两个姑娘和莱昂纳德·科恩共度的一夜

My Night With Leonard Cohen
By ROZ WARREN August 03, 2013
随笔
两个姑娘和莱昂纳德·科恩共度的一夜
ROZ WARREN 2013年08月03日
It was 1975. My pal Anne and I were waiting in line outside a Chicago club where Leonard Cohen would perform that night, when Mr. Cohen himself came around the corner, smiled at the two of us, then continued inside.
那是在1975年，我和朋友安妮在芝加哥一家俱乐部外排队等待，莱昂纳德·科恩(Leonard Cohen)当晚要在那儿演出，后来科恩先生的身影在街角出现，对我俩笑了一下，就进去了。
“Did you see that?” I said. “He noticed us!”
“你看见没有？”我说，“他注意到我们了！”
“We must be his type,” Anne said. “Or one of them, anyway.”
“我们肯定是他喜欢的类型，”安妮说，“要不就是我们俩当中有一个人是。”
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Roz Kelly/Michael Ochs Archives — Getty Images
歌手莱昂纳德·科恩在20世纪60年代。
I was a nice Jewish girl from suburban Detroit. Anne was a minister’s daughter from Ohio. We were both juniors at the University of Chicago. My guitar-playing boyfriends had been courting me with “Sisters of Mercy" and “Famous Blue Raincoat” since high school, and I was eager to check out the real deal. Anne was a sometimes folksinger who often performed Mr. Cohen’s songs herself, her lovely soprano accompanied with somewhat haphazard guitar playing.
我是个来自底特律郊区长得还不错的犹太女孩。安妮是俄亥俄州一个牧师的女儿。我们都在芝加哥大学上三年级。从中学时代起，就有弹吉他的男朋友唱科恩的《仁慈的姊妹》(Sisters of Mercy)和《著名的蓝雨衣》(Famous Blue Raincoat)讨我欢心，我也很想见见科恩的真容。安妮有时候会客串民谣歌手，经常表演科恩的歌，胡乱弹着吉他，配合她好听的女高音。
The club was packed and the show was terrific. Pulling into traffic afterward, we realized that Mr. Cohen was riding in the car ahead of us. It was a big old station wagon, and Mr. Cohen and the drummer were in the back seat, facing us.
俱乐部里挤满人，演出也棒极了。演出结束，我们正要开车回去，发现科恩先生就坐在我们前面的车子里。那是一辆很大的老式旅行车，科恩先生和鼓手坐在后座，面朝着我们。
Giddy, we waved at them and mouthed the words, “Great show!”
天哪，我们冲他们挥手，比着口型说：“精彩的演出！”
At the next light, Mr. Cohen rolled down the window and called, “Follow us!”
在下一个红绿灯处，科恩先生摇下窗子，叫道，“跟我们来！”
“Are we really going to do this?” Anne asked as I steered through the dark city streets, zipping around corners and trying not to run stop signs.
“我们真要这么干吗？”安妮问，我开着车在城市黑暗的街头行驶，飞快地拐弯，还要小心别撞上停车标志。
“Why not?” I asked. Sure, it was past midnight and we were bone tired. But what an adventure!
“干吗不？”我问。虽然已经过了午夜时分，我们也累得半死，但这是多难得的冒险啊！
And meeting Mr. Cohen would certainly be something cool to tell my folk-singing boyfriends about.
而且和科恩见面肯定很酷，可以拿来向我那些唱民谣的男朋友们炫耀。
At a downtown diner, we all crowded into a large corner booth, and the drummer told us we had caught the singer’s eye because Anne was the spitting image of the chick who inspired “So Long, Marianne.”
我们在市中心一家餐馆停下，被簇拥着走到角落里一张大桌子，鼓手告诉我们，科恩先生注意到我们，是因为安妮很像那个启发他写下《再会，玛丽安娜》的姑娘。
We were so young and innocent that it didn’t even occur to us that he might be feeding us a line.
我们年轻无知，根本没想过这可能是他随便给对我们的借口。
The rest of the band took off, leaving me and Anne with Mr. Cohen and the drummer. They griped about life on the road for a while, then Mr. Cohen drew us out, asking about our lives and the university.
乐队里其他人都走了，只有我和安妮与科恩先生和那个鼓手在一起。他们聊了一会儿巡演生活，然后科恩先生鼓励我们开口，让我们谈谈自己的生活和学校。
The fact that teenage boys in suburban Detroit were using his music to try to seduce girls clearly amused him.
底特律郊区十几岁的男孩子们弹他的歌讨好女孩子，这种事显然让他很开心。
During one lull in the conversation, he turned to me, shook his head, and said, “You are so young."
聊天间隙，他转向我，摇着头说：“你真年轻。”
I didn’t argue. He seemed ancient to me, although at 41, he was considerably younger than I am now.
我没有争辩，他对我来说已经很老了。他那年41岁，当然，比我现在的年纪年轻多了。
Mr. Cohen ordered a root beer float with chocolate ice cream, which struck me as a ghastly combination. When he offered me a sip, I tried it, then made a face and pronounced it “appalling.”
科恩先生点了一杯带巧克力冰淇淋的根汁啤酒，我觉得这真是个恐怖的组合。他让我尝一小口，我试了试，接着做了个鬼脸，表示“真难喝”。
The food was awful but Anne and I were having a wonderful time. After a great show, we were hanging out with the star! But we began to suspect there was a plan afoot to divvy us up, one for Mr. Cohen and one for the drummer, so we headed to the ladies room for a powwow.
食物也不怎么样，不过我和安妮很开心。一场精彩的演出之后，我们又和明星混在一起！但我们又怀疑他们想把我俩瓜分掉，科恩一个鼓手一个，于是我们到女厕所里商量了一阵。
We thought about saying, “So Long, Leonard Cohen” and leaving after the midnight nosh, but we were having too much fun. We wanted the adventure to continue, but we agreed we would stick together. If Mr. Cohen didn’t like that, too bad for him. We’d be out of there.
我们想过，吃完这顿宵夜就说：“再会，莱昂纳德·科恩”，然后离开，但我们实在太开心了。我们想继续冒险，但我们也决定，我们俩应该呆在一起不分开，如果科恩不喜欢这样，那就对不起他了，我们马上就走。
We weren’t groupies. We were feminists. We intended to take control of the situation. And neither of us was up for trading in our friendship for a little solo time with Mr. Cohen.
我们不是“骨肉皮”，我们是女性主义者。我们希望由自己控制局面。我们俩都不愿为同科恩单独相处而出卖友谊。
As we left the diner, I took Mr. Cohen aside and told him Anne and I were sticking together. Maybe the drummer was a great guy, but neither of us was interested in him.
离开那个饭馆，我把科恩先生叫到一边，告诉他我和安妮要呆在一起。也许那个鼓手是个好人，但我俩对他都不感兴趣。
Mr. Cohen seemed untroubled by this news.
科恩先生听了似乎无所谓的样子。
Driving behind the station wagon again, we agreed that Mr. Cohen was a mensch. He had treated us respectfully. He had taken us seriously. We liked him. And he seemed to like us, too.
我们继续开车跟在那辆旅行车后面，一致认为科恩先生是个可敬的人。他很尊重我们，很严肃地对待我们。我们喜欢他。他似乎也喜欢我们。
It turned out he was staying at the Playboy Towers, which we thought deeply ironic. While you could associate plenty of singers with the term “***," Leonard Cohen, surely, wasn’t among them.
最后他停在花花公子大厦外面，我们觉得很讽刺。很多歌手都可以和“花花公子”这个词联系起来，莱昂纳德·科恩却显然不是。
We accompanied him to a drab hotel room that was dominated by a mammoth bed, covered with the ugliest bedspread I had ever seen. By now it was after two. He turned on the TV and we stood around for a few moments chatting about how ugly the bedspread was. Then we took turns using the bathroom, stripped down to our undies, and the three of us dove into that great big bed and … went right to sleep.
我们陪着他进了一个冷冰冰的酒店房间，里面的主要陈设是一张巨大的床，上面盖着我生平见过的最丑的床罩。当时已经过了凌晨两点。他打开电视，我们站在那儿聊了一会儿床罩有多丑。然后我们轮流盥洗已毕，脱到只穿内衣，三个人缩进那张超级大床，然后就……直接睡着了。
We were all exhausted. And Anne and I clearly weren’t groupie material. We snuggled up to him, one on either side, and everyone went to dreamland.
我们都累坏了。安妮和我显然不是当“骨肉皮”的料。我们一边一个依偎着他，三个人都进入了梦乡。
Anne says she woke up once, because he was snoring. She reached over, gently closed his mouth, and went back to sleep.
安妮说她中间醒来过一次，因为他在打鼾。她伸手轻轻捂住他的嘴，接着又睡着了。
When I awoke the next morning, Mr. Cohen was singing in the shower.
第二天早上我醒来，科恩先生正在一边淋浴一边唱歌。
I nudged Anne and we beamed at each other. How amazing was this?
我推醒安妮，我俩眉开眼笑地对视着。多奇妙啊！
Soon he was moving around the dark room, getting dressed and packing up. As he left, he said: “I have the room till noon. You can sleep in.”
他很快回到昏暗的房间，穿上衣服，收拾东西。离开时他说：“房间到中午才退，你们可以接着睡。”
After the door closed behind him, Anne and I immediately started joking around. “Who on earth was that?” “He looked pretty darn familiar.” “Say … that wasn‘t Leonard Cohen, was it?”
房门在他身后关上了，我和安妮马上开起玩笑来。“他到底是谁呀？”“他可真够面熟的。”“所以……根本不是莱昂纳德·科恩，对吧？”
Then we got out of bed and searched the room for souvenirs.
然后我们下了床，在整个屋子里寻找纪念品。
We found an almost full bottle of Herbal Essence in the shower. Leonard Cohen’s shampoo! Ours now. Emptying the waste basket, we were rewarded with crumpled scraps of paper containing song lyrics. There were also mash notes from eager groupies trying to entice him into a romp, including one who claimed to give the best “backrub” north of Tallahassee.
我们在浴室里找到一整瓶Herbal Essence洗发水。莱昂纳德·科恩的洗发水！现在是我们的了。倒空了整个字纸篓，我们发现几团皱巴巴的纸，上面写着歌词。还有热情的“骨肉皮”写来的情书，想和他来点风流韵事，其中有个人说要给他做北塔拉哈希最好的“后背按摩”。
I give Mr. Cohen credit. Given a choice between a night of groupie debauchery and a snuggle with two feminists, he’d gone with us.
我要赞美科恩先生。他没有去和“骨肉皮”们声色犬马，而是和两个女性主义者依偎了一夜。
Of course, the man was a Buddhist. He was probably just taking what the universe had to offer. Had we turned into a pair of depraved trollops the moment we had him in that room alone, he might have gone with that, too.
当然，他是个佛教徒。他可能只是顺其自然，接受了宇宙带给他的东西。当时走进房间，和他独处的我们如果变成两个堕落的妓女，那么他可能也会欣然接受。
When Mr. Cohen’s next record came out, the cover photo was of him with two women. Coincidence? Sure, but we got a kick out of thinking it was a secret message for us. He had called the album [要查看本链接请先注册并登录] To us, he was a perfect gentleman.
后来科恩先生的下一张新专辑封面是他和两个女人在一起。巧合吗？当然了，但我们想到这可能是给我们的秘密信息，还是觉得兴奋不已。他给这张专辑起名为《大众情人之死》(Death of a Ladies Man)。对于我们来说，他是个完美的绅士。
Does Mr. Cohen still remember that night? Probably not. But that’s O.K. What matters is that Anne and I, still fast friends, have never forgotten it.
科恩先生还记得那天晚上的事吗？很可能不记得了。但这没有关系。重要的是我和安妮仍然是亲密的朋友，我们永远不会忘记这件事。
I tried to contact Mr. Cohen after writing this article. His manager, Robert B. Kory, was kind enough to write back to tell me it was a “great story” that he would “forward to Leonard,” but that “regrettably, we must decline the request for a comment, as Leonard is on tour.”
写完这篇文章，我试图和科恩先生联系。他的经纪人罗伯特·B·科里(Robert B. Kory)好心回信告诉我，这是一篇“精彩的故事”，他“会给莱昂纳德看”，但是“很遗憾，我们拒绝作出评论，因为莱昂纳德还在巡演”。