The Cultural Ambassador(Live) - Laurie Anderson

The Cultural Ambassador (Live) - Laurie Anderson
以下歌词翻译由文曲大模型提供
Anyway I was in israel as a kind
当时我作为文化使者来到以色列
Of cultural ambassador
肩负着文化交流的使命
And there were lots of press
演出期间排满了
Conferences scheduled
各种新闻发布会
Around the performances
环绕着艺术表演展开
The journalists usually started things off
记者们总是以先锋艺术为开场白
By asking about the avantgarde
询问那些前卫创作的意义
So what's so good about new they'd ask
"新潮艺术究竟好在哪里"他们这样追问
Well new is interesting
新奇事物总是引人入胜
And what they would say is so
人们常说的那些美好特质
Good about interesting
正是其迷人之处
Well interesting is you know it's interesting
所谓趣味 你懂的 就是那么吸引人
It's like being awake you know
就像保持清醒的状态
I'm treading water now
我此刻正随波逐流
And what is so good about
而其中最美好的部分
Being awake they'd say
清醒时人们常说
Finally I got the hang of this
我终于掌握了诀窍
Never answer a question
永远不要直接回答问题
In israel always answer by asking
在以色列 总是以提问来回应
Another question
另一个问题
But the Israelis were vey curious
但以色列人充满好奇
About the gulf war
关于海湾战争
And what americans had thought
以及美国人的想法
About it and I tried
关于此事 我试图
To think of a good question to
构思一个恰当的问题
Ask and answer to
来提问并回应
This but what was really on
但真正萦绕在我
My mind was that the
心头的是
Week before I had myself
前一周我竟在
Been testing explosives
特拉维夫停车场
In a parking lot in tel aviv
测试爆炸装置
Now this happened
事情就这样发生了
Because I had brought some
只因我携带了些
Small stage bombs
小型舞台爆破装置
To Israel as props for this
作为演出道具来到以色列
Performance and the
而当地的
Israeli promoter was very interested in them
演出承办商对它们兴致盎然
And it turned out that he was on weekend duty
后来才知晓他周末轮值
On one of the bomb squads and bombs were
在拆弹小组服役 那些爆破装置
Also something of a hobby during the week
这周也成了我的消遣之一
So I said
于是我说
Look you know these bombs are
听着 你要知道这些炸弹
Nothing special just just a little smoke
没什么特别 不过是些烟雾
And he said well we can get much
他却说 我们可以给你
Better things for you
弄到更好的东西
And I said
我回答
No really these are fine and he said
真的不用 这些就够了 他却说
No but it should be big theatrical
不 但这应该是一场盛大戏剧
It should make an impression I mean
它必须震撼人心 我是说
You really just the right bomb
你确实找到了完美的炸弹
And so one morning he arranged to have
于是某个清晨 他安排人将
About fifty small bombs delivered to a parking lot
约五十枚小型炸弹运到停车场
And since he looked on it as a sort of
由于他将这视为某种
Special surprise
特别的惊喜
Favor I couldn't really refuse so
这份"好意"我实在难以推辞
We are on this parking
我们正身处这片停车场
Lot testing the bombs and after
测试着炸弹 而在最初几次爆炸后
The first few explosions
我发现自己竟渐渐
I found I was really getting pretty interested
对此产生了浓厚的兴趣
They all had very different characteristics
它们各具独特特性
Some had fiery orange tails and
有些拖着炽热的橙色尾焰
Made these low paah
发出低沉的砰砰声
Paah paah popping sound others
另一些则噼啪作响
Exploded mid air
在半空中轰然炸裂
And left long smoky slinky trails
留下蜿蜒的烟痕绵长
And he had several
而他备有各式型号
Of each kind in case I needed to
供我随时取用
Review them all at the end
待最后逐一检视
And I'm thinking
此刻我不禁思忖
Here I am a citizen of the world's largest arms
身为全球最大军火国的子民
Supplier setting off bombs with the world's second
正与全球第二大...
Largest arms customer and I'm having a great time
作为最大军火买家 我却乐在其中
So even though the diplomatic part of the trip
尽管这次外交访问行程
Wasn't going so well at least
进展得并不顺利
I was getting some instruction in terrorism
但至少我获得了恐怖主义课程
And it reminded me of something in a book by
这让我想起唐·德里罗书中
Don deLillo about how terrorists
关于恐怖分子是
Are the only true artists
仅存的真正艺术家
Left because they're the only ones who are still
因为他们依然是唯一
Capable of really surprising people
总能给人意想不到的惊喜
And the other thing it reminded me of were all the
这让我想起另一件事
Attempts during the gulf war to outwit
海湾战争期间那些智胜
The terrorists and I especially
恐怖分子的尝试 我尤其
Remember an interesting
记得一份有趣的
Liist of tips devised by the us embassy in madrid
美国驻马德里使馆制定的指南清单
And these tips were designed for americans
这些建议专为身处战时机场的
Who found themselves in wartime airports
美国公民而设计
The idea was not to call ourselves to the
本意并非要引起那些潜伏在航站楼各处
Attention of the numerous foreign terrorists
众多外国恐怖分子的注意
Who were presumably lurking all over the terminal
他们可能正暗中窥伺
So the embassy tips were a list of mostly don'ts
因此使馆建议清单上多是禁忌事项
Things like don't wear a baseball cap
比如不要戴棒球帽
Don't wear a sweat shirt with the name of
别穿印有美国大学校名的
An american university on it don't wear
运动衫
Timberlands with no socks don't chew gum
不穿袜子的工装靴 拒绝嚼口香糖
Don't yell ethel our plane is leaving
别喊埃塞尔 我们的航班即将起飞
I mean it's weird when your entire culture
当整个文化被八种特征概括时
Can be summed up in eight giveaway characteristics
这感觉实在怪异
And during the gulf war I was traveling around
海湾战争期间 我带着大量装备
Europe with a lot of equipment and all the airports
在欧洲各地辗转 每个机场
Were full of security guards who would
都挤满了安保人员 他们会
Suddenly point to a suitcase and start yelling
突然指着行李箱开始大喊
Whose bag is this I wanna know right now
这是谁的包 我现在就要知道
Who owns this bag
这包的主人是谁
And huge groups of passengers would start
大群乘客开始躁动
Out for the bag just running around in circles like a
围着包转圈 像枚呼啸而来的
Skud missile on its way in and I was carrying
飞毛腿导弹 而我随身带着
A lot of electronics so I had to keep unpacking
许多电子设备 不得不反复拆包
Everything and plugging it in and demonstrating
挨个插电演示
How it all worked and I guessed
它们如何运作 我猜
I did seem a little fishy
我的确显得有点可疑
A lot of this stuff wakes up displaying led program
这些设备启动时总显示着LED程序
Readouts that have names like adam smasher and
屏幕上闪烁着"亚当粉碎者"之类的名称
So it took a while to convince them that they
所以花了不少时间说服他们
Weren't some kind of espionage system
这并非某种间谍系统
So I've done quite a few of these sort of impromptu
我已举办过不少这类即兴的
New music concerts for small groups of detectives
小型新音乐鉴赏会 观众多是探员们
And customs agents and I'd have to keep setting
海关人员 而我不得不反复调试设备
All this stuff up and they'd listen
他们全神贯注地聆听
For a while and they'd say
片刻之后开口问道
So uh what's this
"那么 这是什么"
And I'd pull out something like this sayfilter and
我便掏出这样的滤声器解释道
Now this is what I'd like to think
"在我看来
Of as the voice of authority
这就是权威之声的化身"
And it would take me a while to tell them
总要费些功夫才能说明白
How I used it for songs that were you know
我如何用它创作那些特别的歌曲
About various forms of control and they would say
关于各种管控形式 他们总会这样问
Now why would you want to talk like that
你为何要用这种口吻说话
And I'd look around at the and the undercover
我环顾四周 便衣特工在暗处潜伏
Agents and the dogs and the radio in the corner
警犬与角落里的收音机
Tuned to the superbowl coverage of the war
正播放着超级碗对战争的报道
And I'd say take a wild guess
我只能说 不妨大胆猜测
Finally of course I got through with this after all
历经波折后我终于通过检查
American made equipment and the customs agents
美国制造的设备与海关人员
Were all talking about the effectiveness no the
我们都在讨论的不是效率而是
Beauty the elegance of the american
美国策略的美感与优雅
Strategy of pinpoint bombing
那种精准轰炸的艺术
The high tech surgical approach which was being
高科技手术般的打击方式
Reported by cnn as something between grand opera
被CNN报道得如同
And the superbowl like the first reports before the
介于盛大歌剧与超级碗之间
Blackout when tv was live and
就像断电前电视直播的初报
Everything was heightened
一切都变得格外鲜明
And it was so euphoric
那种感觉如此令人陶醉
The Cultural Ambassador(live版) - Laurie Anderson
文化大使(现场版) - Laurie Anderson