1227 John Wesley Harding--Bob Dylan

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正如你所知道的那樣，今天是《John Wesley Harding》正式發佈 58 週年的紀念日，這是 Bob Dylan 的第八張錄音室專輯，於 1967 年 12 月 27 日由哥倫比亞唱片公司發行。

全張專輯幾乎只有迪倫的吉他/口琴、Charlie McCoy 的貝斯和 Kenny Buttrey 的架子鼓。這種“少即是多”的處理，在當時被披頭士《Sgt. Pepper's》引領的繁復迷幻浪潮中，顯得格外反骨。用《Rolling Stone》的話說，這是迪倫在世界最喧鬧的時候，選擇了一次“震耳欲聾的沈默”。值得注意的是，這一切的發生是因為剛經歷了著名的“電聲三部曲”（《Bringing It All Back Home》, 《Highway 61 Revisited》, 《Blonde on Blonde》）。

專輯裡面有被 Jimi Hendrix 翻唱到封神的曲目《All Along the Watchtower》。但在迪倫的原版中，它更像是一場靜謐的末日預言，充滿了小丑、小偷和即將到來的風暴。Jimi翻唱的這個版本甚至比原版還更出名。

"there must be some way out of here"
said the joker to the thief
"there’s too much confusion
i can’t get no relief
businessmen, they drink my wine
plowmen dig my earth
none of them along the line
know what any of it is worth"

"no reason to get excited"
the thief, he kindly spoke
"there are many here among us
who feel that life is but a joke
but you and i, we’ve been through that
and this is not our fate
so let us not talk falsely now
the hour is getting late"

all along the watchtower
princes kept the view
while all the women came and went
barefoot servants, too
outside, in the distance
a wildcat did growl
two riders were approaching
the wind began to howl