This is Aunt Zip from Sodom, North Carolina. She was 105 years old when I took this picture. She was always saying things that made me stop and think, like, "Time may be a great healer, but it ain't no beauty specialist." (Laughter) She said, "Be good to your friends. Why, without them, you'd be a total stranger." (Laughter)
这是北卡罗来纳州所多玛的Zip阿姨。 我照这张照片的时候她已经105岁了 她经常说一些让我停下来思考的话,比如 “时间也许确实是可以愈合伤口,但它可不是个美容师。” (笑声) 她说,“善待你的朋友们。 为什么呢,因为如果没有他们,你就会是个完完全全的陌生人了。” (笑声)
This is one of her songs. Let's see if we can get into the flow here and all do this one together. And I'm going to have Michael Manring play bass with me. Give him a big old hand. (Applause)
这是一首她的歌 让我们试试看能不能跟上这首歌的韵律一起来唱唱看。 将由迈克尔·曼林来弹奏贝斯。 给他来点掌声。 (掌声)
One, two, three, four.
1,2,3,4。
(Music)
(音乐)
Well, my true love's a black-eyed daisy; if I don't see her, I go crazy.
哦,我的真爱是朵那黑眼睛的雏菊花; 如果我见不到她,我会变得疯狂。
My true love lives up the river; a few more jumps and I'll be with her.
我得珍爱就住在河流的上游; 只要再跳跃几下我便可以于她相见。
Hey, hey, black-eyed Susie! Hey, hey, black-eyed Susie! Hey, hey black-eyed Susie, hey.
嘿,嘿,黑眼睛的苏茜!嘿,嘿,黑眼睛的苏茜! 嘿,嘿,黑眼睛的苏茜!嘿
Now you've got to picture Aunt Zip at 105 years old in Sodom, North Carolina. I'd go up and learn these old songs from her. She couldn't sing much, couldn't play anymore. And I'd pull her out on the front porch. Down below, there was her grandson plowing the tobacco field with a mule. A double outhouse over here on the side. And we'd sing this old song. She didn't have a whole lot of energy, so I'd sing, "Hey, hey!" and she'd just answer back with, "Black-eyed Susie."
现在你们看到的是Zip阿姨105岁时的照片,在北卡罗来纳州的索多玛。 我去那从她那里学了这些老歌 她不能唱太多,也不能再演奏了。 我把她拉倒走廊的前面 远处地上,那是她的孙子一边拉着驴耕地一边抽烟。 两个小屋在那边 然后我们唱起这首老歌。她的力气已经不再那么足了, 所以我唱到,“嘿,嘿!”然后她对唱到,“黑眼睛的苏茜”
Oh, hey, hey, black-eyed Susie! Hey, hey, black-eyed Susie! Hey, hey, black-eyed Susie, hey.
嘿,嘿,黑眼睛的苏茜!嘿,嘿,黑眼睛的苏茜! 嘿,嘿,黑眼睛的苏茜!嘿
Well, she and I went blackberry picking. She got mad; I took a licking.
哦,我和她一起去摘黑莓 她生气了,我急忙安慰她
Ducks on the millpond, geese in the ocean, Devil in the pretty girl when she takes a notion.
鸭子和鹅在水塘里游来游去 当漂亮的姑娘冒出个奇怪的念头萌生小小的邪恶
Hey, hey, black-eyed Susie! Hey, hey, black-eyed Susie! Hey, hey black-eyed Susie, hey.
嘿,嘿,黑眼睛的苏茜!嘿,嘿,黑眼睛的苏茜! 嘿,嘿,黑眼睛的苏茜!嘿
Let's have the banjo.
让我们来段班卓琴。
Well, we'll get married next Thanksgiving. I'll lay around; she'll make a living.
噢,我们就要结婚了,就在下一个感恩节。 我就可以享受一下了,她来维持生活。
She'll cook blackjacks, I'll cook gravy; we'll have chicken someday, maybe.
我们做着各自拿手的好菜 没准那天还会吃顿鸡肉大餐
Hey, hey, hey, hey. Hey, hey, black-eyed Susie, hey!
嘿,嘿,嘿,嘿。嘿,嘿,黑眼睛的苏茜,嘿!
One more time now. Oh, hey, hey, black-eyed Susie! Hey, hey, black-eyed Susie! Hey, hey, black-eyed Susie, hey.
再来一次。 哦,嘿,黑眼睛的苏茜!嘿,嘿,嘿,黑眼睛的苏茜! 嘿,嘿,黑眼睛的苏茜,嘿!
(Applause) Thank you, Michael.
(掌声) 谢谢你,迈克尔。
This is Ralph Stanley. When I was going to college at University of California at Santa Barbara in the College of Creative Studies, taking majors in biology and art, he came to the campus. This was in 1968, I guess it was. And he played his bluegrass style of music, but near the end of the concert, he played the old timing style of banjo picking that came from Africa, along with the banjo. It's called claw-hammer style, that he had learned from his mother and grandmother. I fell in love with that. I went up to him and said, how can I learn that? He said, well, you can go back to Clinch Mountain, where I'm from, or Asheville or Mount Airy, North Carolina -- some place that has a lot of music. Because there's a lot of old people still living that play that old style.
这是拉尔夫.斯坦利 当我到了位于圣塔芭芭拉的加州大学时 那是一所充满创意的学校, 我到那里主修生物和艺术,这时他来到校园 那是1968年的事了,我想应该是 他演奏了他蓝草风格的音乐 但是到音乐会临近结束的时候,他演奏了一首风格古老的班卓琴乐曲 那首歌伴随着班卓琴一同从非洲来 那首歌可以被称作羊角锤风格,是他从他母亲和外婆那里学来的。 我一听就爱上了 我上去问它,我要怎么才能学到它? 他说,嗯,你可以回到克林奇山,我正是来自那里 或者是北卡罗来纳州的阿什维尔和芒特艾里 那些有很多音乐的地方 因为那里还有很多老人在以过去的生活方式生活。
So I went back that very summer. I just fell in love with the culture and the people. And you know, I came back to school, I finished my degrees and told my parents I wanted to be a banjo player. You can imagine how excited they were.
于是紧接着的那个夏天我就去了那里。 我真是一下子爱上了那里的人们和那里的文化。 你知道,我回到学校,完成了我的学业 然后我和我的父母说我要去做一名班卓琴的演奏者 你可以想象出来他们激动的样子。
So I thought I would just like to show you some of the pictures I've taken of some of my mentors. Just a few of them, but maybe you'll get just a little hint of some of these folks.
我想我该给你们展示一些图片 我拍摄的一些我的导师的照片。 只是其中的一些,但是也许你会从这些民谣里得到一些暗示。
And play a little banjo. Let's do a little medley. (Music)
再弹一段班卓琴。让我们把它集成一段曲子。 (音乐)
(Applause) Those last few pictures were of Ray Hicks, who just passed away last year. He was one of the great American folk tale-tellers. The Old Jack tales that he had learned -- he talked like this, you could hardly understand him. But it was really wonderful. And he lived in that house that his great-grandfather had built. No running water, no electricity. A wonderful, wonderful guy.
(掌声) 最后来几张在去年刚刚去世的雷.希克斯的照片 他是美国最棒的民间故事讲述者之一。 老杰克讲述他所知道的事,听起来像这样, 你很难听懂他在说什么。但其实那真的很棒。 他就住在这个他曾祖父建造的房子里。 没有自来水,没有电。一个非常非常好的人。
And you can look at more pictures. I've actually got a website that's got a bunch of photos that I've done of some of the other folks I didn't get a chance to show you. This instrument came up in those pictures. It's called the mouth bow. It is definitely the first stringed instrument ever in the world, and still played in the Southern mountains. Now, the old timers didn't take a fancy guitar string and make anything like this. They would just take a stick and a catgut and string it up. It was hard on the cats, but it made a great little instrument. It sounds something like this.
你们可以看到一些更多的图片 实际上我有个一个网站,许多我拍的照片都放在上面 照片上还有一些我没机会让你们看到的人们。 在那些照片中你可以看到的这种乐器。它叫做口弓。 它绝对是世界上第一件弦乐了, 在南部山区人们依然用它来演奏。 现在,老前辈们已经不再弹奏那么炫的吉他而是做一些这样的事。 他们只是用一根枝条和羊肠线把他们栓在一起拉紧。 这可能对猫来说不是一件好事,但却制造除了一件很好的小乐器。 它听起来像是这样的。
(Music) Well, have you heard the many stories told by young and old with joy about the many deeds of daring that were done by the Johnson boys?
音乐 嗯,你是否听过很多让全家老小都喜欢的故事 关于约翰逊男孩的那些冒险故事?
You take Kate, I'll take Sal; we'll both have a Johnson gal. You take Kate, I'll take Sal; we'll both have a Johnson gal.
你拉上凯特,我叫上山姆;我们都将有个约翰逊女孩相伴。 你拉上凯特,我叫上山姆;我们都将有个约翰逊女孩相伴。
Now, they were scouts in the rebels' army, they were known both far and wide.
现在,他们是叛逆大军中的童子军, 走到哪里都有人知道他们
When the Yankees saw them coming, they'd lay down their guns and hide.
当人们看见他们走来都要把枪放下藏起来
You take Kate, I'll take Sal; we'll both have a Johnson gal. You take Kate, I'll take Sal; we'll both have a Johnson gal.
拉上凯特,我叫上山姆;我们都将有个约翰逊女孩相伴。 拉上凯特,我叫上山姆;我们都将有个约翰逊女孩相伴。
Ain't that a sound? (Applause)
听起来像是一段音乐吧 (掌声)
Well, it was 1954, I guess it was. We were driving in the car outside of Gatesville, Texas, where I grew up in the early part of my life. Outside of Gatesville we were coming back from the grocery store. My mom was driving; my brother and I were in the back seat. We were really mad at my mom. We looked out the window. We were surrounded by thousands of acres of cotton fields. You see, we'd just been to the grocery store, and my mom refused to buy us the jar of Ovaltine that had the coupon for the Captain Midnight decoder ring in it. And, buddy, that made us mad. Well, my mom didn't put up with much either, and she was driving, and she said, "You boys! You think you can have anything you want. You don't know how hard it is to earn money. Your dad works so hard. You think money grows on trees. You've never worked a day in your lives. You boys make me so mad. You're going to get a job this summer."
嗯,那是1954年,我想大概是。 我们正开车走在德克萨斯州的凯茨维尔郊外, 我在那儿度过了我的童年。 我们从小便利店回到盖茨维尔的郊外 我妈妈在开车;我和我哥哥坐在后座上。 我们当时都在生妈妈的气。我们像窗外张望。 周围是数千英亩的棉花田。 我们刚刚才去过便利店, 可我妈妈却拒绝给我们买一罐 有午夜船长解码指环的阿华田(食物) 哦,伙计们,这气坏了我们。 而妈妈也在生我们的气,她一边开车一边说, “你们!你们以为你们想要什么就有什么。 你们不知道赚钱有多难,你们爸爸工作那么辛苦。 你以为钱是从树上长出来的啊。你们从没有为了养活自己的劳动过。 你们是在是太让我生气了,你们要在这个夏天找到一份工作。“
She pulled the car over; she said, "Get out of the car." My brother and I stepped out of the car. We were standing on the edge of thousands of acres of cotton. There were about a hundred black folks out there picking. My mom grabbed us by the shoulders. She marched us out in the field. She went up to the foreman; she said, "I've got these two little boys never worked a day in their lives." Of course, we were just eight and 10. (Laughter) She said, "Would you put them to work?" Well, that must have seemed like a funny idea to that foreman: put these two middle-class little white boys out in a cotton field in August in Texas -- it's hot. So he gave us each a cotton sack, about 10 feet long, about that big around, and we started picking. Now, cotton is soft but the outside of the plant is just full of stickers. And if you don't know what you're doing, your hands are bleeding in no time. And my brother and I started to pick it, and our hands were startin' to bleed, and then -- "Mom!" And Mom was just sitting by the car like this. She wasn't going to give up.
她把车靠边一停,说,“都给我下车。” 我和我哥哥从车上下来。 我们站在几千英亩的棉花田边。 大概有一百个黑人农民在采棉花。 我妈妈抓着我们的肩膀,把我们拉进棉花地里。 她走到一个工头面前,说 “我有两个从来没干过活儿养活自己的小子。” 当然,我们那会儿才一个8岁一个10岁。 (笑声) 她说,“你能让他们工作吗?” 好吧,那对于工头来说一定像是个很搞笑的提议了: 把这两个中产阶级白人小孩放在棉花地里干活儿。 那是八月的德克萨斯——天气非常热。 于是他给了我们一人一个空麻袋, 大概有10英尺长,那么大一个袋子,然后我们就开始摘棉花。 现在,棉花虽然是很软,但是在它外面长满了尖刺 如果你不知道你自己在干什么 你的手会马上流血。 我和哥哥开始采棉花 我们的手开始流血,接着就是——“妈妈!” 而妈妈就是坐在车子旁边,像这样 她可没打算就此饶了我们。
Well, the foreman could see he was in over his head, I guess. He kind of just snuck up behind us and he sang out in a low voice. He just sang: "Well, there's a long white robe in heaven, I know. Don't want it to leave me behind. Well, there's a long white robe in heaven, I know. Don't want it to leave me behind." And from all around as people started singing and answering back, he sang: "Good news, good news: Chariot's coming. Good news: Chariot's coming. Good news: Chariot's coming. And I don't want it to leave me behind." Now, my brother and I had never heard anything like that in our whole lives. It was so beautiful. We sat there all day picking cotton, without complaining, without crying, while they sang things like: "Oh, Mary, don't you weep, don't you moan" and "Wade in the water," and "I done done," "This little light of mine."
我猜,工头可以看到他是在他的头上 他悄悄的走到我们身后开始用低沉的声音唱。 他唱到:“哦,有一条又宽又长的袍子在天上,我知道的。 不要离我而去。 哦,有一条又宽又长的袍子在天上,我知道的。 不要离我而去。” 这时周围的人也开始唱了起来,回应着他,他唱到: “好消息,好消系,马车要来了” “好消息,马车要来了。” 好消息,马车要来了。” 而我不想被它落在后面” 在我和我哥哥的一生中, 我们再也没有听到过那样的音乐。它太美了。 我们待在那里摘了一天的棉花,没有抱怨, 也没有哭,他们这样唱道: “噢,Mary,你不要哭泣,你不要呻吟” 和 “艰难涉水” 和 “我做完了”,“这是我的一点光”
Finally, by the end of the day, we'd each picked about a quarter of a bag of cotton. But the foreman was kind enough to give us each a check for a dollar, but my mother would never let us cash it. I'm 57; still have the check. Now, my mother hoped that we learned from that the value of hard work. But if you have children, you know it doesn't often work that way. No, we learned something else. The first thing I learned that day was that I never ever wanted to work that hard again. (Laughter) And pretty much never did. But I also learned that some people in this world do have to work that hard every day, and that was an eye-opener. And I also learned that a great song can make hard work go a little easier. And it also can bring the group together in a way that nothing else can.
最后,当一天结束的时候, 我们每个人摘了大概有一个麻袋的四分之一那么多的棉花。 但是农场的工人年还是很善良的,给了我们一人一张1美元的支票, 但我妈妈一直也不让我们把它兑成钱。 我现在57岁了;还始终拿着那支票。 现在,我妈妈希望我们能从中学到辛苦劳动的价值。 但如果你有孩子的话,你知道,这个方法并不一定管用。 是的,我们就学了别的些东西。 我在那些天学到的第一件事就是 我再也不会做那么辛苦的工作了。 (笑声) 而且估计永远也不。 但我同时还学到了,在这个世界上有一些人 确实需要每天这么辛苦的工作,这真的是让我大开眼界。 同时我也学到了,一首好听的歌曲可以让艰难的工作变得容易许多。 而且它还可以将人们聚集在一起,而其他办法则办不到。
Now, I was just a little eight-year-old boy that day when my mama put me out of the car in that hot Texas cotton field. I wasn't even aware of music -- not even aware of it. But that day in the cotton field out there picking, when those people started singing, I realized I was in the very heart of real music, and that's where I've wanted to be ever since.
我那会儿还是个八岁大的小男孩 当我妈妈把我们扔在德克萨斯炎热的棉花地里的时候, 我甚至不知道什么是音乐——根本不知道它。 当那一天在棉花田中采着棉花 当人们开始歌唱 我发现我的心与真正的音乐想通 而我想那就是我开始向往的
Try this old song with me. I sing: Well, there's a long white robe in heaven, I know.
和我一起唱这首老歌。我唱: 哦,有一条又宽又长的袍子在天上,我知道的。
You sing: Don't want it to leave me behind. Well, there's a long white robe in heaven, I know. Don't want it to leave me behind.
你们唱:不要离我而去。 哦,有一条又宽又长的袍子在天上,我知道的。 不要离我而去。
Good news, good news: Chariot's coming. Good news: Chariot's coming. Good news: Chariot's coming. And I don't want it to leave me --
好消息,好消息:马车要来了。 好消息:马车要来了 好消息:马车要来了 不要离我而去-
It's been a while since you guys have been picking your last bale of cotton, isn't it? Let's try it one more time.
你们也好久没有摘棉花了,不是嘛? 让我们再试一次。
There's a starry crown in heaven, I know. Don't want it to leave me behind. There's a starry crown in heaven, I know. Don't want it to leave me behind.
哦,有一条又宽又长的袍子在天上,我知道的。 不要离我而去。 哦,有一条又宽又长的袍子在天上,我知道的。 不要离我而去。
Good news: Chariot's coming. Good news: Chariot's coming. Good news: Chariot's coming. And I don't want it to leave me behind.
好消息:马车要来了 好消息:马车要来了 好消息:马车要来了 不要离我而去。
It was a few years ago, but I sort of remembered this story, and I told it at a concert. My mom was in the audience. After the -- she was glad to have a story about herself, of course, but after the concert she came up and she said, "David, I've got to tell you something. I set that whole thing up. I set it up with the foreman. I set it up with the owner of the land. I just wanted you boys to learn the value of hard work. I didn't know it was going to make you fall in love with music though."
就在这几年,我回想起了这件事, 我在演奏会上也讲过。 我妈妈当时在观众席中。 在结束后--当然,她很高兴能有一个关于她的故事, 但是当演奏会结束后她走过来说道, 大卫,有些事我得跟你说说。 我安排了这整件事。 我找了一个工头。我找了这块土地的主人。 我只是想让你们这两个孩子学到辛苦工作的价值。 我不知道这会让你从此爱上音乐。
Let's try. Good news: Chariot's coming. Good news: Chariot's coming. Good news: Chariot's coming. And I don't want it to leave me behind. (Applause)
我们试一下。好消息:马车要来了。 好消息:马车要来了。 好消息:马车要来了。 不要离我而去。 (掌声)
Well, this is the steel guitar. It's an American-made instrument. It was originally made by the Dopyera Brothers, who later on made the Dobro, which is a wood-bodied instrument with a metal cone for -- where the sound comes from. It's usually played flat on your lap. It was made to play Hawaiian music back in the 1920s, before they had electric guitars, trying to make a loud guitar. And then African-American folks figured out you could take a broken bottle neck, just like that -- a nice Merlot works very well. That wine we had yesterday would have been perfect. Break it off, put it on your finger, and slide into the notes. This instrument pretty much saved my life.
好,这是钢吉他。这是美国制造的乐器。 这是最初是由多普耶拉兄弟制造的, 他们在之后制作了冬不拉(Dobro),一种木制琴身的乐器 有一个金属锥-声音就是从那儿发出的。 通常是把它平放在腿上弹奏。 它制作于上个世纪20年代,是为了弹奏夏威夷音乐发明的, 当时还没有电吉他,他们是为了制作更响亮的吉他而发明了它。 非洲裔美国人甚至说你可以破了的玻璃瓶的瓶颈, 就像那样-一个不错的Merlot也能弹奏出很棒的乐曲。 昨天喝的酒很棒。 把酒瓶打破,放在手上,开始弹奏。 这个乐器可以说救了我一命。
Fifteen years ago, 14 years ago, I guess, this year, my wife and I lost our daughter, Sarah Jane, in a car accident, and it was the most -- it almost took me out -- it almost took me out of this world. And I think I learned a lot about what happiness was by going through such unbelievable grief, just standing on the edge of that abyss and just wanting to jump in. I had to make lists of reasons to stay alive. I had to sit down and make lists, because I was ready to go; I was ready to check out of this world. And you know, at the top of the list, of course, were Jenny, and my son, Zeb, my parents -- I didn't want to hurt them. But then, when I thought about it beyond that, it was very simple things. I didn't care about -- I had a radio show, I have a radio show on public radio, "Riverwalk," I didn't care about that. I didn't care about awards or money or anything. Nothing. Nothing. On the list it would be stuff like, seeing the daffodils bloom in the spring, the smell of new-mown hay, catching a wave and bodysurfing, the touch of a baby's hand, the sound of Doc Watson playing the guitar, listening to old records of Muddy Waters and Uncle Dave Macon. And for me, the sound of a steel guitar, because one of my parents' neighbors just gave me one of these things. And I would sit around with it, and I didn't know how to play it, but I would just play stuff as sad as I could play. And it was the only instrument that, of all the ones that I play, that would really make that connection. This is a song that came out of that.
15年前,或是14年前,我想, 我和妻子在一次车祸中失去了我们的女儿,莎拉 简爱 那件事是最—几乎把我击垮—那件事几乎要了我的命。 我想,我之所以知道幸福是什么 是因为我经历了这些难以置信的悲痛, 就站在深渊边上,只想要跳下去。 我必须列出来活下去的理由。 我必须坐下来,把理由都写下来,因为我真的想要离开; 我准备好了辞别这个世界。 当然,列出来的第一个是 珍妮,和我的儿子,泽布,还有我的父母-我不想伤害他们。 之后,当我想到别的, 那些都是非常小的事情。 我不在意-我有一个电台秀要做, 我在公共频道里有个电台秀,“河边漫步,” 那时我已经不在意这个了。我不关心钱、奖励或者其他别的。 对什么都不关心了。什么都不关心。 单子上还列出了这些, 看春天开放的水仙花,新晒的干草的味道, 赶上涨潮冲个浪,摸一摸小孩子的手, 杜 沃森弹奏的吉他声音, 听马蒂沃特斯和戴夫梅肯大叔的旧唱片。 对于我来说,钢吉他的声音, 因为我父母的邻居给了我一件这样的吉他。 我坐在吉他旁边,但是不会弹, 我就尽可能弄出些悲伤的调子。 那是唯一一件,在我弹的所有乐器中, 能够让我找到那种共鸣的。 这首歌就出自那个时候。
(Music) Well, I hear you're having trouble. Lord, I hate to hear that news. If you want to talk about it, you know, I will listen to you through.
(音乐) 我听说你遇到了麻烦。 上帝啊,我讨厌听到那样的消息。 如果你想跟我聊聊,你知道,我会一直听你讲。
Words no longer say it; let me tell you what I always do. I just break off another bottleneck and play these steel guitar blues.
别再提那些了;我来告诉你我通常怎么做。 我会突破另一个瓶颈,弹奏这些钢吉他蓝调。
People say, "Oh, snap out of it!" Oh yeah, that's easier said than done. While you can hardly move, they're running around having all kinds of fun.
人们都说,“哦,振作起来吧!” 是呀,说起来容易做起来难。 当你寸步难行的时候,他们却在到处找乐子。
Sometimes I think it's better just to sink way down in your funky mood 'til you can rise up humming these steel guitar blues.
有时我想或许沉浸在自己的悲伤中更好 “直到你能够振作起来和唱这些钢吉他蓝调。
Now, you can try to keep it all inside with drink and drugs and cigarettes, but you know that's not going to get you where you want to get.
现在,你可以把什么都藏心里 吸烟、喝酒、吸毒, 但是你知道这些并不会让你达到你想要的目的地。
But I got some medicine here that just might shake things loose. Call me in the morning after a dose of these steel guitar blues. Open up now. (Applause)
我得到了一些解药可以让事情变得不一样。 早起来拜访我吧,我刚刚弹奏了一曲钢吉他蓝调。 敞开心扉吧。 (掌声)
Oh, I think I've got time to tell you about this. My dad was an inventor. We moved to California when Sputnik went up, in 1957. And he was working on gyroscopes; he has a number of patents for that kind of thing. And we moved across the street from Michael and John Whitney. They were about my age. John went on, and Michael did too, to become some of the inventors of computer animation. Michael's dad was working on something called the computer. This was 1957, I was a little 10-year-old kid; I didn't know what that was. But he took me down to see one, you know, what they were making. It was like a library, just full of vacuum tubes as far as you could see, just floors and floors of these things, and one of the engineers said, some day you're going to be able to put this thing in your pocket. I thought, damn, those are going to be some big pants! (Laughter)
我想我可以告诉你们,我爸爸是个发明家。 在1957年卫星刚刚发射的时候,我们搬到了加利福尼亚。 他那时正在研究陀螺仪; 他在那个方面有很多专利。 我们从迈克尔搬到街对面的约翰 惠特尼。 他们和我年纪相仿。 约翰成立,迈克尔也成了, 计算机模拟方面的发明家。 迈克尔的父亲那时在做一种叫计算机的东西。 那是1957年,我还是个10岁小男孩; 我不知道那是什么玩意儿。他把我带过去看, 你知道,他们正在做什么。那里就像一个图书馆, 所见之处都堆满了真空管。 一层一层都是这些东西, 一个工程师说, 总有一天你能把这些庞然大物装到你的口袋里。 我暗自想,天哪,那该是多大条裤子啊! (笑)
So that Christmas -- maybe I've got time for this -- that Christmas I got the Mister Wizard Fun-o-Rama chemistry set. Well, I wanted to be an inventor just like my dad; so did Michael. His great-granddad had been Eli Whitney, the inventor of the cotton gin. So we looked in that -- this was a commercial chemistry set. It had three chemicals we were really surprised to see: sulfur, potassium nitrate and charcoal. Man, we were only 10, but we knew that made gunpowder. We made up a little batch and we put it on the driveway and we threw a match and phew, it flared up. Ah, it was great.
那个圣诞节-或许我有时间讲这些- 那个圣诞节我得到了巫师的找乐子化学集。 我想成为像我父亲和迈克尔那样的发明家。 他的爷爷是依莱惠特尼, 是轧棉机的发明者。 所以我们认为- 这是一个商业的化学集。 我们看到三种很神奇的化学物质: 硫磺、硝酸钾和木炭。 老天,我们才有10岁,但是我们知道那能造火药。 我们做出了一小批,把它放到车道上 我们擦着火柴,点燃,一下子爆炸了。非常酷。
Well, obviously the next thing to do was build a cannon. So we went over into Michael's garage -- his dad had all kinds of stuff, and we put a pipe in the vice there, and screwed a cap on the end of the pipe, drilled a hole in the back of the pipe, took some of our firecrackers, pulled out the fuses, tied them together, put them in the back there, and -- down in that hole -- and then stuffed some of our gunpowder down that pipe and put three ball bearings on the top, in the garage. (Laughter) We weren't stupid: we put up a sheet of plywood about five feet in front of it. We stood back, we lit that thing, and they flew out of there -- they went through that plywood like it was paper. Through the garage. Two of them landed in the side door of his new Citroen. (Laughter) We tore everything down and buried it in his backyard. That was Pacific Palisades; it probably is still there, back there.
很显然,接下来要做的事情就是制作大炮。 所以我们到了迈克尔家的车库 他爸爸有各种东西,我们放了一个管子在里面, 拧紧管子一端的开关, 在管子底部开了个小洞,拿来我们的炮竹, 扯出里面的导火线,把这些导火线扎在一起,放在管子的后部, 插到管子里- 然后填一些我们做的火药 到管子里,在上面放上三个球轴承,在车库里。 (笑) 我们不傻:我们在它前面五英尺的地方放了张胶合板。 我们退后,点燃了那个东西, 轴承冲出来了-冲过那些胶合板就跟冲破纸张一样。 冲出了车库。 有两个冲进了迈克尔爸爸新雪铁龙的侧门。 (笑) 我们把所有东西撕碎,在他的后院里面烧了。 那是质地温和的花岗岩;或许印记还在那里,后院里。
Well, my brother heard that we had made gunpowder. He and his buddies, they were older, and they were pretty mean. They said they were going to beat us up if we didn't make some gunpowder for them. We said, well, what are you going to do with it? They said, we're going to melt it down and make rocket fuel. (Laughter) Sure. We'll make you a big batch. (Laughter) So we made them a big batch, and it was in my -- now, we'd just moved here. We'd just moved to California. Mom had redone the kitchen; Mom was gone that day. We had a pie tin. It became Chris Berquist's job to do the melting down. Michael and I were standing way at the side of the kitchen. He said, "Yeah, hey, it's melting. Yeah, the sulfur's melting. No problem. Yeah, you know." It just flared up, and he turned around, and he looked like this. No hair, no eyelashes, no nothing. There were big welts all over my mom's kitchen cabinet; the air was the just full of black smoke. She came home, she took that chemistry set away, and we never saw it again. But we thought of it often, because every time she'd cook tuna surprise it made -- tasted faintly of gunpowder.
我哥哥听说我们做了火药。 他和他的伙伴,他们年龄都比较大,都很刻薄。 说要教训我们 如果我们不给他们制作火药的话。 我们就说,好哇,你们要火药干吗? 他们说,我们要把火药融化了做成火箭染料。 (笑) 当然,我们会给你们做一大批。 (笑) 所以我们真的给他们做了很多,那时我- 我们刚搬到那里。我们刚搬到加利福尼亚。 妈妈刚重新装修了厨房;那天妈妈不在家。我们找到了馅饼烤盘。 克里斯贝基斯特负责融化盘子。 我和迈克尔远远站在厨房旁边。 克里斯贝斯基说,“好啊,看,它在融化。好啊,硫磺在融化。 一定没有问题。好啊。” 它忽然爆炸了,克里斯贝斯基转过来,他看起来就像这样。 没有头发,没有眉毛,什么都没有了。 妈妈橱柜上到处都是迸溅的痕迹; 空气里面都是黑烟。 她回到家,就把那个化学集拿走了,我们再也没有见到过。 我们经常想到它,因为每次妈妈做金枪鱼 很奇怪-吃起来总有股淡淡的火药味。
So I like to invent things too, and I think I'll close out my set with something I invented a good while back. When drum machines were new, I got to thinking, why couldn't you take the oldest form of music, the hambone rhythms, and combine it with the newest technology? I call this Thunderwear. At that time, drum triggers were new. And so I put them all together and sewed 12 of them in this suit. I showed you some of the hambone rhythms yesterday; I'm going to be doing some of the same ones. I have a trigger here, trigger here, here, here. Right there. It's going to really hurt if I don't take that off. Okay. Now, the drum triggers go out my tail here, into the drum machine, and they can make various sounds, like drums. So let me put them all together. And also, I can change the sounds by stepping on this pedal right here, and -- let me just close out here by doing you a little hambone solo or something like this.
所以我也爱发明东西, 我想,作为结尾我要穿上我前一阵发明的衣服。 当鼓还是很新奇的时候,我就在想, 为什么我们不能用最古老的音乐形式,说唱乐的旋律, 和最现代的技术结合起来? 我把它叫做打雷服。 那时,鼓还是很新奇的东西。 我把这些鼓放在一起,缝进衣服里面,总共12件。 我昨天向你们表演了些说唱节奏的音乐; 我今天还要向你们展示这些。 我这里有个开关,这里也有,这里,这里,那里。 如果我不把这个取下来就会很疼。好了。 现在我把这个鼓开关拿出衣服,放进鼓机器里, 它们能发出各种声音,就像鼓一样。 让我把它们放在一起。同样,我也能够 通过踩这边的踏板改变声音,并且 让我把那边关上,给你们弹奏 一些说唱单曲或者类似的东西。
Thank you, folks. (Applause)
谢谢你们。 (掌声)