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If an Olympic-themed song is supposed to inspire competitors to new athletic heights, Survival, the official Olympics song from British rock band Muse, is hardly a good example.
如果說奧運主題曲的作用本應是激勵賽手勇攀體育高峰的話，那么由英國搖滾樂隊繆斯帶來的這首《Survival》并不能以身作則。
Charting in the UK at No 25, the song is way outside the medal position. It invites the question: does anyone really care about Olympic songs?
從全英單曲排行榜第25名的成績看來，《Survival》似乎要與前三甲無緣了。這也引發了新一輪的思考：真的有人會喜歡奧運歌曲嗎？
If you need a group to capture the excitement of the world's biggest sporting event, Muse would seem to be the perfect band to pen a great Olympic anthem.
如果你需要一個團體來捕捉這項全球頂級體育盛事的激動時刻，繆斯樂隊似乎是創作非比尋常的奧運會會歌的不二人選。
But Survival lacks drama. During its five-plus minutes, we encounter an orchestra, guitar work, a piano riff, lead singer Matt Bellamy's wailing falsetto, and cheesy lyrics.
但是《Survival》缺乏戲劇張力。在5分多鐘的歌曲中，我們會聽到管弦樂、吉他彈奏、鋼琴演奏的連復段，主唱馬特•貝拉米的哀嚎假聲以及俗不可耐的歌詞。
"It's a race, and I'm gonna win," he sings–overblown and pretentious.
"這是場比賽，我一定會贏得勝利，"他如此唱道，夸張且做作。
Muse is not alone in writing a less-than-inspiring Olympic song. Christopher Cross' A Chance for Heaven, the official track of the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, was far from a personal best; Celine Dion's The Power of the Dream, performed at Atlanta in 1996, was nothing surprising.
說到火候欠佳的奧運勵志歌曲，并不單單只有繆斯樂隊的大作。由克里斯多夫•克羅斯為1984年洛杉磯奧運會的創作的官方曲目《A Chance for Heaven》，也遠遠沒有達到他本人的最佳水準。而席琳•迪翁在1996年亞特蘭大奧運會上演唱的《The Power of the Dream》也是平淡無奇。
So why do these songs keep getting made? There's a certain amount of one-upmanship at play.
那么，為何此類歌曲還是源源不斷地被創作出來呢？在賽場上它們確有過人之處。
No one wants to be the country without an Olympic anthem. Pop music is also part of the British national identity.
所有人都希望自己的國家能擁有一支奧運主題曲。同時，流行樂也是英國國家形象的一部分。
If any nation is entitled to write an Olympic song, surely it's the one that brought the world The Beatles and Queen.
如果說有哪個國家最有資格來創作奧運歌曲，那么這個曾誕生了世界皇后樂隊以及甲殼蟲樂隊的國度可謂當之無愧。
However, unlike a soccer tournament, the Olympics are a weeks-long frenzy of sports and competition of national interests.
然而，不同于足球比賽，奧運會是一個為時數周的狂熱賽事，同時也是各國利益的相互較量。
The opening and closing ceremonies can barely sum up the event–how could one pop song hope to do the same?
就連奧運會的開閉幕式都幾乎無法總結這項盛事，更何況是一首流行歌曲？
"You can't capture a nation's mood with an Olympic song because there isn't the same fanaticism for the event as there is for, say, the national soccer team," John Aizlewood, who writes for Q magazine, told The Atlantic.
"你不可能通過一首奧運歌曲就能打動全國人民的心，舉例來說，人們對于人們對于奧運會的狂熱與對國家足球隊的狂熱截然不同。"《Q》雜志的撰稿人John Aizlewood在接受《大西洋月刊》采訪時這樣描述道。
Perhaps that's why, in the US at least, the only Olympic tunes to ever stick around have been wordless, modern-classical works of pomp and circumstance: John Williams' Olympic Fanfare and Theme–recorded for the 1984 games in Los Angeles–and Leo Arnaud's Bugler's Dream, which ABC played before its 1964 Olympic broadcasts.
也許這就是為何，至少在美國范圍內，為人們所傳頌的奧運旋律是沒有歌詞、氣勢恢宏的現代古典主義作品：例如約翰•威廉姆斯為1984年洛杉磯奧運會錄制的《Olympic Fanfare and Theme》（奧林匹克號角），以及里昂•阿爾諾的《Bugler's Dream》, 美國廣播公司曾在轉播1964年奧運會比賽前播放過。
Muse makes a stab for orchestral grandeur with an extended string-section prelude, but then Bellamy's wailing kicks in, and we're jolted back to radio territory.
繆斯樂隊運用了一段延時的管弦樂前奏，由此嘗試了把氣勢恢宏的交響樂，但稍后貝拉米一開嗓，就將我們拽回到音樂廣播的水平上。
If Olympic singalong songs are doomed from the start, no one seems to have told the 2012 organizers.
如果奧運會的主題曲從一開始就注定失敗，那么2012倫敦奧運會組織方肯定沒有被告知這一點。
Elton John, Mark Ronson and The Chemical Brothers have all been signed up to release Olympic singles.
埃爾頓•約翰，馬克•朗森，和化學兄弟紛紛簽約發行奧運單曲。
Will they be able to capture the public's imagination in a way that Survival has failed? The track record would suggest otherwise.
那么他們能否從《Survival》的失敗中汲取教訓，成功激發公眾的想象力呢？以往的表現可以從另一個側面暗示一二。
