c.y.joe~我現在比穢多都不如

決心要在月底前把積壓已久的音樂清單給解決掉，之前小小的提過Iron & Wine，現在要專心介紹Samuel Beam 吉他民謠如爸爸床頭唱歌給你聽的溫柔。


大鬍子造型十年如一日，歌聲卻出奇地細膩動人。

Iron & Wine 是 Sam Beam 化身的一人樂隊， 這位滿臉鬍鬚酷似耶穌的音樂人出生於美國佛羅里達州， 現定居於以陽光與海灘 (當然還有比基尼女郎) 馳名於世的邁阿密州，所以當朋友脫口說出與Jack Jonsan類似的時候，一個在夏威夷，一個在邁阿密，相同的熱帶海洋風吹拂下的旋律，實在是不說自明。

但Iron & Wine 大部分歌曲都非常簡樸，只用上吉他和點點 banjo 伴奏， 配上 Sam 乾淨柔和的嗓音，讓他的音樂給人一種敍事性的深度，卻從來不沉重。也許是因為Sam Beam 本身電影教職的出身，或是早期lo-fi作品的習慣，在聆聽Iron & Wine時，你感覺不到一絲矯揉造作和刻意斧鑿的痕跡，他的音符永遠是那麼的悅耳，沒有使用過多的樂器卻呈現出不亞於Sufjan Stevens的層次，而Sam Beam 詩性文字中時常出現生與死的主題，如Naked As We Came與The Trapeze Swinger均是寫給生命的輓歌，從某方面來說，Sam像是收起翅膀的天使，用音符洗滌我們靈魂上的灰塵。死亡可能是睡眠的最終形式，而Iron & Wine便是它的搖籃曲。

大體上Iron and Wine的音樂風格以藍草和另類鄉村為根基，民謠本質與Nick Drake遙相呼應，但對我來說Iron and Wine更像是一種溫暖、熟悉的感覺，我總是無法擺脫淡淡藍草帶給我的憂傷，有些細膩、脆弱的情懷埋在很深的地方很難戒除，某些時刻便展露無遺，例如兩天，海邊，夕陽時。

很喜歡Sam Beam 對自己音樂下的註解：“在我大量接受採訪之前，我從來沒有考慮過如何給我的音樂歸類”，Beam說道，“我想我喜歡‘民謠’這個標籤。我最近意識到民謠是除了古典音樂之外的一切音樂，無論說唱還是搖滾樂都一樣，民謠就是來自民間的音樂。”

順著歸鄉的本能，最終我還是回到了原來的開始的地方。

Iron & Wine歷年專輯


The Creek Drank the Cradle
Released: 24 Sep 2002 


Our Endless Numbered Days
Released: 24 Mar 2004 

His next full-length album, The Shepherd's Dog, is due in the fall of 2007.
在這裡送上兩首試聽曲，我只能說完食這張專輯後讓我很想搬到海邊去過退休生活，非常期待發行那一天的到來，CD架上已準備好它專屬的位子。

Innocent Bones



Cain got a milk-eyed mule from the auction
Abel got a telephone
And even the last of the blue-eyed babies know
That the burning man is the color of the end of day
And how every tongue that gets bit always has another word to say

Cain bought a blade from some witch at the window
Abel bought a bag of weed
And even the last of the brown-eyed babies see
That the cartoon king has a tattoo of a bleeding heart
There ain’t a penthouse Christian wants the pain of the scab, but they all want the scar
How every mouth sings of what it’s without so we all sing of love
And how it ain’t one dog who’s good at fucking and denying who he’s thinking of

Cain heard a cat tumble limp off the rooftop
Abel heard his papa pray
And even the last of the black-eyed babies say
That every saint has a chair you can borrow and a church to sell
That the wind blows cold across the back of the master and the kitchen help
There’s a big pile of innocent bones still holding up the garden wall
And it was always the broken hand we learned to lean on after all
How God knows if Christ came back he would find us in a poker game
After finding out the drugs were all free but they won't let you out the door again 


Flightless Bird, American Mouth



I was a quick wet boy
Diving too deep for coins
All of your straight blind eyes
Wide on my plastic toys
And when the cops closed the fair
I cut my long baby hair
Stole me a dog-eared map
And called for you everywhere 

Have I found you?
Flightless bird, jealous, weeping
Or lost you?
American mouth
Big bill looming 

Now I’m a fat house cat
Cursing my sore blunt tongue
Watching the warm poison rats
Curl through the wide/white fence cracks
Kissing on magazine photos
Those fishing lures thrown in the cold and clean
Blood of Christ mountain stream 

Have I found you?
Flightless bird, brown hair bleeding
Or lost you?
American mouth
Big bill, stuck going down