前言
《挪威的森林》是村上春树很有名的一部小说,但我想大多数人阅读的时候都只是把书名当作一个符号,而不是作为故事去追究。 我国台湾知名文学评论家杨照先生说过:村上的书里有太多太多典故,如果你只是把这些典故当作符号看待,那么会少很多阅读的乐趣。你探寻这些典故越深,就越能体会村上想要表达的意思。 那么《挪威的森林》是怎么来的?
the Beatles
了解村上的人都知道:他生命中最重要的几件事就是写作、听音乐、长跑和翻译。 Norwegian Wood(This Bird Has Flown)是Beatles在1965年发行的歌,这首歌的歌词非常简单:
I once had a girl Or should I say she once had me She showed me her room Isn't good Norwegian wood?
She asked me to stay And she told me to sit anywhere So I looked around And I noticed there wasn't a chair I sat on a rug biding my time
Drinking her wine We talked until two and then she said "It's time for bed" She told me she worked In the morning and started to laugh I told her I didn't And crawled off to sleep in the bath
And when I awoke I was alone This bird had flown So I lit a fire Isn't it good Norwegian wood?
歌词的寓意很明显:这个女孩喜欢男孩,想和他滚床单,男孩激动地陪她喝酒聊天。 等他早上醒来的时候,发现女孩已经走了,本来在他手里的鸟飞走了,好似喝醉后的一场梦,转瞬无影踪。 可是Norwegian wood为什么莫名其妙出现在这里?
故事
这首歌基本上是John Lennon完成的,歌词原本是Isn't good? Knowing she would 创作完成后,唱片公司觉得歌词的意味太明显,在60年代这样的歌词有些太过直白。 唱片公司要求John修改歌词,调皮的John就利用谐音把Knowing she would改成了Norwegian wood 改完之后,起初录音时候他还是唱Knowing she would,于是唱片公司下了最后通牒:如果还这样唱,那这首歌不能收录。 就这样,John Lennon唱出了Norwegian wood,村上听着Norwegian wood写出了Norwegian wood。