美国国家公共电台 NPR--Celebrating 100 years of the music of Bessie Smith

Celebrating 100 years of the music of Bessie Smith

Transcript¹

Bessie Smith, also known as "Empress of the Blues²," recorded her first record on Feb. 15, 1923: Down Hearted Blues.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

On this day, 100 years ago, Columbia Records held a recording³ session with a singer named Bessie Smith. The country at large didn't know her then, but soon found out because she was launching a career as one of the most important blues singers ever. She began with one of the biggest hits of 1923.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "DOWN HEARTED BLUES")

BESSIE SMITH: (Singing) Gee⁴, but it's hard to love someone when that someone don't love you. I'm so disgusted - heartbroken too. I've got those down hearted blues.

INSKEEP: She just sang the name of the song there - "Down Hearted Blues."

ASMA KHALID, HOST:

Before this, Smith had amassed⁵ a sizable following, playing shows along railroad lines in the East Coast and the South. But it wasn't until Columbia Records came calling that her influence went nationwide. "Down Hearted Blues" went on to sell 2 million copies.

INSKEEP: And unlike many recording artists, Bessie Smith got paid. Dee Rees directed the biopic "Bessie" for HBO. And she talked with NPR about how rare that was for a Black woman in the 1920s.

DEE REES: No matter what you did, whether you were washing clothes or cleaning somebody's house or doing music, the terms were exploitive. So in that time, she was able to kind of demand what she was worth and able to organize herself in such a way that she was able to sing what she wants to sing and go on tour.

INSKEEP: And she even bought her own luxury railroad cars so she and her touring ensemble⁶ could travel in style.

KHALID: Bessie Smith's career, though, was short-lived - changing tastes and the 1929 stock market crash derailed her career. In this archival recording, Columbia Records producer John Hammond remembers trying to help.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

JOHN HAMMOND: When the Depression came, that wiped out the record business as we had known it. So in 1932, I went down to Philadelphia, where she was working as a hostess in a speakeasy, and I tried to persuade her that she should record. And she said, well, John, I just want you to know that these are hard times, and nobody wants to hear no blues.

KHALID: Bessie Smith died in 1937, and even though she'd lived a lavish⁷ lifestyle, her gravesite was unusually spare, with an unmarked tombstone.

INSKEEP: Until one of her admirers in later days, Janis Joplin, helped to pay to replace it. Bessie Smith's new epitaph read, the greatest blues singer in the world will never stop singing.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "DOWN HEARTED BLUES")

SMITH: (Singing) It may be a month or two.

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 blues   

n.抑郁，沮丧；布鲁斯音乐

参考例句：

• She was in the back of a smoky bar singing the blues.她在烟雾弥漫的酒吧深处唱着布鲁斯歌曲。
• He was in the blues on account of his failure in business.他因事业失败而意志消沉。

3 recording   

n.录音，记录

参考例句：

• How long will the recording of the song take?录下这首歌得花多少时间？
• I want to play you a recording of the rehearsal.我想给你放一下彩排的录像。

4 gee   

n.马；int.向右！前进！，惊讶时所发声音；v.向右转

参考例句：

• Their success last week will gee the team up.上星期的胜利将激励这支队伍继续前进。
• Gee,We're going to make a lot of money.哇！我们会赚好多钱啦！

5 amassed   

v.积累，积聚( amass的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He amassed a fortune from silver mining. 他靠开采银矿积累了一笔财富。
• They have amassed a fortune in just a few years. 他们在几年的时间里就聚集了一笔财富。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 ensemble   

n.合奏(唱)组；全套服装；整体，总效果

参考例句：

• We should consider the buildings as an ensemble.我们应把那些建筑物视作一个整体。
• It is ensemble music for up to about ten players,with one player to a part.它是最多十人演奏的合奏音乐，每人担任一部分。

7 lavish   

adj.无节制的；浪费的；vt.慷慨地给予，挥霍

参考例句：

• He despised people who were lavish with their praises.他看不起那些阿谀奉承的人。
• The sets and costumes are lavish.布景和服装极尽奢华。