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| 빌리 조엘이 부른 "We Didn't Start The Fire"에 나오는 인물과 사건들. |
가수가 긴 노랫말을 왼다는 것은 쉬운 일이 아니다. 배우가 대사를 외운다는 것과 마찬가지다. 누가 더 힘들까. 어쩌면 배우가 아닐까.
기자가 만난 배우 신구(申久) 선생은 대사를 "결사적으로 왼다"고 말한다. 결사적이란 말의 사전적 의미는 '죽음을 각오하고'다. 그의 나이 82세. 그런데도 지금까지 예능과 드라마, 영화에 주연, 조연을 오간다. 기억력 감퇴는 어쩔 수 없다. 그러나 스스로에게 도전하듯 한계와 맞선다.
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| 젊은 시절의 빌리 조엘. 이제 그의 나이도 일흔을 앞두고 있다. |
그러나 예외는 있다. 빌리 조엘(Billy Joel·69)의 경우다. 그는 1990년대 "We Didn't Start The Fire"로 곤혹을 치렀다. 노랫말 때문이다.
노랫말에는 빌리 조엘이 태어난 1940년대 후반부터 1980년대 후반까지 약 40년 동안의 전 세계에서 일어난 대사건과 정치, 경제, 문화, 스포츠계 인물들의 이름이 굴비 엮듯 엮여 있다. "We Didn't Start The Fire"에 나오는 ‘우리(We)’는 베이비 부머 세대를 말한다. 극단적인 광기의 사건이 20세기 어느 한 부분에서만 일어난 것이 아니라 역사를 통틀어(throughout all of history) 일어났다는 점을 담고 있는 노래다.
노랫말에는 빌리 조엘이 태어난 1940년대 후반부터 1980년대 후반까지 약 40년 동안의 전 세계에서 일어난 대사건과 정치, 경제, 문화, 스포츠계 인물들의 이름이 굴비 엮듯 엮여 있다. "We Didn't Start The Fire"에 나오는 ‘우리(We)’는 베이비 부머 세대를 말한다. 극단적인 광기의 사건이 20세기 어느 한 부분에서만 일어난 것이 아니라 역사를 통틀어(throughout all of history) 일어났다는 점을 담고 있는 노래다.
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| 빌리 조엘의 "We Didn't Start The Fire" 싱글 커버. |
한국의 현대사와 관련된 단어도 있다. North Korea, South Korea가 나오고, 분단의 상징인 판문점(Panmunjom), 그리고 1960년대를 대표하는 인물의 하나로 이승만(Syngman Rhee) 대통령의 이름이 나온다. 이 대통령은 1960년 3월 15일 부정선거가 촉발시킨 4․19혁명으로 그해 4월 26일 하야했다.
또 해리 트루먼, 마를린 몬로, 왕과 나, 토스카니니, 록 어라운드 더 클락, 아인슈타인, 제임스 딘, 엘비스 프레슬리, 디즈니 랜드, 캐딜락, 마피아, 카스트로, 케네디, 호찌민, 우드스탁, 헤비메탈, 자살소동, 에이즈, 마약... 무려 101개의 고유명사들로 줄줄이 엮어졌다.
그런데 이 엄청난 노랫말 때문에 빌리 조엘은 곤혹을 치러야만 했다. 공연 도중 101개나 되는 세계 현대사의 인물이나 사건 명칭을 속사포처럼 쏟아내기란 쉽지 않았기 때문이다. 공연 도중 가사가 꼬여 노래를 부르지 못해 망신을 당하기도 했다.
결국 라이브 공연 레퍼토리에서 이 곡을 빼버렸다고 한다.
We Didn't Start the Fire Lyrics
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[Verse 1]
Harry Truman, Doris Day, Red China, Johnnie Ray
South Pacific, Walter Winchell, Joe DiMaggio
Joe McCarthy, Richard Nixon, Studebaker, Television
North Korea, South Korea, Marilyn Monroe
Rosenbergs, H-Bomb, Sugar Ray, Panmunjom
Brando, The King And I, and The Catcher In The Rye
Eisenhower, Vaccine, England's got a new queen
Marciano, Liberace, Santayana goodbye
[Chorus]
We didn't start the fire
It was always burning since the world's been turning
We didn't start the fire
No, we didn't light it, but we tried to fight it
We didn't start the fire
It was always burning since the world's been turning
We didn't start the fire
No, we didn't light it, but we tried to fight it
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[Verse 2]
Joseph Stalin, Malenkov, Nasser and Prokofiev
Rockefeller, Campanella, Communist Bloc
Roy Cohn, Juan Peron, Toscanini, Dacron
Dien Bien Phu Falls, "Rock Around the Clock"
Einstein, James Dean, Brooklyn's got a winning team
Davy Crockett, Peter Pan, Elvis Presley, Disneyland
Bardot, Budapest, Alabama, Khrushchev
Princess Grace, Peyton Place, Trouble in the Suez
Joseph Stalin, Malenkov, Nasser and Prokofiev
Rockefeller, Campanella, Communist Bloc
Roy Cohn, Juan Peron, Toscanini, Dacron
Dien Bien Phu Falls, "Rock Around the Clock"
Einstein, James Dean, Brooklyn's got a winning team
Davy Crockett, Peter Pan, Elvis Presley, Disneyland
Bardot, Budapest, Alabama, Khrushchev
Princess Grace, Peyton Place, Trouble in the Suez
[Chorus]
We didn't start the fire
It was always burning since the world's been turning
We didn't start the fire
No, we didn't light it, but we tried to fight it
We didn't start the fire
It was always burning since the world's been turning
We didn't start the fire
No, we didn't light it, but we tried to fight it
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[Verse 3]
Little Rock, Pasternak, Mickey Mantle, Kerouac
Sputnik, Zhou Enlai, Bridge On The River Kwai
Lebanon, Charles de Gaulle, California baseball
Starkweather Homicide, Children of Thalidomide
Buddy Holly, Ben-Hur, Space Monkey, Mafia
Hula Hoops, Castro, Edsel is a no-go
U-2, Syngman Rhee, payola and Kennedy
Chubby Checker, Psycho, Belgians in the Congo
Little Rock, Pasternak, Mickey Mantle, Kerouac
Sputnik, Zhou Enlai, Bridge On The River Kwai
Lebanon, Charles de Gaulle, California baseball
Starkweather Homicide, Children of Thalidomide
Buddy Holly, Ben-Hur, Space Monkey, Mafia
Hula Hoops, Castro, Edsel is a no-go
U-2, Syngman Rhee, payola and Kennedy
Chubby Checker, Psycho, Belgians in the Congo
[Chorus]
We didn't start the fire
It was always burning since the world's been turning
We didn't start the fire
No, we didn't light it, but we tried to fight it
We didn't start the fire
It was always burning since the world's been turning
We didn't start the fire
No, we didn't light it, but we tried to fight it
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[Verse 4]
Hemingway, Eichmann, Stranger in a Strange Land
Dylan, Berlin, Bay of Pigs invasion
Lawrence of Arabia, British Beatlemania
Ole Miss, John Glenn, Liston beats Patterson
Pope Paul, Malcolm X, British Politician sex
J.F.K. blown away, what else do I have to say?
Hemingway, Eichmann, Stranger in a Strange Land
Dylan, Berlin, Bay of Pigs invasion
Lawrence of Arabia, British Beatlemania
Ole Miss, John Glenn, Liston beats Patterson
Pope Paul, Malcolm X, British Politician sex
J.F.K. blown away, what else do I have to say?
[Chorus]
We didn't start the fire
It was always burning since the world's been turning
We didn't start the fire
No, we didn't light it, but we tried to fight it
It was always burning since the world's been turning
We didn't start the fire
No, we didn't light it, but we tried to fight it
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[Verse 5]
Birth control, Ho Chi Minh, Richard Nixon back again
Moonshot, Woodstock, Watergate, punk rock
Begin, Reagan, Palestine, Terror on the airline
Ayatollah's in Iran, Russians in Afghanistan
Wheel of Fortune, Sally Ride, heavy metal suicide
Foreign debts, homeless Vets, AIDS, crack, Bernie Goetz
Hypodermics on the shores, China's under martial law
Rock and Roller cola wars, I can't take it anymore
Birth control, Ho Chi Minh, Richard Nixon back again
Moonshot, Woodstock, Watergate, punk rock
Begin, Reagan, Palestine, Terror on the airline
Ayatollah's in Iran, Russians in Afghanistan
Wheel of Fortune, Sally Ride, heavy metal suicide
Foreign debts, homeless Vets, AIDS, crack, Bernie Goetz
Hypodermics on the shores, China's under martial law
Rock and Roller cola wars, I can't take it anymore
[Chorus]
We didn't start the fire
It was always burning since the world's been turning
We didn't start the fire
But when we are gone
It will still burn on, and on, and on, and on...
We didn't start the fire
It was always burning since the world's been turning
We didn't start the fire
No, we didn't light it, but we tried to fight it
We didn't start the fire
It was always burning since the world's been turning
We didn't start the fire
No, we didn't light it, but we tried to fight it
We didn't start the fire
It was always burning since the world's been turning
We didn't start the fire
No, we didn't light it, but we tried to fight it
We didn't start the fire
It was always burning since the world's been turning
We didn't start the fire
It was always burning since the world's been turning
We didn't start the fire
But when we are gone
It will still burn on, and on, and on, and on...
We didn't start the fire
It was always burning since the world's been turning
We didn't start the fire
No, we didn't light it, but we tried to fight it
We didn't start the fire
It was always burning since the world's been turning
We didn't start the fire
No, we didn't light it, but we tried to fight it
We didn't start the fire
It was always burning since the world's been turning
We didn't start the fire
No, we didn't light it, but we tried to fight it
We didn't start the fire
It was always burning since the world's been turning
