陈百强的时髦,是最不经意的时髦
Danny Chan with his nonchalant style.
HUMBLE PRINCE
The year 1991 saw Danny Chan’s last large-scale concert in Hong Kong. Amidst his own songs, Danny also sang Simon & Garfunkel’s Scarborough Fair. The audience ack then were captured by Danny’s voice, and the song’s ethereal landscape. Scarborough Fair is a notable English riddle song:”Remember me to one who lives there”, isn’t this the deepest yet humblest greeting to a lover?
In the same concert, Danny Chan “remembered”one of his most intimate but by-gone girlfriends to the
audience. She confessed to weeping while singing one of his iconic songs – Drinking to the Song. Indeed, Danny Chan’s love and friendship with women has always been ambivalent; even while taking about his relationship with Mary Jean Reimer, he did so with a certain distance, as if beauty need only lie at heart.
As Mary Reimer remembered, “Me and Danny, our most intimate was holding hands, kissing cheeks; our
relationship was pure and immaculate, it was something that would not happen again.” Mary and Danny, those were the days.
Danny’s friends like Kenny Bee, Kaite Chan and Eunice Lam all saw Danny as an elegant but stubborn prince. Unlike the mature Leslie Cheung, Danny Chan is an entire different Virgo, someone who demanded constant attention.
Danny Chan’s prince traits are revealed in the film On Trial. Acting as a 2nd generation rich Ka Bo, Danny Chan’s every action is an epitome of British elegance, something that was sought for in the economic prosperity of 1980s.
含蓄公子哥
時為1991年,陳百強紫色個體演唱會:演
唱會中段,丹尼獻唱了同為 Simon & Garfunkel
的《史卡博羅市集》(Scarborough Fair),多少
歌迷為丹尼的歌聲凝醉,為歌詞裡純潔的樂園而傾
倒。《史卡博羅市集》是英格蘭著名迷謠,而歌者
的謎底,便是心深處含蓄的愛意。歌詞有一句語焉
不详: remember me to one who lives there,意思
是請人代為問候歌者的前度戀人,婉委,含蓄,但
深情,恰到好處,豈不就是歌者情到深時轉折的寄
意?
陳百強 1991年的紫色個體演唱會,也是丹尼在
香港最後一次大型演唱會。演唱會中,陳百強透露,
灌錄《對酒當歌》時,因念及一位「感情深刻但已
經離我而去的女朋友」而偷偷飲泣。陳百強跟女生
的情誼,一直都是若即若離。連談及跟翁靜晶那段
青梅竹馬的青澀戀情,也是這麼輕描淡寫,仿佛世
間一切美麗,只消在心頭。
誠如翁靜晶所述:「我跟丹尼最親熱也只是拖
手、吻臉、我們的交往純潔無瑕,這種友誼,一
也不會發生。」瑪莉與丹尼,或許就是這麼獨一無二。
陳百強的好友如鍾鎮濤、陳家瑛、林燕妮都覺
得丹尼是個高貴大方卻又倔強的公子。跟成熟細心
的張國榮不同(七號和十二號,他倆的生日就只差
五天),同為處女座的陳百強總是教人非為他張羅
打點不可。
陳百強的公子氣,在1981年的《失業生》表露
無遺。飾演富家子弟家寶的陳百強,舉手投足,盡是
英式內斂。那是一個社會急速向上流的年頭,公子哥
的舉手投足,也許由於時代失焦,教人倍感心折。