※下記インタビューは
「FAITH / デラックス・コレクターズ・エディション」封入
ブックレット掲載 MARK GOODIER によるインタビューより引用
和訳はライナーナノーツ(訳者記載見あたらず…)より転記
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MG : Except that ‘Monkey’ is lyrically interesting isn’t it?
GM : It's interesting...I'd found out that a girl took some drugs that
I didn't know how to help her because I didn't know anything about
it, I didn't even smoke weed or anything. I think it was around the same time that I met her that through someone else, I took my first ecstasy tablet.
So 'pre' that period I had no experience of addition in anyone aroud me; no one in my family had been an alcoholic. It's quite a big family between my mother's and my father's families, but not one alcoholic amongst them as far as I know. Believe me theare were enough reasons for them to get drunk.
MG:でも "Monkey" は歌詞が面白いじゃない?
GM:そうだね、興味深い...ある女の子がいて、彼女は麻薬でハイだったんだけど、
彼女がそういう状態だって僕は知らなくて。麻薬に関してまったく知識がなかった
から、彼女を助けたくてもどうすればいいかわからなかったんだ。大麻も吸ったこ
とがない頃だったから。で、ちょうど彼女と知り合った頃、別の人からもらって、
初めてエクスタシーをやったんだ。その前までは、僕のまわりには、何かの「中毒」
っていう人はひとりもいなかったし。父方と母方の親戚を合わせると、結構大勢の
人数になるんだけど、僕の知る限りひとりもアルコール依存症はいないね。みんな
十分に酔っ払う動機はあったはずだけど
MG : There’s an awareness, not just a self-awareness, but
an emotional awareness of what you want to write about
with songs like ‘Hand to Mouth’.
GM : I heard that recently and, actually, I think the song is quite
nice. The lyric is pretty good for somebody of that age. It's very
anti - Thatcher. It's all about Thatcher and Reagan really but
I don't think I'd express it that much better if I did it today.
Some of my best lyrics are when I've dared to use metaphors.
I like to be direct. I think what it says is that, even when I was
in the middle of the firestorm, I was still very much looking out
at the world. I was, ultimately, very tempted to be an activist in
some form, but I knew that no one whould really listen very hard
to that. I suppose 'Hand To Mouth' is one of the tracks on the
album where I'm trying to show off as a lyricist.
I think mybe one of the rasons I find FAITH – and LISTNE WITHOUT PREJUDICE – harder to listen to than anything after, is that I can
hear the effort. I can hear a front.
MG:"Hand To Mouth" みたいな曲は、すごくメッセージ性が強いよね
GM:うん、最近その曲は聴く機会があったんだけど、なかなかいい曲だよね。
若者にしては、なかなか練れた詞だな、と。アンチ・サッチャーの歌だね。
サッチャーとレーガンのことを書いているんだけど、同じテーマで今書けといわ
れたら、あれほど上手に書けないだろうな。思い切って比喩を多用したときに、
いい詞が書けるようには思うんだけど、僕は直接ハッキリ言うのが好きなんでね。
だけど、あの曲に関して言えば、自分は炎の嵐の真ん中にいるような毎日にいた
のに、世界を見つめる目は失っていなかったんだなって言うことができる。
僕は、なにかのかたちで政治運動に関わりたいと思ったことは度々あったけど、
そいういうかたちでは聞いてくれる人は少ないだろうということもわかっていた
んだ。だから、"Hand To Mouth" みたいな曲を書いて、作詞家として頑張って
みたりしたんだね。 FAITH と LISTENWITHOUT PREJUDICE を振り返って聴く
のが辛いと僕が感じてしまうのは、おそらく、あまりにも頑張って作りすぎたから
なんだ。 その努力が聞こえてきちゃう。最前線すぎちゃう。
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佐治的駄作?だったはずの曲だけど、
よくよく聴いてみると詞はかなり頑張っていると?
そういうことでいいなりか?
George Michael - Hand To Mouth Unplugged : berhoom
George Michael - Hand To Mouth
Jimmy Got Nothing made himself a name
with a gun that he polished for a rainy day
a smile and a quote from a vigilante movie
our boy Jimmy just blew them all away
he said it made him crazy
twenty five years living hand to mouth
hand to mouth, hand to mouth, hand to mouth
sweet little baby on a big white doorstep
she needs her mother but her mother is dead
just another hooker that the lucky can forget
just another hooker
it happens everyday...
she loved her little baby
but she couldn't bare to see her living hand to mouth
hand to mouth, hand to mouth, hand to mouth
I believe in the gods of America
I believe in the land of the free
but no one told me
that the gods believe in nothing
so with empty hands I pray
and from day to hopeless day
they still don't see me
everybody talks about the new generation
jump on the wagon or they'll leave you behind
but no one gave a thought to the rest of the nation
"like to help you buddy, but I haven't got the time"
somebody shouted save me
but everybody started living hand to mouth
hand to mouth, hand to mouth, hand to mouth
there's a big white lady on a big white doorstep
she asked her daddy and her daddy said "yes"
has to give a little for the dollars that we get
has to give a little-they say it's for the best
somebody shouted maybe
but they kept on living hand to mouth
hand to mouth, hand to mouth, hand to mouth
so she rans to the arms of America
and she kissed the powers taht be
and someone told me
that the gods believe in nothing
so with empty hands I pray
and tell myself one day
they just might see me...
(photo sauce)