Tigh Mhíchíl

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Lyrics of 'Abraham, Martin and John'


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 レイ・チャールズの歌詞は全部を知ろうとすると大変。昨日ふれた<Abraham, Martin and John>のレイ版に近い歌詞を探していたら何とボブ・ディラン版が一番近いようだ。Tom Glazer, Songs of Peace, Freedom & Protest, New York, 1972, pp. 1-3 からの引用をこちらで見つけた。

Has anybody here seen my old friend Abraham?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
He freed a lot of people,
But it seems the good die young,
But I just looked around and he's gone.


Has anybody here seen my old friend John?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
He freed a lot of people,
But it seems the good die young,
But I just looked around and he's gone.


Has anybody here seen my old friend Martin?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
He freed a lot of people,
But it seems the good die young,
But I just looked around and he's gone.


Didn't you love the things they stood for?
Didn't they try to find some good for you and me?
And we'll be free.
Someday soon, it's gonna be
One day.


Has anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin'
Up over the hill,
With Abraham, Martin and John.

 この歌はロカビリーの Dick Holler がおそらく1968年に書いた作品。最初に録音したのは同年にこの歌をリリースした Dion DiMucci (Dion & the Belmonts)。ビートルズの《Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band》(1967)のジャケットでビートルズ以外に載っているミュージシャンは Dylan と Dion の二人だけと言われている。

 歌の題は近現代の「殉難者、犠牲者、殉教者」として人々の心に今も残る三人の名を連ねたもの。

  • Abraham Lincoln (1809-65、米国第16代大統領、在職1861-65)
  • John Fitzgerald Kennedy (1917-63、米国第35代大統領、在職1961-63)
  • Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-68、米国黒人運動指導者)

 なお、最終連の Bobby とはケネディの弟 Robert。

  • Robert Francis Kennedy (1925-68、JFK の弟)