Rock’n Roll 英語教室 Vol. 26

Nik Kershaw – The Riddle（1984）

「謎」というタイトルの通り内容が非常にわかりにくい曲です。

「アメリカ」「ガソリン」「ゴールド」というワードからは何やら政治的な匂いもしてきますが、 何について歌われているのかが１行もわかりません。

英語ネイティブにもまったくわからないようで、長いあいだにわたってこの曲の隠された意味についていろいろと議論されてきました。

論争に巻き込まれることを嫌った作者のニック・カーショウが「作れと言われたから適当に作った」と言い出したことでいよいよ万事休す。完全に迷宮入りとなりました。

謎を解き明かそうとするあまり、何度も聴いてしまうと、メロディが一日中頭のなかを回ってしまうので要注意です。

I got two strong arms blessings of Babylon
With time to carry on and try for sins and alarms
So to America the brave
Wise men save

Near a tree by a river
There’s a hole in the ground
Where an old man of saran
Goes around and around

And his mind is a beacon in the veil of the night
For a strange kind of fashion
There’s a wrong and a right
But he’ll never, never fight over you

I got plans for us nights in the scullery
And days instead of me
I only know what to discuss of for anything but light
Wise men fighting over you

It’s not me you see pieces of valentine
With just a song of mine to keep from burning history
Seasons of gasoline and gold
Wise men fold

Near a tree by a river
There’s a hole in the ground
Where an old man of saran
Goes around and around

And his mind is a beacon in the veil of the night
For a strange kind of fashion
There’s a wrong and a right
But he’ll never, never fight over you

I got time to kill sly looks in corridors
Without a plan of yours a blackbird sings on bluebird hill
Thanks to the calling of the wild
Wise mens child

Near a tree by a river
There’s a hole in the ground
Where an old man of saran
Goes around and around

And his mind is a beacon
In the veil of the night
For a strange kind of fashion
There’s a wrong and a right
But he’ll never, never fight over you

Near a tree by a river, there’s a hole in the ground
Where an old man of Aran goes around and around
And his mind is a beacon in the veil of the night
For a strange kind of fashion, there’s a wrong and a right
But he’ll never, never fight over you