IWD•妇女节特刊
陈淑桦唱反调
陈淑桦唱反调
以陈淑桦的音乐庆祝国际妇女节和妇女历史月。陈淑桦是八九十年代台湾的「都会女子代言人」,她的歌曲探索了女人的愿望、情感、和社会作用。但陈淑桦的作品繁杂,甚至有些曲目内容矛盾,就跟女人面临的现实一样棘手。在这里,我们看看陈淑桦是怎样适应和表达「都会女子」的各种心声。
Celebrating International Women's Day (IWD) and Women's History Month with Sarah Chen's music. The "voice of urban women," Chen was known for songs exploring women's identity and societal roles. Her repertoire is complex and sometimes conflicting, reflecting the tangled reality women face. Here we confront that ambiguity, examining how Chen navigated the conflicting demands placed on her as the voice of urban women.
Hometown Women 本城女子 (1988)
lyricist: Cheng Hwa-Jiuan 郑华娟词, 王豫民曲
Sarah Chen's reputation as the "voice of urban women" began in the late 1980s, when she released a series of albums expressing women's wishes, feelings, and struggles. Among them, Tomorrow, Will You Still Love Me (1988) was the most personal, a collection of songs based loosely on Chen's own experiences. Hometown Women was the final track on this album.
Lyrics by Cheng Hwa-Jiuan, a songwriter and author of dozens of books, Hometown Women tells the story of a woman who happens to run into a long-lost friend, leading to a meeting in a coffee shop. Both single women, lonely in the busy city, they find someone who understands their doubts and quiet struggles.
As the song moves to the chorus, Chen sings, "Ah, single women, living in the same crowded city. Are you, like me, not knowing with whom you can confide?" The loneliness is palpable, so is the bond, as she continues with their mutual feelings: "Every day passes in such a rush. I'm not even sure what I have can be called happiness." And they bid each other goodbye, returning to the busy city that would soon engulf them.
Perhaps because it's not a love song, or because the album lost label support, Hometown Women never achieved mainstream popularity. Yet for those drawn to the meaning of the song, Hometown Women leaves a lasting impression of the friendships that matter so much for women. When she falls in love, she gains just one companion; but her world is forever surrounded by many more women who, through shared experiences, support each other.
Madeleine Albright once said: "There is a special place in hell for women who do not support other women," a provocative statement people debate. But there is no denying the importance of friendship in a woman's life. Hometown Women honors that enduring sisterhood.
陈淑桦「都会女子代言人」的称号始于八十年代末,那时她连续发行了几张唱片讲述女人的愿望和体验。其中,1988年的《明天,还爱我吗》是最有个人意义的专辑,里面的歌曲大致是根据陈淑桦自己的体验写出来的。「本城女子」是这张专辑的最后一首歌。
「本城女子」由郑华娟作词,讲述一个单身女子在街上偶遇旧友。两个深感孤独的人于是走进咖啡店聊天,倾诉内心的疑惑和挣扎。
在歌进入副歌时,陈淑桦唱到:「啊,单身的女子,同住一个拥挤的城市。你是否像我,不知将心事向谁倾吐?」在她的歌声里你几乎可以感受孤独,也能体会她俩的友情。她接着唱:「每天过得都很仓促。。。我也不清楚, 拥有的是否叫做幸福。」她们随后互道珍重,分手后再次走入繁忙的城市。
也许是因为这首歌和爱情无关,或者是因为后来唱片绝版了,「本城女子」不是一首流传广泛的歌。但对那些细听歌词的听众来说,这首歌真切地描述了在女人生命中不可或缺的友情。她如果交了男友,她便多了一个伴侣;但女人的世界里总是容纳着许多别的女人,那些因为有共同体验而互相宽慰的朋友。
Madeleine Albright曾经说:“地狱里有个专门的地方给那些不帮助别的女人的女人。” 她的话太重,受了不少抨击。但不可否认的是友情对女人的意义。「本城女子」表述了那种姐妹般的友情。
Questions 问 (1994)
lyricist: Jonathan Lee 李宗盛词曲
Perhaps the most controversial song of Sarah Chen's is the highly popular Questions, first performed live during the 1992 China tour and later recorded in the studio in 1994. The song, composed by Jonathan Lee, became a major hit, winning awards decades after Chen's departure. So popular was it that it was adapted as the theme song for a Wuxia TV series.
I first heard the song two years ago as the opening track of a "Best of Sarah Chen" compilation. It was oddly moving and disturbing at the same time. Yes, I liked her singing, as many did, as she begins with soul-searching questions: "Who moves you? Who pains you? Who occasionally makes you want to hold him in your arms?" It's unmistakably a love song, the type that sells well.
I could not, however, shake off the increasing discomfort as the narrative deepens: "If a woman always waits until late at night, giving her youth without regret, will he then be true to you? Should a woman never raise questions, she'd better remain forever innocent, for the man she loves?" And so it goes, the poor woman, deeply in love, entrapped, falling deeper and deeper. "Yet love is a woman's very soul. She is willing to devote her life, to the man she loves."
As the song gained viral popularity, critiques credited the songwriter with unmatched insight into women's inner world: "Nobody knows women better than him." Except that, 30 years later, the discomfort felt by one listener was ameliorated only by Sarah Chen's dignified voice. She sang the words with a pride so incongruent with the song, as if she had been singing "Woman in Love."
陈淑桦演唱的最有争议的歌也许是「问」,最初演唱是在1992年滚石中国巡演现场;录音棚版收录在1994年的《爱的进行式》里。这首歌由李宗盛词曲,是陈淑桦点击率最高的四首歌之一。歌曲当时就很流行,成了《神雕侠侣》电视剧的主题曲。她退出乐坛后这首歌还数次被歌迷投入排行榜。
我最早听到这首歌是在两年前,它是一盘「陈淑桦金曲」合集的打头歌。第一感觉很奇怪,既被它感动又觉得难受。跟许多听众一样,我欣赏陈淑桦的演唱,尤其是她一开始就提出感人的问题:「谁让你心动?谁让你心痛?谁会让你偶尔想要拥他在怀中?」毫无疑问,这是首情歌,那种卖座很好的情歌。
但随着歌曲加深,我无法甩掉那渐进的难受之感。「如果女人,总是等到夜深,无悔付出青春,他就会对你真。是否女人,永远不要多问,她最好天真,为她所爱的人。」那个可怜的女人就这样陷入爱的深渊,走不出来了。不幸的是,「可是女人,爱是她的灵魂,她可以奉献一生,为她所爱的人。」
随着这首歌的流行度飞跃,网上的评价将它归功于李宗盛:「没有人比他更懂女人心。」只是,三十多年后,我那股难受的劲儿只有在陈淑桦高贵的歌声中找到一丝慰籍。她的演唱如此高贵,如此不符合歌词,仿佛她是在唱史翠珊的「热恋中的女人」。
My mixed feelings towards Questions - aesthetic appreciation combined with discomfort - had nothing to do with the devotion expressed in the song. There is nothing wrong with falling head-over-heels in love with someone, so much so that a woman might be willing to sacrifice her youth and even her life for him. In fact, what makes Sarah Chen's music so captivating is her uncanny ability to express the most tender feelings one may hold toward another. A Lifetime of Waiting and Silent Statement are two examples among many.
But Questions elevates that devotion from an individual to an entire gender. The song is not about a woman, the "I" that the singer might represent. The persistent use of "woman" throughout the lyrics gives the song sweeping power, placing an entire group in an entrapped position: an unequal relationship in which women are expected to remain unquestioning and forever innocent for their men.
The inequality becomes obvious when the lyrics are gender-reversed, substituting "man" for "woman."
"If a man always waits until late at night, giving his youth without regret, will she then be true to you? Should a man never raise questions, he'd better remain forever innocent, for the woman he loves. Except a man easily falls deeply in love, always entrapped, falling deeper and deeper. Yet love is a man's very soul. He is willing to devote his life, to the woman he loves."
If, with these lines, a male singer could achieve the same effect as Chen's version, the song might pass the test of reciprocity. Many of Sarah Chen's songs did. Cello, Jealous Lover, and There'll be Sad Songs (which Chen covered) were all originally performed by male singers. But while Questions has had many covers by female singers, it was rarely covered by men. Jonathan Lee recorded a cover himself, but notably, he sang Chen's original lines, the version in which women give their youth while remaining unquestioning.
Judging by the song's popularity, market reaction validated Lee's intuition that the song would resonate with audiences. Even I was moved - there's something touching in the depiction of a woman so helplessly in love. But the fact that most people applaud it, even years later, does not dispel the troubled feeling. In fact, the song's wide acceptance underscores the precarious position women continue to be in.
Even allowing for a generational gap and half a world of distance, I could not bring myself to fall in line with Questions. That was, until I watched Sarah Chen's live performance of the song and realized what she had done.
Chorus lyrics for the song "Questions." 「问」副歌歌词。
「问」给我带来的复杂之感——既是艺术美又觉得难过——不是因为歌中痴迷的爱。如果有人全身心地爱上另一个人,愿意为他付出青春和生命,那也没什么奇怪。平心而论,陈淑桦的作品如此诱人,一个重要的原因是她能演绎出人和人之间最温柔、深沉的爱。「一生守候」和「无言的表示」是众多表达深爱的例子。
但「问」将个人的痴迷提升到了整个女性。这首歌不是在唱某个女人的热恋,它不以“我”作主。整首歌的歌词是“女人”而不是“我”,这种泛指给了歌曲绝对的权势,将全部女人陷入爱的深渊,抛进不对等的感情关系,让女人不多问,为她所爱的人保持永远天真。
如果你觉得我想多了,你只需将歌中的「女人」换成「男人」,这种不对等的关系便一目了然。
“如果男人總是等到夜深,無悔付出青春,她就會對你真。是否男人永遠不要多問,他最好永遠天真,為他所愛的人。只是男人容易一往情深,總是為情所困,終於越陷越深。可是男人,愛是他的靈魂,他可以奉獻一生,為他所愛的人”。
如果一位男歌手愿意演唱这版“男人问”的歌,还可以达到女歌手演唱“女人问”的效果,那么这首歌就通过了平等、互补的测试。陈淑桦的许多歌可以通过这个测试,比如她翻唱的英文歌「大提琴」,「嫉妒的情人」,和「会有悲伤的歌」,原始版都是男歌手演唱的。但「问」虽然有不少女歌手翻唱,没有男歌手演唱过“男人问”。李宗盛自己唱过这首歌,但他唱的是陈淑桦版,是女人在付出青春不要多问。
从歌曲的流行程度看来,市场反应证实了李宗盛的判断,这首歌的确走了红。连我都被它感动——歌中女人那么全盘付出的爱有它感人的地方。但就算是许多人都喜欢,就算是它多年后还得了许多选票,它依然是一首置女人于不对等地位的歌。恰恰相反,大家越是接受它,越是赞赏它,这越揭示了女人这么多年来身居的困境。
哪怕是认可我们之间有代沟,还有万里之遥,我也难以接受「问」的论调。直到我看了陈淑桦的现场表演,才意识到她是怎样将女人从困境中摆脱出来。
When Sarah Chen joined Rock Records on the China concert tour in August 1992, she had just released Sarah's Taiwanese Songs after recovering from a long illness. China was an unfamiliar market for her, as her earlier work with EMI had been marketed in Southeast Asia. No longer working with EMI, Chen's concert repertoire was limited to her recent work with Rock Records. She ended up performing songs written exclusively by Jonathan Lee, who was also on the tour.
According to tour accounts, Lee wrote Questions during the tour; Chen learned it and performed it live within days. Stranded in a foreign place, her options were limited. Refusing to perform the song might have damaged their collaboration, even strained label relations at a precarious career moment. Besides, the song had already been written; someone was going to perform it. Why make herself a martyr to a cause she could not win?
On that August evening in Shanghai, dressed in purple and blue, Sarah Chen stepped onto the stage to the cheers of thousands. The atmosphere was festive, the audience electric, giving her an opening to contradict the lament and sadness embedded in the lyrics. She introduced the song with delight, performed it with pride, waved cheerfully during the interlude, and flashed a proud smile as she finished the flawless performance to thunderous applause.
Chen gave not an ounce of self-pitying, hand-wringing, or heartache the song seemed to demand, only pride, as if she had just sung "Woman in Love." Her rendition was so contrary to the lyrics that later, sadder covers by Sandy Lam and others were received quite well. As one viewer commented online, "I think Sarah Chen's version is too dignified."
Yes, dignity. She needed it. And by rendering a dignified version of the song, Chen set the standard for how it should be interpreted, defending the dignity of the universalized woman so helplessly entrapped within the song.
1992年八月,滚石在北京和上海举办巡演音乐会。那时陈淑桦大病刚愈,在六月发行了《淑桦的台湾歌》。八十年代她和百代签约时,唱片发行的国际市场主要是新马地区,没有进入中国大陆市场。现在她转入滚石,巡演的曲目仅限于新近滚石的作品。在这段演唱会里,她演唱的歌都是和她一起去巡演的李宗盛写的。
据网上对演唱会的报道说,李宗盛在巡演期间写了「问」,陈淑桦学会后两三天内便得上现场。离家万里,她能作的决策有限。拒绝演唱这首歌必定会损害他们的合作关系,甚至涉及她在滚石的职业支持。何况,这首歌已经写了,必然有人会演唱。她没有必要在一个输定了的情况下牺牲自己。
八月的那天晚上,陈淑桦身穿蓝色和紫色的纱衣,在数千人的喝彩中踏上了舞台。演唱会堂气氛高昂,观众兴致勃勃,这种氛围给了她唱反调的机会。她高兴地告诉大家歌名,然后赋予这首歌高贵的演唱,中间伴奏期间欢快地向观众挥舞。当她完美无暇地唱完这首歌时,她如同踏入云间,在如雷声般的掌声中闪现她骄傲的笑容。
陈淑桦的演唱没有流露一丝自怜自艾,一点悲痛,一分心痛;她表现的只有尊严和骄傲,就像是在演唱「热恋中的女人」。她的演唱和后来林忆莲等人更悲情的翻唱版成了鲜明的对比。一位观众在网上留言说:“我觉得陈淑桦把「问」唱得太高贵了一点”。
是的,她需要的是高贵。作为这首歌的原唱,陈淑桦给这首歌添加了尊严,为它的诠释下了个高贵的基调。以这种方式,她也赋予了歌中陷入困境的女人应得的尊严。
Unable to escape the constraints of her repertoire, Chen did what she could to soften the impact of a blow on women.
In a 1991 interview with the New York Chinese American Voice, the host asked Sarah Chen:
"You have sung songs of girls, songs of young women, and now songs of sophisticated urban women. We grew up with your songs and witnessed your own transformation from a girl to a woman. Which musical persona do you identify with? Who is the real Sarah Chen?"
Chen had no easy answer to give. She did not fully endorse the "urban woman" persona for which she was then a cultural icon. Much as actors portraying Superman are not themselves Superman, Sarah Chen was not any single woman she portrayed in her songs. In fact, like many singers of her era, Chen did not write her own songs. She shaped the selection of materials, but for the most part, she was constrained by ideas that songwriters introduced into her repertoire.
The vast body of her work - over 420 songs spanning three decades - now holds a collective cultural memory of her era. They do not represent Sarah Chen's views alone, nor even the songwriters'. They reflect what songwriters believed audiences wanted. Fiercely independent, Sarah Chen would never have endorsed the confinement of women in Questions; nor would Jonathan Lee, who penned several songs about women's independence. Yet it was Lee's assessment that such a song would be popular, and it was. But at what cost?
When Sarah Chen stepped onstage to perform Questions, she had a choice between a faithful, sad version and a contrarian, dignified version. Skillful at expressing heartaches, Chen could have rendered a sad version that made us cry. And yet the queen of sad songs mustered all the pride she had for the woman in Questions. Yes, sisterhood must be defended, even for a faceless woman in the fantasy land of '90s Mandopop.
In a 1993 interview with Shanghai TV, Sarah Chen expressed her wish to create Mandopop songs that, like certain English classics, would become timeless. Yet we are all products of our own culture and era, sons and daughters of societies with imperfect and shifting values. Unable to escape the constraints of her repertoire, Chen did what she could to soften the impact of a blow on women. The tender love she breathed into her songs gave us comfort, even when the words themselves faltered.
1991年末,纽约华人电台采访陈淑桦,提到这样的一个问题:
你从一开始演唱女孩的歌,然后是清纯的少女之歌,现在又是成熟的都市女子的心声。我们是听你的歌长大的,也看着你从女孩变成女人。那些音乐形象中,到底哪个是真正的陈淑桦?
这么难的问题,陈淑桦含糊了一下,但她没有完全认可「都市女子」的形象。就跟扮演超人的演员自己不是超人一样,陈淑桦本人也不是她演唱的任何一个女人。就如那个年代的别的歌手一样,陈淑桦没有自己谱写歌曲。她参与了歌曲的选择,但总的来说,她的演唱受合作者给她带来的限制。
正因如此,陈淑桦的作品——420多首跨越三十年的歌——保留了那个年代的文化记忆。这些歌不光是陈淑桦的体会,甚至不是作词作曲家的体会。它们反应的是音乐人对社会的判读,尤其是他们对听众审美观的猜测。作为一个独立自主、力争男女平等的人,陈淑桦自己绝不会支持「问」对女人的限制;李宗盛也不会主张陷女人于困境——他那段时间写了不少女性独立的歌。「问」表现的是李宗盛对听众的判断,那就是这首歌会畅销。这个判断在当时没错,但它的代价也太高。
当陈淑桦当年站上舞台演唱「问」时,她有两个选择:和歌词贴切的悲情版,或者是偏离歌词的高贵版。陈淑桦是闻名的悲情歌手,完全可以唱出让你落泪的悲情「问」。但悲情天后选择了唱反调,提起勇气将她一生的骄傲交给了「问」中那受困的女人。是的,女人扔不下无助的女人,哪怕那个无助的女人无形无色,只生活在九十年代流行音乐的幻境中。
在1993年上海电台的采访中,陈淑桦提到她希望留下一些中文经典,就跟某些永恒的英文经典一样。但要做到永恒没那么容易。毕竟我们都是时代和文化的子女,生活在不断更新的价值观里。但作品给她设的框套没有锁住陈淑桦。她能做的是缓解这个不对等的世界给女人的打击。她歌声中温柔的爱意带给我们安慰,哪怕别人写的歌有时离了谱。
但作品给她设的框套没有锁住陈淑桦。她能做的是缓解这个不对等的世界给女人的打击。
Chapter Guide: 01 IWD • 02 Sisterhood • 03 Falling Deeper and Deeper • 04. The Questionable Questions • 05 Sarah the Contrarian • 06 Voice of women
章节导览:1 妇女节 • 2 姐妹般的友情 • 3 越陷越深 • 4 棘手的问题 • 5 陈淑桦唱反调 • 6 女子代言人
This site was enriched by the generosity of a long-time Sarah Chen fan from Malaysia, C.Y., who shared her personal collection of clippings and magazine articles spanning much of Chen's career (1983-1996).