follow the money.
一切问题归根结底都跟钱有关
That’s how you get to the bottom of anything.
但一个死掉的人 财产去了哪里呢