卡洛尔·金：音乐才女依然宝刀未老

Carole King是美国最成功的“创作歌手”之一，她的作品再现了上世纪60年代早期的风范。在1971年发布的专辑《织锦画》（Tapestry）位居历史上最畅销的专辑行列中。她与第一任丈夫Gerry Goffin共赢得了4个格莱美奖，并入选歌曲名人堂（Songwriters Hall of Fame）和摇滚名人堂（Rock and Roll Hall of Fame）。她拥有女歌手音乐专辑和流行榜No.1上榜时间最长的纪录。时至今日，70岁高龄的Carole King不但没有被喜爱音乐的人们遗忘，而且更是音乐才女的不朽代表。

Interviewer： Shes had 100 hit singles and written songs for The Beatles， Aretha Franklin， Kylie Minogue and Adele. Carole King is quite simply the most successful and prolific female songwriter of all time. In fact， over the last 50 years， her music has been recorded by 1000 singers. For those too young or too befuddled to recall the 1960s and early 70s， the songs of Carole King provide a perfect snapshot of the time. It was an age when love and optimism reigned supreme and the Earth moved in quite wonderful ways.

Ive never have said this at the beginning of an interview， but your achievements are so prodigious I really dont know where to start.

Carol：（Laughs）

Interviewer： Let me name some songs： “Will You Love Me Tomorrow？”， “Locomotion”， “One Fine Day”， “Pleasant Valley Sunday”， “Youve Got a Friend”， “I Feel the Earth Move”， and thats just the tip， just the tip of the Carole King iceberg. Carol： Well， Ive lived， Im now… this year I turned 70， and in all that time Ive been writing songs for a very long time， and the lucky thing for me is that people like them， but thats why theres so many of them.

Interviewer： Carole Kings amazing musical “Dream run”began way back in 1960， when， at only 17 years of age， she wrote “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow？”， recorded by The Shirelles， the first black girl band to top the American charts. It was co-written with her first husband Gerry Goffin. “Will You Still Love Me…” was the first of an astonishing 100 number ones for Carol King， a feat thats unlikely ever to be beat.

Carol： When a person is creative， you must write， you must have some of that. When youre writing and the words just flow out of your pen or your computer or whatever， thats what happens. When Im truly present， I get out of the way and all this stuff comes through.

Interviewer： And that is the question， isnt it？ If we knew where it came from， we would know how to do it and there would be no great mystery to writing a great song.

Carol： But even if I… I am someone who knows how to do it and is lucky enough…

Interviewer： You know how to build it.

Carol： …to have it come through， and I can still feel that sense of “Oh my god， this is so beautiful”， its coming through me and Im watching it at the same time， and Im so moved that I cant sing it. This happens sometimes when Im performing. “Youve Got a Friend” is one of the… the songs.

Interviewer： Well， theres never a dry eye in the house.

Carol： Never a dry eye in the house， and including my own—but I have to， you know， think about something else so that I can stay focused on being the channel for it to get to the people instead of being one of the people affected by it.

Interviewer： In the 1960s， Carole King was part of the “great American hit-making machine”. Song after song written by King and Guffin became signature pieces for the decades biggest names； from Hermans Hermits to Dusty Springfield， and even The Monkees. She was writing the soundtrack for the lives of a whole generation. When we think of Aretha Franklin， we think of “Natural Woman”.

Carol： If I may say， many… many people have sung“Natural Woman”， most better than I. Arethas is the definitive version， and， you know，…

Interviewer： But… but yours aint bad.

Carol： Mine is another thing. Mine is not that great soaring vocal. Its—heres how I can sing this song， and its honest and its real and its authentic， and so thats the appeal of that， but when it comes to just a presentation—Aretha.

Interviewer： When Aretha Franklin sang “Natural Woman”in 1967， it was a tumultuous time in the United States. Aside from the social and political upheaval， the music business was forced to adapt as a new wave of reformers， led by The Beatles， launched an assault on the United States.

Carol： They changed the music business in a big way because， before that， we songwriters could write for artists who needed songs. They didnt need songs， and neither did anyone else in the “British invasion”， as we called it. The Rolling Stones， Gerry & The Pacemakers， all the… all the artists that came over that wrote their own songs. And then there was Bob Dylan coming up on the “folk” side， again a lot of singers writing their own songs， so that was a big change for us. Its like， “Oh， what do we do now？”

Interviewer： You wrote melodies in a sense and cooperated on songs， often， mostly， initially， for other people. Was that a great amount of generosity on your part， or was it…？ If I could sing like you， Im saying， and I had those lyrics， Id be so jealous Id be doing them myself.

Carol： But I never thought of myself as a singer， and I think I grew into becoming one， and， to this day， they may review a performance and say， “Well， her voice cracked on the high notes”. Du-u-uh！ Im not a singer！（laughs）

Interviewer： Had it not been for her long-time friend and collaborator， James Taylor， Carole King might have remained in the shadows， an almost anonymous songwriter. James Taylor， it was， who really convinced you to get out there in the spotlight and be a performer.

Carol： It was more than convinced. He said， “Youre gonna sing up on the roof” and “No， no， no， please， please dont make me”.

Interviewer： You were on tour.

Carol： We， yeah we were on a sort of a mini college weekend tour thing.

Interviewer： Yeah. He dragged you out to sing your song， introduced you as the writer.

Carol： Introduced me， and said，…

Interviewer： And people said， “Ah， did she write that song？”

Carol： And they did do that. They were quite， “a-a-ah”.

Interviewer： Yeah of course they did， and how did you feel about this？ You were white-knuckled.

Carol： I was terrified， and I began to sing， and it was very timid， and then as I， you know， got into it more， I could feel that little shift that， you know， where people were open to the idea， but I had to win them over， but I didnt know how to win them over， so I just sang the song， and there was a shift， and they were with me. And once that happened， I have rarely had moments of lack of confidence.

Interviewer： This new-found confidence encouraged Carole King to record what became one of the biggestselling albums of all time—it sold 25 million copies—the rich collection of songs called “Tapestry” about love and heartache. King has been married four times. She should know a bit about the subject. What are your conclusions about love and its place in the human condition？ Carol： Cant live without it.

Interviewer：（laughing） I cant live with it either.

Carol： Well， sometimes cant live with it， but cant live without it. Love is… its the best， and everybody should have it.

采访者：她已经拥有100首畅销单曲，并为甲壳虫乐队、艾瑞莎·弗兰克林、凯莉·米洛和阿黛尔写歌。简而言之，卡洛尔·金是史上最成功最多产的女性创作歌手。事实上，在过去的50多年来，她的音乐已被1000位歌手录制。对于那些太年轻或太糊涂的人去回忆20世纪60年代和70年代初，卡洛尔·金的歌能提供一种完美的时间快照。那是个爱与乐观占主导地位、世界以相当奇妙的方式发展的年代。

我从未在开始一个采访的时候说过这样的话，但你的成就太卓越，我真的不知道从哪里开始。

卡洛尔·金：（笑）

采访者：我先罗列一些歌名吧：《明天你是否依然爱我》、《舞动》、《晴朗的一天》、《周日愉悦的山谷》、《你得到一个朋友》和《我感觉大地在移动》，那仅仅是一小部分，是卡洛尔·金所写歌曲中的冰山一角。

卡洛尔·金：嗯，我已经活了……今年我已经70岁了，我一直在写歌，写了很长很长时间，幸运的是，人们都喜欢这些歌，所以我能够写了那么多。

采访者：卡洛尔·金那了不起的音乐“梦幻之旅”开始于1960年，当时，年仅17岁的她写了一首歌曲，名叫《明天你是否依然爱我》，由夏瑞丽乐队—首个黑人女孩乐队录制，占据了美国各排行榜的榜首。《明天你是否依然爱我》是她和她第一任丈夫格里·戈芬共同创作，也是卡洛尔·金100首冠军歌曲中的第一首，有着不可被超越的成绩。 卡洛尔·金：当你有创意时，你就必须写作，必须做类似的事情。当你写作的时候，文字就会通过你的笔、电脑或任何工具喷涌而出，作品就是这样形成。当灵感真的来临，我会毫不犹豫地（写下来），于是作品就出来了。 采访者：那就是问题的所在，是吧？如果我们都知道灵感的来源，知道如何去做，那么创作一首好歌就不是个很大的秘密了。

卡洛尔·金：但是尽管我知道如何创作，并且很幸运地…… 采访者：你知道如何制造灵感。

卡洛尔·金：……创作出来了，然而我仍然有种感觉就是：“哦，我的天，这太美了。”歌曲写完，我一边看着，由于太感动而无法哼唱。这种情况有时也在我的演唱过程中出现，《你得到一个朋友》就是其中的一首。

采访者：嗯，现场人人眼泛泪光。

卡洛尔·金：现场人人眼泛泪光，包括我自己。但是你知道，我必须转移注意力，才能让自己集中精力引导粉丝，才不至于成为受感染的粉丝之一。

采访者：在20世纪60年代，卡洛尔·金就如一部高性能的美国创作机器。金和戈芬写了一首又一首，这些歌曲成为了那十年里大牌歌星们的传世佳作。从赫尔曼的隐士们乐队到达斯汀·史普林菲尔德，甚至门基乐队，她为整整一代人写歌。当我们想到艾瑞莎·弗兰克林，我们就想到《本色女人》。

卡洛尔·金：如果我要说，很多人都唱过《本色女人》，大部分都唱得比我好，而艾瑞莎的是最权威的版本，你知道，而且……

采访者：但是你的也不赖。

卡洛尔·金：我的是另一种感觉。我的不是飙高音，这是我对这首歌曲的表达，实实在在的、真实可信的，那是它的吸引之处。但要说到现场的效果，非艾瑞莎莫属。

采访者：1967年艾瑞莎·弗兰克林演唱《本色女人》的时候，正是美国的动荡年代。除了社会和政治的剧变，音乐界也被迫适应新的改革浪潮，以甲壳虫乐队为首，对美国乐坛展开了一场冲击。

卡洛尔·金：他们对音乐界产生了巨大的影响，以前我们这些歌曲创作者可以为有需求的歌手写歌。后来他们不需要歌了，那些受英国人影响（我们称之为“英国人入侵”）的人也不需要歌。滚石乐队、Gerry & The Pacemakers乐队，所有这些外来的歌手都自己写歌。接着鲍勃·迪伦在民谣方面崭露头角，于是（民谣）歌手也自己写歌，所以对我们是种巨大的冲击。就好像“哦，那我们现在能做什么”？

采访者：在某种意义上说，你谱写乐章、与人合作填词，最开头主要是给别人写的，那是因为你自己很慷慨大方还是……？如果我像你那样能唱，我是说，我有歌词，我就会很嫉妒说我自己也可以演唱。

卡洛尔·金：但是我从来没想过自己能成为歌手，我是慢慢发展成为一名歌手的，时至今日，有人回顾我的某个演出会说：“哦，高音部分她的声音都爆掉了。”好吧，我不是个歌手！（笑）

采访者：要不是她多年的好友兼合作人詹姆斯·泰勒，卡洛尔·金可能还停留在别人的光环下，仍是个默默无闻的歌曲写手。真的是詹姆斯·泰勒说服你走出来，站在聚光灯下，成为一名演唱者。

卡洛尔·金：不仅仅是说服，他说：“你将在歌唱方面名扬四海。”我说：“别，别，别，求你别戏弄我。”

采访者：你开了巡回演唱会。 卡洛尔·金：是的，我们开了一系列小型的校园巡回演唱会。 采访者：是吧，他把你拽出来演唱自己的歌曲，介绍你是一名歌曲作者。

卡洛尔·金：他介绍了我，并且说……

采访者：而人们就说：“啊，那首歌是她写的？”

卡洛尔·金：他们确实是那样做，他们不大相信。

采访者：是啊，他们当然不相信，你当时有什么感觉？很紧张。

卡洛尔·金：我很害怕，于是我开始唱，很胆小害羞，当我投入更多的时候，我感觉自己有所领悟，人们有这样的想法，我就必须赢得他们的支持，但我不知道怎样做，于是我全情投入演唱，人们也渐渐沉浸在我的演唱中。这种情况一发生，我就总是信心满满的了。

采访者：新找到的自信鼓励卡洛尔·金录制了史上最畅销的唱片之一—《织锦画》，该唱片售出了两千五百万张，当中收录了一系列关于爱与痛的情歌。金结过四次婚，应该会了解一些这个主题。你对于爱和它在人类生命中的位置有什么结论？

卡洛尔·金：没有爱就无法生存。

采访者：（笑）我也是没有爱就无法生存。

卡洛尔·金：是啊，有时候虽然有爱也无法生存，但是没有爱肯定无法生存。爱是最好的，每个人都应该拥有。