My Hometown 我的家園

這是美國歌手Bruce Springsteen 在1984年出版的專輯《Born in the U.S.A.》上的第七張單曲！這張專輯的成績，奠定他的超級巨星的地位，而他也開始他超具感染力的演唱會，通常起碼兩個半小時，甚至更長。

我在那個夏天，在多倫多國家展覽球場目睹一切。由於演唱時間長，因此分為兩節，在半場休息前，他唱了這首《My Hometown》。然後他告訴大家，現在是中場，你們去洗手間和買食物或紀念品之餘，不妨打電話到社區服務機構，看看有甚麼義工空缺，為自己的家園盡一份力。自己家園，自己落手落腳去改善！

我從未試過在一般演唱會中，遇過這種call for Action的呼籲，一下子對他的觀感提升至神的級別。

這首歌據說是他自己親自的經歷，在當時工業轉型的社會，在美加不少城鎮都有大致的傷痛經驗，頗易引起共鳴。歌詞相當簡單易明，想不到三十多年後，套上今天香港的內容，竟也如此相似。如果有人在九七回歸前後左右是一個十歲八歲的小孩，從父輩描述認識這個輝煌的家園，到今天也大概是三十多歲的人，也可能有個小孩，面對今時今日的境況，心知道離開是難以避免，在臨走之前，會帶着小朋友四處看看，多看一眼這個已經不能辨認的家園，而且大概不會再回來，此情不再。

My Hometown

I was eight years old
And running with a dime in my hand
To the bus stop to pick
Up a paper for my old man
I’d sit on his lap in that big old Buick
And steer as we drove through town
He’d tousle my hair
And say, “son, take a good look around”
This is your hometown
This is your hometown
This is your hometown
This is your hometown”

In ’65 tension was running high
At my high school
There was a lot of fights
Between the black and white
There was nothing you could do
Two cars at a light on a Saturday night
In the back seat there was a gun
Words were passed in a shotgun blast
Troubled times had come 
To my hometown
To my hometown
To my hometown
To my hometown

Now Main Street’s whitewashed windows
And vacant stores
Seems like there ain’t nobody
Wants to come down here no more
They’re closing down the textile mill
Across the railroad tracks
Foreman says, “these jobs are going, boys
And they ain’t coming back 
To your hometown
To your hometown
To your hometown
To your hometown”

Last night me and Kate we laid in bed
Talking about getting out
Packing up our bags, maybe heading south
I’m thirty-five, we got a boy of our own now
Last night I sat him up behind the wheel
And said, “son, take a good look around
This is your hometown”

這首歌是相當傷感的，帶點欲哭無淚的狀態，是他其中一首受歡迎的歌。如果你覺得這首歌已正中紅心，他在2012年出版的專輯《Wrecking Ball》中，其中一首單曲叫《Death to My Hometown》更劍指咽喉！那種忿怒，那份激情，極具殺傷力。歌曲原是回應金融海嘯的事件，要毁滅家園其實不用甚麼大型武器，一班唯利是圖，不顧後果的貪婪之徒，無底線的道德觀念，原來殺傷力更大，更具毁滅性。原本直指華爾街的所謂精英，但換到今日香港的領導層，其實也非常精確。「沒有砲彈四處橫飛，沒有步槍週圍亂射，沒有炸彈從天上掉下來，沒有血流成河，沒有強光照眼（但香港有），沒有震耳欲聾的雷聲，但是就像上帝之手一樣的威力，摧毁我們的家園！ 」

在無聲無息，無味無色之下的毁滅，回頭已是百年身。

Bruce Springsteen — Death To My Hometown

Oh, no cannonballs did fly, no rifles cut us down
No bombs fell from the sky, no blood soaked the ground
No powder flash blinded the eye, no deathly thunder sound
But just as sure as the hand of God, they brought death to my hometown
They brought death to my hometown

No shells ripped the evening sky, no cities burning down
No armies stormed the shores for which we’d die
No dictators were crowned
I awoke from a quiet night, I never heard a sound
Marauders raided in the dark and brought death to my hometown, buys
Death to my hometown

They destroyed our families’ factories and they took our homes
They left our bodies on the plains, the vultures picked our bones
So listen up, my sonny boy, be ready for when they come
For they’ll be returning sure as the rising sun
Now get yourself a song to sing and sing it ’til you’re done
Yeah, sing it hard and sing it well
Send the robber barons straight to hell
The greedy thieves who came around
And ate the flesh of everything they found
Whose crimes have gone unpunished now
Who walk the streets as free men now
Ah, they brought death to our hometown, boys
Death to our hometown, boys
Death to our hometown, boys
Death to our hometown, whoa!