The Rhythm and Rhyme of Memory, Solitude and Community | Rosanne Cash | TED

譯者: Wing Yan Fan 審譯者: Shelley Tsang 曾雯海

I had a friend,

我有一位朋友，

a songwriting mentor and a great songwriter, John Stewart,

他是我的作曲導師及一位偉大的作曲家——John Stewart

who told me just before he died,

他臨終前告訴我:

"We are all just radios,

「我們都只是收音機,

hoping to pick up each other's signals."

渴望讀取彼此的信號。」

I found that to be true and profound.

我認為這是一句真確和深奧的話。

And I've spent my life trying to clear the static.

我花了一輩子 嘗試去除靜電干擾。

The strongest signals that come to me are musical

歌曲和故事形式的音樂

in the form of songs or stories told in rhythm and rhyme.

透過節奏和韻律，向我傳遞的信號最為強烈。

Sometimes I can tune in to a revolution in the heart.

有時我會收聽 來一場內心的革命。

Sometimes I hear a keen from my Celtic ancestors.

有時我會聽到我祖先凱爾特人的哀鳴。

And some songs have been postcards from my future.

而有些歌曲是從我未來寄來的郵卡。

In my family, there was a song for every loss, every celebration,

在我的家庭，每一次的失去、每一次的慶祝、

every unspoken need, every longing.

每一個沒說出口的需要、每一個渴求， 都有一首歌。

But there was also so much chaos that often I was the only one

可是因為太混亂，

往往只有我意識到那些歌曲傳達的信息。

who recognized what was being communicated.

My grandmother, Carrie Cash,

我的祖母——Carrie Cash

moved with my grandfather and their five children

與我的祖父和五個子女

into a New Deal era colony

在1935年羅斯福新政時期,

created by FDR for poor families

搬進專為貧困家庭而設、

in the sunken lands of the Arkansas Delta in 1935.

位於阿肯色三角洲的沼澤地區。

So they moved into this freshly painted cottage,

所以他們搬進這個剛噴上油漆的小屋，

and she gave birth to two more babies there

而在那裹，她再生了兩個孩子，

with the assistance only of a doctor

僅在一個騎着馬車到來的醫生的幫助下

who came by in a horse and buggy

and pulled two loose aspirin from his pocket to give to her.

醫生從口袋裹拿出兩片鬆散的阿司匹林給祖母

The same pocket in which he kept his fishing worms.

這亦是他放置釣魚蟲餌的口袋。

(Laughter)

(笑聲)

That's true.

這是真的。

(Laughter)

(笑聲)

I read once that every time an old woman dies,

我曾經看過一句話指 每當一個年長的女性過身，

a library disappears.

一個圖書館亦隨之而消失。

And before her library disappeared,

在祖母的圖書館消失之前，

I tuned into my grandmother's signals

我收聽祖母的信號

and gleaned her tenacity

和汲取我從她身上借來的堅韌。

which I borrowed,

and her long suffering in her life of constant work with seven children,

在她長期的苦難裡—— 無止境的工作和養育七個子女，

six of whom made it to adulthood.

其中六人成功長大成人。

In a house without electricity.

在一間沒有電力的屋，

In the sweltering cotton fields,

在悶熱的棉田裡，

and I wrote these words about her.

我寫下這些關於她的字句。

(Music)

(音樂)

(Singing) Five cans of paint

(唱歌) 五罐油漆

in the empty fields

在空落的田園裡

And the dust reveals

塵埃顯露

And the children cry

孩子在哭泣

the work never ends

無止境的工作

There’s not a single friend

沒有一個朋友

Who will hold her hand

願意握緊她的手

in the sunken lands?

在這沼澤地？

And the mud and tears melt the cotton balls

泥濘和淚水融化棉球

It’s a heavy toll

這是一個艱苦的生活

Oh, oh

噢，噢

His words are cruel

他殘忍的說話

and they sting like fire

像火般刺痛

Like the devil’s choir

像魔鬼的合唱團

Oh, oh

噢，噢

Who will hold her hand

誰會握緊她的手

in the sunken lands?

在這沼澤地？

(Music)

（音樂）

The river rises and she sails away

河水上漲，她揚帆遠去

She could never stay

她永遠無法停留

Oh, oh

噢，噢

Now her work is done

現在她完成工作

in the sunken lands

在這沼澤地

There’s five empty cans

剩下五個空罐頭

(Music)

(音樂)

(Music ends)

(音樂結束)

(Applause)

(拍掌)

In 1992,

在1992年，

I was writing a song about my divorce,

我在寫一首關於我離婚的歌，

which hadn't happened yet.

但當時還未發生的。

(Laughter)

(笑聲)

But which I saw coming like a freight train.

但我已經預視到它的來臨， 就像貨運列車一樣。

(Laughter)

(笑聲)

So I was stuck in this song

所以我被這首歌所困

like I was stuck in my life.

就像我被生活所困一樣。

And the same time across the country,

同一時間，在國家的另一端，

my mother was going through a box of my school assignments

我的母親找到一個箱子，裡面放有我在學時期的功課

and childhood drawings,

和我兒時的繪畫，

and she sent it to me.

她把它寄給我。

So I started going through this box, and I came across this yellowed paper,

所以我開始翻找這個箱子， 並發現一張泛黃的紙，

this school assignment I had done in the seventh grade

這是我七年級完成的功課

in Catholic school

在一間在天主教學校

on metaphors and similes.

關於隱喻和明喻。

Now I vividly remember the pleasure I took in that assignment

現在我清楚記得這份功課帶給我的樂趣

because it was literally the only thing

因為這是唯一一件事

the nuns had ever given me to do that I enjoyed.

那些修女要我做，而我是喜歡的。

(Laughter)

(笑聲)

So this line I had written popped out at me.

所以這句句子從我腦海裹冒出來

"A lonely road is a bodyguard."

「孤單的道路是一個護衛。」

What did it mean?

這是甚麼意思呢？

I had even pasted a picture of this empty road

我甚至在句子旁邊，張貼了一張空蕩蕩的路的照片。

next to the line.

It was a metaphor.

這是一個隱喻。

It wasn't "a lonely road is like a bodyguard," a simile.

這並不是明喻——「孤單的道路像一個護衛。」

It was the much more poetic: “A lonely road is a bodyguard.”

這是更具詩意的—— 「孤單的道路是一個護衛。」

As painful as that was then, and as it still can be painful now,

就像過去一樣，現在仍然感到痛苦。

I knew what she was telling me.

我知道她在告訴我

That ...

就是...

Solitude can protect the seeds of creativity.

孤寂能夠保護創意的種子

And that loneliness contains a priceless gift

而孤單是一個無價的禮物

if we can tolerate the initial discomfort

如果我們能抵受最初的不適

and avoid the seduction of despair.

和避免絕望的誘惑。

So my 12-year-old waved at me across the decades,

所以12歲的我在數十年前向我揮手，

saying that who I was

告訴我以前的我

was who I would become.

是將來我會成為的人。

And I waved back

我揮回去

and I dropped her line right in the song I was writing.

並在我正在寫的歌中加了她的一句話。

(Singing) I’ll send the angels to watch over you tonight

（唱歌）今晚我會派天使來守護你

And you send them right back to me

而你把他們送回來

A lonely road is a bodyguard

孤單的道路是一個護衛

If we really want it to be

如果我們真的想的話

(Music ends)

（音樂結束）

We're all just radios

我們都只是收音機

hoping to pick up each other's signals.

渴望讀取彼此的信號。

And some of those signals have a backbeat and a melody,

有些信號有拍子和旋律，

and they're universal.

而且它們是世界性的。

And music can unlock a frozen memory

音樂能夠解開一段融化在我們創意種子裏

that melts into the seeds of our creativity.

被凍結的記憶。

And the reverse is also true.

反過來也是如此。

A memory can unlock a song that's waiting to be written.

一段記憶可以解開一首正等待被寫的歌。

It can reveal us to ourselves across time and generations,

它可以跨越時間和世代向我們展示真實的自己，

in community, in solitude.

在社區裏，在孤寂裏。

Some frequencies are sound,

有些頻率是聲音，

and some frequencies are light.

有些頻率是光。

And some take a half a lifetime

有些需要花大半生

to reach their destination.

才能扺達目的地。

(Music)

（音樂）

(Singing) Light is particle and wave

（唱歌）光是粒子和波動

Our histories written large upon the page

我們的歷史寫在書頁上

The star in middle age

中世紀的星

The love that fades to black

褪進黑色的愛

Once revealed, won’t be taken back

一旦展示，無法取回

Light nothing can escape

無人能夠逃避光

The ignorance we once forgave

我們曾經寬恕過的無知

In the future, if we don't decide to change

在將來，如果我們不決定改變

The things we cannot save

我們無法救回一些事

But it slows to shine upon your face

但它緩緩地照在你的臉上

We owe everything

我們欠了一切

Everything

一切

Everything

一切

To this rainbow of suffering

對着這苦難的彩虹

Light is particle and wave

光是粒子和波動

Refractions of this place

這地方的折射

Reflections of our grace

我們蒙受恩典的反映

It reveals what we hold dear

它揭示了我們所珍視的東西

And it’s slow so I can hold you near

而且因為它很慢，所以我可以把你抱在左近

(Music ends)

（音樂結束）

(Applause)

(拍掌)

There's one thing I know for certain.

有一樣我肯定的事

That we clear the static by being vulnerable

就是透過展現脆弱和說真話，

我們就能去除靜電干擾。

and by telling the truth.

And here we are doing just that.

而我們現在正在做這件事。

Thank you.

多謝。

(Applause)

(拍掌)