The National--"Mistaken for Strangers"

The National 去年的這張"Boxer"，我一直到今年年初才購入，結果愛不釋手，聽了數十遍有餘。除了低調但又不可思議地有力的音樂風格，我也非常喜歡 The National（或者說 Matt Berninger）的詞，用豐富的意象剖白內心，不過因為大量使用俚語，非常不容易翻譯，個人也功力不足 T_T

先用聽"Boxer"時第一首喜歡上的歌開始（現在的最愛應該是"Slow Show"和"Brainy"），不過歌詞裡的blue blazer、quarters等都有多種解讀方式，只好先採用自己覺得說得通的詮釋，含性別指涉的代名詞都可以替換。

平常心裡經常想起這首歌，特別是開始上班之後。
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The National--"Mistaken for Strangers"



你必須追趕進度
你對他們言聽計從
你不在意融入他人的景象
只要你看起來是遙遠的、抽離的

沖完澡，穿上藍色的西裝外套
口袋裡裝滿零錢
沖完澡，穿上藍色的西裝外套
口袋裡裝滿零錢

你和朋友形同陌路
當你和他們在銀白色的銀行燈光下擦身而過
他們勾肩搭背、眼神渙散
啊--你不敢期望天使的眷顧
號外，號外，她們也不願理會
又一人不純真卻優雅地跌入
不光彩的成人生活

必須先捏造心中能夠確信的事物
你才能知道要披上什麼型式的偽裝外衣
才能聲稱自己看到身上覆蓋羽毛的女人
牽著矇住雙眼的男人穿越森林

沖完澡，穿上藍色休閒外套
讓自己儀表非凡
沖完澡，穿上藍色休閒外套
讓自己儀表非凡

你和朋友形同陌路
當你和他們在銀白色的銀行燈光下擦身而過
他們勾肩搭背、眼神渙散
啊--你不敢期望天使的眷顧
號外，號外，她們也不願理會
又一人不純真卻優雅地跌入
不光彩的成人生活

You have to do it running
but you do everything that they ask you to
Cause you don't mind seeing yourself in a picture
As long as you look faraway, as long as you look removed

Showered and blue-blazered, fill yourself with quarters
Showered and blue-blazered, fill yourself with quarters

You get mistaken for strangers by your own friends
When you pass them at night under the silvery, silvery citibank lights
Arm in arm in arm and eyes and eyes glazing under
Oh you wouldn't want an angel watching over
Surprise, surprise they wouldn't wannna watch
Another uninnocent, elegant fall into the unmagnificent lives of adults

Make up something to believe in your heart of hearts
So you have something to wear on your sleeve of sleeves
So you swear you just saw a feathery woman
Carry a blindfolded man through the trees

Showered and blue-blazered, fill yourself with quarters
Showered and blue-blazered, fill yourself with quarters

You get mistaken for strangers by your own friends
When you pass them at night under the silvery, silvery citibank lights
Arm in arm in arm and eyes and eyes glazing under
Oh you wouldn't want an angel watching over
Surprise, surprise they wouldn't wannna watch
Another uninnocent, elegant fall into the unmagnificent lives of adults

You get mistaken for strangers by your own friends
When you pass them at night under the silvery, silvery citibank lights
Arm in arm in arm and eyes and eyes glazing under
Oh you wouldn't want an angel watching over
Surprise, surprise they wouldn't wannna watch
Another uninnocent, elegant fall into the unmagnificent lives of adults