科恩的詩意人生

Through much of his life, Leonard Cohen was a man on the move.

在他一生的大部分時間里，萊昂納德•科恩都在四處奔波。

The Canadian singer, songwriter, poet and novelist died on Nov 10, leaving behind a musical *travelogue that documented his journey in lyrical detail while exploring questions of faith and morality, sex and betrayal, love and hate. He was 82.

這位加拿大歌手、歌曲作家、詩人、小說家于11月10日與世長辭，留下了一部音樂游記存世。這部游記詳細地紀錄了他的詩意旅程，同時也探索了關于信仰與道德、性與背叛、愛與恨的一系列問題。他享年82歲。

“I have no program. I have no five-year plan,” he told a crowd during a 1985 performance. “I just move from hotel to hotel and from bar to bar, and by the grace of the one above, occasionally a song comes.”

“我沒有什么項目，也沒有五年計劃，”在1985年的一場表演上，他向觀眾說道。“我只是從一家酒店搬到另一家酒店，從一個酒吧前往另一個酒吧。承蒙上帝恩典，有時一首歌就這樣寫出來了。”

Cohen’s first musical successes came during folk’s great leap forward in the late 1960s, alongside Canadian singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell and US musician Bob Dylan. He introduced himself to the world with now-standards including Bird on a Wire (1969), Suzanne (1966), Sisters of Mercy (1967) and So Long Marianne (1967), and across the next five decades issued 14 studio albums dense with wit, charm, cruelty, harsh self-judgment, bitterness, grace and profound, enduring empathy.

在上世紀60年代晚期的民謠狂潮中，科恩開始在音樂上嶄露頭角，與他一同成名的還有加拿大歌手、詞曲創(chuàng)作家瓊尼•米歇爾以及美國音樂人鮑伯•迪倫。他用《線上孤鳥》(1969)、《蘇珊娜》(1966)、《仁慈姐妹》(1967)以及《再見瑪麗安》(1967)等傳唱至今的歌曲讓全世界記住了自己。在接下來的五十年中，他又陸續(xù)發(fā)行了14張錄音室專輯，每一張都飽含智慧、魅力、殘忍、嚴苛的自我評判，以及苦澀、優(yōu)雅、深遠而又持久的共鳴。

A novelist and poet first, Cohen mastered his craft across the decades, and singers lined up to record his work, including American musicians and bands such as Nina Simone, Johnny Cash, Tori Amos, Lana del Rey, Nick Cave, Jennifer Warnes and R.E.M.

剛開始，科恩是一個小說家、一個詩人。在過去的這些年間，他將自己的技藝練得爐火純青，許多歌手都紛紛翻唱他的作品。這其中就包括了妮娜•西蒙、約翰尼•卡什、多莉•艾莫絲、拉娜•德雷、尼克•凱夫、珍尼弗•溫拿斯以及快轉(zhuǎn)眼球樂隊等美國音樂人和樂隊。

“My tunes often deal with a moral crisis,” he told US writer Harvey Kubernik. “I often feel myself a part of such a crisis and try to relate it in song. There’s a line in a poem I wrote that sums this up perfectly: ‘My betrayals are so fresh they still come with explanations.’”

“我的曲調(diào)往往與道德危機有關，”他向美國作家哈維•庫布尼克說道。“我常常覺得，我自身是這種危機的一部分，并嘗試將它和歌曲聯(lián)系起來。在我寫的詩中，有一句詩完美地總結(jié)了這一點：‘我的背叛如此鮮活，它們還帶著解釋的聲音。’”

The *trajectory of his lyrical adventures ranged from memories of romance in Chelsea Hotel No. 2 (1974), to committing to a *monastic life at a Buddhist *retreat in which he composed gorgeous meditations and recollections on life, death and the space in between.

從歌曲《切爾西酒店作品2號》(1974)中的浪漫回憶，再到歸隱處苦行僧般的生活和對生命、死亡和空間的冥想和回憶，這就是他詩意的探險軌跡。

In his 2012 song Come Healing, he wrote of the “longing of the branches to lift the little bud” and the “longing of the *arteries to purify the blood”.

在2012年的歌曲《來治愈》中，科恩寫道“樹枝的渴望是爆發(fā)新芽”、“動脈的渴望是凈化血液”。

Across the decades, he penned work that combined wit, intellect and an ear for a sharp turn of phrase, yet he was merciless on himself. “I am not this *hunchback that you see,” he sang in Avalanche (1971).

幾十年里，他寫下了許多風趣、機智而又言辭犀利的作品，而他對自己也毫不留情。“我不是你們眼前的這個駝子，”他在歌曲《雪崩》(1971)中唱道。

He described his “secondhand physique” on one version of A Thousand Kisses Deep (1996). The *interlude during Chelsea Hotel No. 2 quotes his lover: “You told me again, you preferred handsome men/ But for me you would make an exception.”

他將歌曲《千吻之深》(1996)的其中一個版本形容為他的“二手體格“。《切爾西酒店作品2號》的間奏還引用了他戀人的話：“你告訴我，你喜歡更英俊點的男人/ 但你會把我作為例外。”

*Loath to repeat himself in song, Cohen pushed his pen in new directions until the very end. His swan song, You Want It Darker, was issued just last month. On the title track, he acknowledged his artistic success while *belittling his life’s challenges, singing that he “struggled with some demons, they were middle class and *tame.”

科恩不愿意歌曲有所重復，在人生的最后時光，他還在嘗試一些新方向。他的絕筆之作專輯《你希望世界更加黑暗》上個月才剛剛發(fā)行。在與專輯同名的主打歌中，他認可了自己在藝術上的成功，并對生活中的挑戰(zhàn)不屑一顧。他唱道“我抗爭過一些惡魔，他們不過平庸怯懦。”

As with every line he wrote, his gaze was *unflinching as he faced the final goodbye. “I’m ready my Lord,” he offers in the title track. “I’m ready.”

正如他寫下的每句詩那樣，在面對最終的道別之時，他的目光總是無所畏懼。“上帝，我準備好了，”他在這首同名主打歌中唱道。“我準備好了。”