【麦当娜演讲】②致敬MJ：Long live the King

"I can&`&t say we were great friends,but in 1991 I decided I wanted to get to know him better.I asked him out to dinner:I said,&`&My treat,I&`&ll drive,just you and me.&`& He agreed and showed up to my house without any bodyguards.We drove to the restaurant in my car.It was dark out,but he was still wearing sunglasses.


I said,&`&Michael,I feel like I&`&m talking to a limousine,do you think you could take off those glasses so I could see your eyes?&`& He paused for a moment,then he tossed the glasses out the window,looked at me with a wink and a smile and said,&`&Can you see me now,is that better?&`& In that moment,I could see both his vulnerability and his charm.


我无法说我们是很要好的朋友，但是在1991年我邀请他共度晚餐：我说：“我请客，我开车，只有你和我。”他答应了，并只身一人不带保镖出现在我家中。我开车和他出去，天已经很黑的可他仍然戴着他的墨镜。于是我说：“迈克尔，我觉得我是在跟这部车说话。你能把眼睛摘掉让我看见你的眼睛吗？”他犹豫了一会儿然后把眼镜扔出窗外，用闪烁的眼睛看着我，笑着说：“现在你能看见我了没？有没有好点？”在这时我终于感受到他的脆弱和他的魅力.




The rest of the dinner,I was hell-bent on getting him to eat French fries,drink wine,have dessert and say bad words,things he never seemed to allow himself to do.Later,we went back to my house to watch a movie and we sat on the couch like two kids,and somewhere in the middle of the film,his hand snuck over and held mine.It felt like he was looking for a friend more than a romance and I was happy to oblige him.And in that moment he didn&`&t feel like a superstar,he felt like a human being.


在晚餐休息时，我是让他吃薯条，喝葡萄酒，吃甜点，说脏话。这些事情他好像从来没有做过，我让他来自己做。
后来，我们回到我家看电影，和他在一起就像两个孩子坐在沙发上，他的手搭在了我的肩膀上。这种感觉更像是朋友而不是恋人，我很愿意分担他的孤单。那时的他，不是巨星，只是个需要友情的普通人。




We went out a few more times together and then for one reason or another we fell out of touch.Then,the witch hunt began and it seemed like one negative story after the other was coming out about Michael.I felt his pain.I know what it&`&s like to walk down the street and feel like the whole world has turned against you.I know what it&`&s like to feel helpless and unable to defend yourself because the roar of the lynch mob is so loud that you are convinced your voice can never be heard


之后我们又相聚了几次，不过因为各种各样原因慢慢疏远很少联系。然后就是讨伐运动开始了，一个接一个关于MJ的负面新闻铺天盖地。我可以体会他的痛苦。我很清楚当一个人走在街上而全世界似乎都与你为敌的感觉，我也很清楚那种无助和无法为自己辩护的痛苦，因为那些嘶吼着要将你处死的声音实在太大，以至于无论你如何大声否认也没人听见。


"But I had a childhood,and I was allowed to make mistakes and find my own way in the world without the glare of the spotlight.When I first heard that Michael had died I was in London,days away from the opening of my tour.Michael was going to perform in the same venue as me a week later.All I could think about in that moment was that I had abandoned him.That we had abandoned him.That we had allowed this magnificent creature that once set the world on fire to somehow slip through the cracks.While he was trying to build a family and rebuild his career,we were all busy passing judgment.Most of us had turned our backs on him.


和MJ不一样的是，我曾经有过童年，童年时是可以犯错的，犯了错然后再去摸索和这个世界的相处方式，这个过程里没有聚光灯整天追着我。当我得知MJ的死讯时，我正在伦敦做巡回演唱会。我当时的感觉是我遗弃了他，我们都遗弃了他……当他试图建立自己的家庭和重拾他的事业时，我们都忙于对他做出评定。我们中的大部分人都拒绝了他。


"In a desperate attempt to hold onto his memory,I went on the Internet to watch old clips of him dancing and singing on TV and onstage and I thought,&`&My God,he was so unique,so original,so rare.And there will never be anyone like him again.&`& He was a king.But he was also a human being and alas,we are all human beings and sometimes we have to lose things before we can truly appreciate them.


为了紧紧抓住有关MJ的往昔回忆，我去网上看他当年唱歌跳舞的视频，看到他在舞台上的样子，我心想：他那么独特而珍贵！再这个世界上再也找不到MJ这样的人了。他是真正的音乐之王。可惜他也是个普通人，我们也一样，很多时候都要等失去了才懂得珍惜。


I want to end this on a positive note and say that my sons,age 9 and 4,are obsessed with Michael Jackson.There&`&s a whole lot of crotch-grabbing and moonwalking going on in my house,and it seems like a whole new generation of kids has discovered his genius and are bringing him to life again.I hope that wherever Michael is now,he is smiling about this.




最后，我想以一个积极乐观的方式结束我的发言。我的两个儿子，9岁和4岁，都非常痴迷于MJ，成天都在家里跳太空步，这些年轻的一代似乎已经发现了杰克逊的天赋，仿佛让MJ又回到了我们中间。我希望无论迈克尔现在身在何处，看到这一切都能会心一笑。


"Yes, yes Michael Jackson was a human being, but dammit, he was a king. Long live the king."


是的，迈克尔•杰克逊是一个人类，但该死的，他就是一个王者！一个永世长存的王！