What a Wonderful World

這首歌您一定在廣告中聽過，1967年的舊歌 What a Wonderful World ：

嗓子像敲爛鑼一樣的沙啞，高低音域都唱不到，居然又可以唱得那麼好聽，還成為一代名曲，真是異數。

歌者就是20世紀最偉大的爵士喇叭王，又成為別具一格的歌手的 Louis Armstrong (1901~1971)。

歌詞寫得淺白，但寓意深遠，對偶和押韻都四平八穩，和旋律配合得天衣無縫，值得今日的填詞人學習學習：

WHAT A WONDERFUL WORLD
(George Weiss / Bob Thiele)

I see trees of green, red roses too
I see them bloom for me and you
And I think to myself, what a wonderful world

I see skies of blue and clouds of white
The bright blessed day, the dark sacred night
And I think to myself, what a wonderful world

The colours of the rainbow, so pretty in the sky
Are also on the faces of people going by
I see friends shakin' hands, sayin' "How do you do?"
They're really saying "I love you"

I hear babies cryin', I watch them grow
They'll learn much more than I'll ever know
And I think to myself, what a wonderful world
Yes, I think to myself, what a wonderful world

Oh yeah

再來一首 Louis Armstrong 的代表作 Mack the Knife，旋律你也可能聽過，是改編自德國古典音樂作曲家Kurt Weill的歌劇 The Threepenny Opera之中的插曲。節奏輕快可喜的Big Band Jazz，是學聽爵士樂的入門妙品，加上Louis Armstrong的招牌笑容，令人煩惱盡消：

(文章允許轉貼，請具作者名字：梁煥松)