本日の一曲 vol.66 キンクス 20世紀の男 (The Kinks: 20th Century Man, 1971)

イギリスのバンド、ザ・キンクスは、時期的に、契約していたレコード会社によって、なんとなく音楽の指向性が違っているバンドですが、今回の「20世紀の男」は、RCAと契約したばかりのころに発売された「マズウェル・ヒルビリーズ（Muswell Hillbillies）」というアルバムの1曲目に収録されていた曲です。

以下は、歌詞です。ボーカルのレイ・デイヴィスさんによるものです。「ぼくは20世紀の男なんだけど、こんな時代にはいたくない」という内容です。レイさんがシニカルだと言われるゆえんのような曲です。

This is the age of machinery,
A mechanical nightmare,
The wonderful world of technology,
Napalm, hydrogen bombs, biological warfare,

This is the twentieth century,
But too much aggravation
It's the age of insanity,
What has become of the green pleasant fields of Jerusalem.

Ain't got no ambition, I'm just disillusioned
I'm a twentieth century man but I don't wanna be here.
My mama said she can't understand me
She can't see my motivation
Just give me some security,
I'm a paranoid schizoid product of the twentieth century.

You keep all your smart modern writers
Give me William Shakespeare
You keep all your smart modern painters
I'll take Rembrandt, Titian, Da Vinci and Gainsborough,

Girl we gotta get out of here
We gotta find a solution
I'm a twentieth century man but I don't want
I don't want to die here

Girl we gotta get out of here
We gotta find a solution
I'm a twentieth century man but I don't want
I don't want to be here

I was born in a welfare state
Ruled by bureaucracy
Controlled by civil servants
And people dressed in grey
Got no privacy, got no liberty
Cos the twentieth century people
Took it all away from me.

Don't wanna get myself shot down
By some trigger happy policeman,
Gotta keep a hold on my sanity
I'm a twentieth century man but I don't wanna die here.

My mama says she can't understand me
She can't see my motivation
Ain't got no security,
I'm a twentieth century man but I don't wanna be here.

This is the twentieth century
But too much aggravation
This is the edge of insanity
I'm a twentieth century man but I don't wanna be here.

Lyrics for "20th Century Man"

また、RCA時代の最後を飾る「不良少年のメロディ～愛の鞭への傾向と対策（Schoolboys in Disgrace, 1976）」に収録された「エデュケイション（Education）」でも、そんなレイさんの本領が発揮されています。

In a deep dark jungle, long time ago
Lived a lonesome caveman
He was a solitary soul
And he spent his playtime
Chewing meat from bones.
He didn't know how to talk much
He only knew how to groan
Then he lifted up his hands and reached to the sky
Let out a yell and no one replied.
Frustration and torment tore him inside
Then he fell to the ground and he cried and he cried.
But then education saved the day.
He learned to speak and communicate
Education saved the day.
He thanked God for the friends he made.
'Cos everybody needs an education
Everybody needs an education.
Black skin, red skin, yellow or white,
Everybody needs to read and write
Everybody needs an education.

Thank the day when that primitive man
Learned to talk with his brothers
And live off the land.
He left his cave and he moved far away
And he lived with his friends in a house that they'd made
He learned to think and to work with his brain
And he astounded his friends with all the knowledge he gained

He wrote it down on a rock that he found
And he showed all his friends and they passed it around
And then education came that day.
The day it came was a sacred day.
Education came that day
He thanked God for the friends he'd made.

Well man built a boat and he learned how to sail
And he traveled far and wide
Then he looked up above saw the stars in the sky
So he learned how to fly.
Thanks to all the mathematicians
And the inventors with their high I.Q.s
And the professors in their colleges
Trying to feed me knowledge
That I know I'll never use.
Thank you sir for the millions of words
That you've handed me down and you've told me to learn

But I've got words in my ears and my eyes
I've got so many facts that I must memorize
Because education's doing me in
I want to stop but my head's in a swim
Education drives me insane
I can't recall all the facts on my brain.
Education came that day
The day it came was a sacred day
Education saved the day
He thanked God for all the friends he made.

Teacher, teach me how to read and write,
You can teach me about biology,
But you can't tell me what I am living for
'Cos that's still a mystery.
Teacher, teach me about nuclear physics
And teach me about the structure of man,
But all your endless calculations
Can't tell me why I am.
No you can't tell me why I am,
No you can't tell me why I am.

Everybody needs education,
Open Universities, education.
Every race, every creed, education.
And every little half-breed.
Every nationality, education.
All the little people need education.
Eskimos and pygmies need
And even aborigines, education.

Well, physics and geography, education.
Philosophy and history, education.
Science and biology, education,
Geometry and poetry, education.
Well, education, education, education, education

Lyrics for "Education"

一体、どんな人なんだろうか、と思わせるレイさんですが、2012年のロンドン・オリンピックの閉会式では、レコード会社がパイの時代の「ウォータルー・サンセット（Waterloo Sunset）」を歌っていました。ところが、アメリカではカットされた（Wikipediaによる）そうなので、アメリカではそんな評価なのかなとも思います。

The Complete London 2012 Closing Ceremony | London 2012 Olympic Games

レイ・デイヴィスさんご登場は30:45あたりです。

(by R)