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)
這是北卡羅萊納州,所多瑪鎮的Zip阿姨。 我照這照片時她已經105歲了。 她總說些讓我駐足深思的話,比如 「時間或許是很好的治療者,但在美容方面它可就不怎麼行了。」 (笑聲) 她說:「善待你的朋友。 為什麼呢?因為沒了他們,你會是個全然的陌生人。」 (笑聲)
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)
這是她的一首歌。 我們來試試能不能跟著這首歌的韻律一起來個大合唱。 我請了麥可-曼凌幫我彈貝斯。 給他來點掌聲。 (掌聲)
One, two, three, four.
1、2、3、4
(Music)
(音樂)
Well, my true love's a black-eyed daisy; if I don't see her, I go crazy.
喔,我的真愛是那黑眼珠的雛菊; 如果我見不到她,我會瘋狂。
My true love lives up the river; a few more jumps and I'll be with her.
我的真愛就住在河的上游; 只要再跳躍幾下我便可以在她身旁。
Hey, hey, black-eyed Susie! Hey, hey, black-eyed Susie! Hey, hey black-eyed Susie, hey.
嘿、嘿、黑眼珠的蘇西!嘿、嘿、黑眼珠的蘇西! 嘿、嘿、黑眼珠的蘇西!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."
現在你們看到的是Zip阿姨105歲的照片,在北卡羅萊納州的索多瑪。 我從她那裡學到這些老歌 她不太能唱,也不能再演奏了。 我會拉她去門廊。 下面可以看見她的孫子,拉著騾,耕著菸草農田。 邊邊可以看見兩棟庫房。 而我們會唱這首老歌。她已經沒多少力氣了, 所以我唱「嘿、嘿」後,她應和:「黑眼珠的蘇西」
Oh, hey, hey, black-eyed Susie! Hey, hey, black-eyed Susie! Hey, hey, black-eyed Susie, hey.
嘿、嘿,黑眼珠的蘇西!嘿、嘿,黑眼珠的蘇西! 嘿、嘿,黑眼珠的蘇西!嘿
Well, she and I went blackberry picking. She got mad; I took a licking.
喔,我和她一起去摘黑莓 她生氣了,我舔了一下。
Ducks on the millpond, geese in the ocean, Devil in the pretty girl when she takes a notion.
鴨子在貯水池中,鵝在海洋中, 漂亮的姑娘冒出個奇怪的念頭萌生小小的邪惡。
Hey, hey, black-eyed Susie! Hey, hey, black-eyed Susie! Hey, hey black-eyed Susie, hey.
嘿、嘿,黑眼珠的蘇西!嘿、嘿,黑眼珠的蘇西! 嘿、嘿,黑眼珠的蘇西!嘿
Let's have the banjo.
讓我們來段班鳩琴吧。
Well, we'll get married next Thanksgiving. I'll lay around; she'll make a living.
噢,我們就要結婚了,就在下一個感恩節。 我將享清閒,她去顧生計。
She'll cook blackjacks, I'll cook gravy; we'll have chicken someday, maybe.
她調雞尾酒,我煮肉醬; 說不定那天還會吃頓雞肉大餐。
Hey, hey, hey, hey. Hey, hey, black-eyed Susie, hey!
嘿、嘿、嘿、嘿。嘿、嘿,黑眼珠的蘇西!嘿!
One more time now. Oh, hey, hey, black-eyed Susie! Hey, hey, black-eyed Susie! Hey, hey, black-eyed Susie, hey.
再來一次。 喔,嘿,黑眼珠的蘇西!嘿、嘿、嘿,黑眼珠的蘇西! 嘿、嘿,黑眼珠的蘇西!嘿!
(Applause) Thank you, Michael.
(掌聲) 謝謝你,麥可。
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.
這是拉爾夫-史坦利。 我讀的是聖芭芭拉的加州大學 他們的創意研究學院, 我主修生物和藝術,他那時來到校園。 是1968年的事了,我想應該是 他演奏了藍草風格的音樂 但是到音樂會快結束時,他演奏了一首風格古老的班鳩琴樂曲 那首歌伴隨著班鳩琴,一同從非洲來 那首歌可以被稱作羊角錘風格,是他從他母親和外婆那裡學來的。 我一聽就愛上了。 我去問他,要怎樣才能學到? 他說,你可以去克林齊山,我就是來自那裡的, 或者去北卡羅萊納州的艾西維爾市或芒特艾里 那些有很多音樂的地方 因為那裡還有很多老人在以過去的生活方式生活。
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.
於是緊接著的那個夏天我就去了那裡。 我馬上愛上了那裡的人和文化。 你知道,我回到學校,完成了我的學業 然後我和我父母說我要當班鳩琴演奏家 你可以想像我父母有多激動。
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.
我想讓你們看些照片 拍的都是開導我的老師。 只是其中一些而已,但可能你會從民謠中得到些許的暗示。
And play a little banjo. Let's do a little medley. (Music)
再讓我彈一段班鳩琴。把它集成一段曲子。 (音樂)
(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.
(掌聲) 最後幾張照片是去年剛去世的雷-西克斯 他曾是美國一位數一數二的民間故事講述者。 他在講老傑克的故事時,是這樣講的, 你很難聽懂他在說什麼。但其實那真的很棒。 他住的房子是他曾祖父建造的 沒有自來水,沒有電。他人非常好。
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.
你們可以看到更多的圖片 實際上我有一個網站,上面貼了很多我拍的照片 其中有一些是我沒機會讓你們看到的人。 你看到的這個樂器叫做口弓。 它絕對是世界上第一件弦樂。 南部山上的人依然用它來演奏。 現在,老前輩們不彈奏酷炫的吉他,而是做一些這樣的事。 他們只是用一根樹枝,用貓腸線把它們拴在一起拉緊。 這可能對貓來說不是好事,但卻製造出了一件不錯的小樂器。 它聽起來是這樣的。
(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?
(音樂) 你是否聽過讓很多全家老小都喜歡的故事 關於約翰森男孩的冒險故事?
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.
你找凱特,我找山姆;我們都將有個約翰森女孩相伴。 你找凱特,我找山姆;我們都將有個約翰森女孩相伴。
Now, they were scouts in the rebels' army, they were known both far and wide.
現在他們是反叛軍中的童子軍, 走到哪裡都有人知道他們
When the Yankees saw them coming, they'd lay down their guns and hide.
當人們看見他們走來,都要放下並藏起槍
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.
你找凱特,我找山姆;我們都將有個約翰森女孩相伴。 你找凱特,我找山姆;我們都將有個約翰森女孩相伴。
Ain't that a sound? (Applause)
不賴吧? (掌聲)
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."
我想大概是1954年吧 我們在德州的凱茲韋爾郊外開著車, 我在那裡度過了我的童年。 在蓋茲韋爾的郊外之前,我們去了一家雜貨店。 我媽媽在開車;我和我哥哥做在後座。 我們當時都在生媽媽的氣。我們向窗外張望。 周圍是數千英畝的棉花田。 我們剛剛才去過雜貨店, 而我媽媽拒絕給我們買一罐 內附午夜船長解碼戒指的阿華田。 各位,這氣壞了我們。 而媽媽也在生我們的氣,她一邊開車一邊說, 「你們!你們以為你們想要什麼就有什麼。 你們不知道賺錢有多難,你們爸爸工作那麼辛苦。 你以為錢是從樹上長出來的嗎?你們活到今天還沒工作過。 你們實在是太讓我生氣了,你們這個夏天一定要有份工作。」
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.
她把車靠邊一停,說:「都給我下車。」 我和哥哥下了車。 我們站在幾千英畝的棉花田邊。 大概有一百個黑人農民在採棉花。 我媽媽抓著我們的肩膀,把我們拉進棉花田裡。 她走到一個工頭面前,說 「我這裡有兩個從來沒工作過的小子。」 那還用說,當時我們一個才八歲,一個十歲。 (笑聲) 她說:「你可以給他們點工作嗎?」 嗯,這想必對那工頭來說是個好笑的點子: 把這兩個中產階級的白人小孩丟進棉花田裡工作。 那是八月的德州--天氣酷熱。 於是他給了我們一人一個空麻袋, 大概有10英呎長,那麼大一個袋子,然後我們就開始摘棉花。 要知道,棉花雖然是很軟,但是它的外部長滿了尖刺 如果你不知道自己在做什麼 你的手會馬上流血。 我和哥哥開始採棉花 我們的手開始流血,接著就是--「媽媽!」 而媽媽就坐在車子旁邊,像這樣 她可沒打算就此饒了我們。
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,工頭可以看到他是在他的頭上 他悄悄的走到我們身後開始用低沈的嗓音唱, 「喔!有一條又寬又長的袍子在天上,我知道的。 不要離我而去。 「喔!有一條又寬又長的袍子在天上,我知道的。 不要離我而去。」 這時周圍的人也開始唱了起來,回應著他,他唱: 「好消息,好消息,馬車要來了」 「好消息,馬車要來了」 「好消息,馬車要來了」 而我不想被它落在後面 我和哥哥的一生中從來沒聽過這樣的音樂 太美了。 我們在那裡摘了一天的棉花,沒有抱怨, 也沒哭。一邊聽著他們唱一些: 「噢,瑪麗,你別哭,別呻吟」和「跟誰涉水」 和「我做完了」、「這是我的一點光」
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.
最後,一天結束時, 我們每個人摘了大概四分之一個麻袋的棉花。 但是工頭人很好,給了我們一人一張一美元的支票, 但我媽媽一直都不讓我們兌現。 我57歲了,還是拿著那支票。 我媽媽那時希望我們能從中學到辛苦勞動的價值。 但如果你有孩子的話,你就知道這方法不一定管用。 沒錯,我們就學到了其他事情。 我那天學到的第一件事就是 我再也不要做那麼辛苦的工作了。 (笑聲) 的確也真的沒有。 但我同時也學到了,在這世上,有些人 確實需要每天這麼辛苦的工作,這真的是讓我大開眼界。 同時我也學到了,一首好聽的歌,可以讓艱難的工作變得容易許多。 而且它還可以聚合人心,是其他管道無法達成的。
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.
我當時只不過是個八歲大的小男孩, 我媽媽把我們扔在德州炎熱的棉花田裡那天, 我甚至沒注意過音樂這東西--根本毫無頭緒。 但那天在棉花田中採棉花時 人們開始唱歌後 我發現我的心與真正的音樂相通 而我想那就是我從此嚮往的
Try this old song with me. I sing: Well, there's a long white robe in heaven, I know.
跟我一起唱這首老歌。我唱: 喔,有一條又寬又長的袍子在天上,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.
換你們:不要離我而去。 喔,有一條又寬又長的袍子在天上,我知道的 不要離我而去。
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:馬車要來了。 好消息:馬車要來了 好消息:馬車要來了 不要離我而去。
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.
你們也好久沒有摘棉花了,不是嗎? 讓我們再來一次。
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.
喔,有一條又寬又長的袍子在天上,我知道的 不要離我而去。 喔,有一條又寬又長的袍子在天上,我知道的 不要離我而去。
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:馬車要來了 好消息:馬車要來了 好消息:馬車要來了 不要離我而去。
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."
就在這幾年,我回想起了這件事, 我在演奏會上也說過。 我媽媽當時在觀眾席中, 在結束後--她當然很高興有一個故事是關於她的, 但是演奏會結束後,她過來跟我說, 大衛,我得告訴你一件事, 那整件事是我一手安排的。 我跟工頭說好,跟地主講好。 我只是想讓你們這兩個孩子學到辛苦工作的價值。 我不知道這會讓你從此愛上音樂。
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)
我們再試一次。好消息:馬車要來了 好消息:馬車要來了 好消息:馬車要來了 不要離我而去。 (掌聲)
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,這是鋼吉他。美國製造的樂器。 這最初是由多普耶拉兄弟製造的, 他們之後製作了多不羅,一種木製的樂器 有一個金屬錐,聲音就是從那裡發出的。 通常是把它平放在腿上彈奏。 它是1920年代發明的,專門用來彈奏夏威夷音樂。 當時還沒有電吉他,為了製作更響亮的吉他,所以有了這發明。 非洲裔美國人發現你可以用破了的玻璃瓶瓶頸, 就像這樣,一個不錯的墨爾樂紅酒瓶也很好用。 要是有我們昨天喝的那瓶葡萄酒就完美了。 把酒瓶打破,放在手指上,然後滑動出各個音符。 這個樂器可以說救了我一命。
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,還是14年前, 我和妻子因為車禍,失去了我們的女兒,莎拉珍, 那件事讓我幾乎要終結自己的生命。 我想,我之所以知道幸福是什麼 是因為我經歷了這些難以置信的悲痛, 就站在懸崖邊,只想跳下去。 我必須列出活下去的理由。 我必須坐下來,把理由都寫下來,因為我真的想要離開; 我已經準備好要辭別這個世界了。 當然,列出來的第一個是 珍妮,和我兒子瑟卜,還有我的父母,我不想傷害他們。 之後,我想到別的, 都是一些非常小的事情。 我不在乎我的廣播, 我在公共頻道裡有個廣播節目,「河邊漫步」, 那時我已經不在乎這個了。我不在乎錢、獎勵或其他東西。 對什麼都不關心了。什麼都不關心。 單子上列的是這些, 看春天盛開的水仙花,剛割完的稻草味道, 在浪潮上衝個浪,摸摸嬰兒雙手, 聽聽杜沃森彈的吉他, 聽馬蒂沃特斯和戴夫梅肯大叔的舊唱片。 對我來說,鋼吉他的聲音, 因為我父母的鄰居給了我一台這樣的吉他。 我坐在吉他旁邊,但是不會彈, 我只是盡可能的彈出最悲傷的調子。 那是唯一一件,在我彈的所有樂器中, 能夠讓我找到共鳴的。 這首歌就是那時候創造的。
(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.
(音樂) 我聽說你遇到了麻煩。 上帝阿,我討厭聽到那樣的消息。 如果你想跟我聊聊,你知道,我會一直聽你講。
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.
語言已經無法表達了;我來告訴你我都怎麼做的。 我會打破另一個瓶頸,並彈些鋼吉他藍調。
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.
人們都說:「喔!振作起來吧!」 是阿,說的比做的簡單。 你寸步難行時,他們卻到處享受快樂時光。
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.
有時我想,或許沉浸在自己的悲傷中更好 直到你能夠振作起來,唱唱這些鋼吉他藍調。
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.
你可以什麼都藏心裡 吸菸、喝酒、吸毒, 但是你知道這些並不會讓你到達你想要的目的地。
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)
我得到了一些解藥可以讓事情變得不一樣。 早起來拜訪我吧,我剛剛彈奏了一曲鋼吉他藍調。 敞開心扉吧。 (掌聲)
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)
我想我可以告訴你們,我爸爸是個發明家。 在1957年為衛星剛剛發射的時候,我們搬到了加州。 他那時正在研究迴轉儀; 他在那方面有很多專利。 我們搬到麥可和約翰‧惠尼的對面。 他們和我年紀相仿。 約翰和麥可都成了 電腦動畫的發明家之一。 麥可的父親那時在做一種叫電腦的東西。 那是1957年,我還是個10歲小男孩; 我不知道那是什麼東西。他把我帶過去看, 你知道,他們在做的東西就像一個圖書館, 所見之處都填滿了真空管。 一層接著一層都是這些東西, 一個工程師說, 總有一天你能把這些龐然大物裝到你的口袋裡。 我暗自想,天啊,那褲子鐵定要很大才行! (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.
那年聖誕節,我應該有時間講這些, 那個聖誕節我得到了巫師的找樂子化學實驗組。 我想成為像我父親和邊克爾那樣的發明家。 他的曾祖父是伊利‧惠尼, 是扎棉機的發明者。 所以我們認為, 這是一個商業化的化學實驗組。 我們看到三種化學物質,感到詫異: 硫磺、硝酸鉀和木炭。 老天,我們才10歲,但我們知道那能製造火藥。 我們做出了一小批,把它放到車道上 我們摩擦火柴,點燃,一下子就爆炸了,酷極了。
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.
顯然,接下來要做的事就是製作大砲。 所以我們到了麥可家的車庫 他爸爸有各種東西,我們放了一個管子在裡面, 在管子的一端拴上蓋子, 在管子後端鑽個小洞,拿來我們的炮竹, 扯出裡面的導火線,把這些導火線扎在一起,放在管子的後部, 插到管子裡,然後填一些我們做的火藥 到管子裡,在上面放上三個球軸承,在車庫裡。 (笑) 我們不傻:我們再他前面五英呎的地方放了張膠合板。 我們退後,點燃了那個東西, 軸承衝出來了,衝過那些膠合版就跟衝破紙張一樣。 衝出了車庫。 有兩個衝進了麥可爸爸新雪鐵龍的側門。 (笑聲) 我們拆除整個東西,通通埋在後院裡。 那是質地溫和的花崗岩;可能東西都還在那裡,後院裡。
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.
我哥哥聽說我們做了火藥。 他和他的夥伴,他們年齡都比較大,都很對我們很壞。 說要教訓我們。 如果我們不給他們製作火藥的話。 我們就說,好哇,你們要火藥幹嘛? 他們說,我們要把火藥融化了做成火箭燃料。 (笑聲) 沒問題,我們會給你們做一大批。 (笑聲) 所以我們真的給他們做了很多,那時 我們剛搬到那裡,加州。 媽媽剛重新裝修了廚房;那天媽媽不再家。我們有個做派的烤盤。 克里斯‧貝基 負責熔東西。 我和麥可遠遠站在廚房邊。 克里斯‧貝基說,「好耶,看,它在融化。好耶,硫磺在融化。 搞定了,好耶!」 它忽然爆炸了,克里斯轉過來,他看起來就像這樣。 沒頭髮,沒睫毛,什麼都沒了。 媽媽的櫥櫃上到處都是噴濺的痕跡;♫ 空氣充滿了黑煙。 她回到家,沒收了化學實驗組,我們再也沒見過它了。 但我們經常想到它,因為每次媽媽煮鮪魚 很奇怪,吃起來總有股淡淡的火藥味。
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.
所以我也愛發明東西。 我想,作為結尾我要穿上我前一陣子發明的衣服。 鼓還很新奇時,我就在想, 為什麼我們不能用最古老的音樂形式,說唱樂的旋律, 和最現代的技術結合起來? 我稱它為雷裝。 那時,鼓觸發器還很新奇。 而我把它們放在一起,縫進衣服裡面,總共12件。 我昨天給你們表演了一些說唱節奏的音樂; 我現在要來點同樣的。 我這裡有個觸發器,這裡也有,這裡,這裡,那裡。 這個我要是沒拿起來會痛死,好了。 現在我把鼓觸發器像尾巴一樣穿出去,放進鼓機器裡, 它們能發出各種聲音,譬如鼓聲。 讓我把它們放在一起。同樣,我也能 藉由踩這邊的踏板改變聲音,並且 讓我把那邊關上,給你們演奏 一些說唱獨奏之類的曲子。
Thank you, folks. (Applause)
謝謝你們。 (掌聲)