The JAM に再びしびれる...

　最近、The JAMを Last.fm で久しぶりに聴いて、やはりかっこいいなと思いながらその歌詞を読んでるうちに～25年前に聴いた時には全然気付かなかった～この歌はワーキングクラスの家庭持ちの悲哀を歌っていることを知った。てっきりティーンエイジの歌だと思っていたのだった。
　30年も前に、二十歳そこそこの"ガキ"がこんな歌をこんなにかっこよく歌っていたのだった。

The Jam - DOWN IN THE TUBE STATION AT MIDNIGHT

The distant echo -
of faraway voices boarding faraway trains
To take them home to
the ones that they love and who love them forever
The glazed, dirty steps - repeat my own and reflect my thoughts
Cold and uninviting, partially naked
Except for toffee wrapers and this morning's paper
Mr. Jones got run down
Headlines of death and sorrow - they tell of tomorrow
Madmen on the rampage
And I'm down in the tube station at midnight
I fumble for change - and pull out the Queen
Smiling, beguiling
I put in the money and pull out a plum
Behind me
Whispers in the shadows - gruff blazing voices
Hating, waiting
"Hey boy" they shout - "have you got any money?"
And I said - "I've a little money and a take away curry,
I'm on my way home to my wife.
She'll be lining up the cutlery,
You know she's expecting me
Polishing the glasses and pulling out the cork"
And I'm down in the tube station at midnight

I first felt a fist, and then a kick
I could now smell their breath
They smelt of pubs and Wormwood Scrubs
And too many right wing meetings
My life swam around me
It took a look and drowned me in its own existence
The smell of brown leather
It blended in with the weather
It filled my eyes, ears, nose and mouth
It blocked all my senses
Couldn't see, hear, speak any longer
And I'm down in the tube station at midnight
I said I was down in the tube station at midnight

The last thing that I saw
As I lay there on the floor
Was "Jesus Saves" painted by an atheist nutter
And a British Rail poster read "Have an Awayday - a cheap holiday -
Do it today!"
I glanced back on my life
And thought about my wife
'Cause they took the keys - and she'll think it's me
And I'm down in the tube station at midnight
The wine will be flat and the curry's gone cold
I'm down in the tube station at midnight
Don't want to go down in a tube station at midnight

　訳してみたのだが、あまりにかっこわるいので載せるのはやめた。この歌が収められているサードアルバムの"ALL MOD CONS"を当時の「ウォークマン」で聴きながら街を歩いた時に目に映った風景はそれでとは全然違うものだったなぁ...、などと振り返るのはやめよう。台北のMRTに乗りながら聴いてみようと思う。変わらんだろうなこの街じゃ。

追伸：台湾では The JAM のCDは手に入らん。当時はバリバリの戒厳令中だったからかな。台湾の友人たちと今ひとつわかりあえんのはこの辺りを共有してないせいかも知れん。