中古年代 聊聊老歌、老人和老故事，留下一些個人歷史的痕跡。 (若有侵權或陳述不實敬請告知，將會刪除或予修正。)

215愛的鼓勵 220訂閱站台

喜歡釣魚的人應該都有經驗，有時等個半天浮標動都不動，而忽然大咬時就連連上鉤，然後又……。蘇格蘭樂團Middle of the Road的歌壇之路，也很像前述釣魚的情況。

Middle of the Road成立於1967年，最初的團名為Part Four。之後走拉丁美洲的風格，改名為Los Caracas。在此團名下，曾贏得英國電視節目「Opportunity Knocks」的才藝比賽，但並未因此敲開了機會之門。眼看在英國沒啥搞頭，1970樂團轉赴義大利發展。也因此遇到了音樂製作人Giacomo Tosti，讓樂團將他們特殊的聲音風格表現出來，就好像魚群開始大咬，好運自此展開。從1971的一首翻唱曲《Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep》，不僅唱片狂賣超過了1000萬張，也將Middle of the Road推上了國際。更神奇的是，僅是1971─72這兩年，就有4首銷售超過百萬張的歌曲，其中也包括了這首《Tweedle Dee Tweedle Dum》，接下來雖然漸漸的消退，而直至樂團1976解散，仍有其他7首入榜前40名的歌曲。


Tweedle Dee Tweedle Dum，為《愛麗絲鏡中奇遇》中的圖片。

Tweedle Dee Tweedle Dum最早應是出現在英國詩人John Byrom ( 1692─1763 ) 的諷刺短詩中，後編為童謠，以及成為1871英國兒童文學作品《愛麗絲鏡中奇遇》( 愛麗絲夢遊仙境的續篇 ) 中的人物。再之後成為了西方俚語，意思為外型和行為都很相似的兩個人，而這句話的上下都含有貶抑之義。此歌詞中看似回到了字面的意思，為Mcdougal所哼的聲調，但整首歌仍是在嘲諷Mcdougal和對手氏族Mcgregor ( 故意取相似的名字？) 進行的一場莫名其妙的戰爭。而歌曲真正的寓意，恐要問知道歷史的英國人才會比較清楚。



Do you recall
Some years ago?
Up in the mountains that were white with snow
Inside a cavern
Mcdougal he was plannin'
There's gonna be a showdown with somebody he knows.

Well he's been there
A year or so
Something will happen very soon I know
I hear him playin' his bagpipes every mornin'
I think that it's a warmin'
He's gathering the clan.

Soon you'll hear the sound of people shouting
You will see the claymores in their hands
If you knew the reason for their fighting
You would never understand.

Oh
Tweedle Dee
Oh Tweedle Dum.
The tune Mcdougal always used to hum
While he was fightin' his rival clan Mcgregor
Dishonour he would never
The tartan of his clan.

Do you recall
Some years ago?
Up in the mountains that were white with snow
Inside a cavern
Mcdougal he was plannin'
There's gonna be a showdown with somebody he knows.

Soon you'll hear the sound of people shouting
You will see the claymores in their hands
If you knew the reason for their fighting
You would never understand.

Oh
Tweedle Dee
Oh Tweedle Dum.
The tune Mcdougal always used to hum
While he was fightin' his rival clan Mcgregor
Dishonour he would never
The tartan of his clan