美国国家公共电台 NPR Bill Murray And Jan Vogler Take Us To 'New Worlds' On Their New Theatrical Album

 

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

The actor Bill Murray recently stopped by our New York studios, and with him, it gets lively pretty fast. Here he is on the line with our colleague Rachel Martin just sort of warming up for the interview, cracking jokes about our staff.

BILL MURRAY: There's a lot of people just, like, not making eye contact...

RACHEL MARTIN, BYLINE¹: (Laughter).

MURRAY: ...And taking what I guess is taxpayer² money and not working at all in this building.

MARTIN: The rest is listener-supported donations.

JAN VOGLER: Wow.

MURRAY: Oh, golly.

MARTIN: We have to get that message out.

MURRAY: Wait a second. She's just about to go into a pitch here.

MARTIN: (Laughter).

MURRAY: Come on, Rachel. This isn't a pledge drive, dammit.

MARTIN: Bill Murray has come a long way since his early days as that lounge singer on "Saturday Night Live."

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE")

MURRAY: (As Nick Winters) Let's go out with something really hot for these folks, a big hit out of '77. (Singing) A "Star Wars"....

MARTIN: He made screwball comedies like "Caddyshack" and "Stripes." Then he made serious films like "Lost In Translation," and now his latest project.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "IT AIN'T NECESSARILY SO")

MURRAY: (Singing) It ain't necessarily so...

MARTIN: He has recorded a CD of him singing and reading American classics, accompanied by three classical musicians.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "IT AIN'T NECESSARILY SO")

MURRAY: (Singing) ...The things that you're liable to read in the Bible, it ain't necessarily so.

MARTIN: Murray's creative partner is a German cellist³ named Jan Vogler. They met on a flight.

VOGLER: We were at security, and Bill started making comments on my cello⁴. I think he was a little surprised that I was trying to carry that huge baggage into the airplane.

MURRAY: I asked the real question - are you going to be able to fit that thing in the overhead compartment⁵?

MARTIN: So Murray and Vogler struck up a friendship and decided⁶ to put out an album.

MURRAY: Jan did all the work. As an American, I can confidently say that we need a German guy to run things. So he said, you know, we could do a show and proceeded to produce all kinds of music and literature and more players to play with us. And we all chipped in the way you would make a dinner together where you'd make a feast. It's been a crazy delight, and I have to explain it to my friends. Like, believe me, I'm just hanging on. These musicians are all killers⁷.

VOGLER: That's all not true. But I think the great moment was really to sit down together and to work on it. Bill is so great at really to select what would go with what together.

MARTIN: I want to play a track. This is Bill reading from a 19th-century American novel called "The Deerslayer."

(SOUNDBITE OF READING, "SCHUBERT: PIANO TRIO NO. 1 IN B FLAT, OP. 99 D.898 - 2. ADANTE UN POCO MOSSO / THE DEERSLAYER")

MURRAY: (Reading) So rich and fleecy were the outlines of the forest, that scarce an opening could be seen, the whole visible Earth from the rounded mountain top to the water's edge presenting one unvaried hue⁸ of unbroken verdure.

MARTIN: Bill, whether you like it or not, as part of the allure⁹ of you as a performer is that people sometimes can't really tell if you're being serious, if you're pulling one over on everyone. And this reading kind of reads that way.

MURRAY: I don't - I can't tell you the answer to that one because that would be, like, just showing you where Waldo is.

MARTIN: It's too obvious.

MURRAY: He's right there. There's Waldo right there.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "BERNSTEIN: WEST SIDE STORY - I FEEL PRETTY")

MURRAY: (Singing) I feel pretty, oh, so pretty. I feel pretty and witty¹⁰ and bright. And I pity any girl who isn't me tonight.

MARTIN: (Laughter) I mean, why that, Jan?

VOGLER: Well, it was "West Side Story," some of the greatest postwar American music.

MARTIN: But, you know, there's a lot of other songs in that.

VOGLER: Yeah, but I think you start somewhere. I presented it to Bill and I think it's unbelievable. I mean, it's a whole 'nother level if he sings it, I think.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "BERNSTEIN: WEST SIDE STORY - I FEEL PRETTY")

MURRAY: (Singing) Such a pretty face, such a pretty dress, such a pretty smile, such a pretty me.

VOGLER: This music and this literature, it speaks in a choir¹¹, I feel. All these values of American society, I think, are in this music or in these words.

MARTIN: It's not all comedy, though. One of the set's most discomforting moments comes when Bill Murray reads from Mark Twain's "Huckleberry Finn," and we should warn listeners that the following passage begins with the N-word.

(SOUNDBITE OF READING, "MANCINI: MOON RIVER / ADVENTURES OF HUCKLEBERRY FINN")

MURRAY: (Reading) Here was this nigger, which I had as good as helped to run away, coming right out flat-footed and saying he would steal his children, children that belonged to a man I didn't even know, a man that hadn't ever done me no harm. My conscience got to stirring me up hotter than ever until at last I says to it, let up on me. It ain't too late yet. I'll paddle ashore¹² at the first light and tell.

MARTIN: You are just reading from "Huck Finn," but it does feel like it connects to the current moment. We are reflecting as a culture on what it means to be an American. We're revisiting the legacy¹³ of the Civil War. What did you want to convey, Bill?

MURRAY: We're a group - a lady that was born in Venezuela, a lady that was born in communist China and a man that was born in communist East Berlin and a fellow from around Chicago. And we're talking about America as equals. There are people that try to ban Mark Twain from libraries that don't understand that that racial slur¹⁴, what he's doing is he's showing you a real person that speaks in the jargon¹⁵ of the day and uses these words which we no longer find acceptable. But when faced with the choice of decency¹⁶ or indecency, makes the courageous¹⁷ choice of risking his life to save his fellow man, that's what this guy Twain was talking about.

(SOUNDBITE OF READING, "MANCINI: MOON RIVER / ADVENTURES OF HUCKLEBERRY FINN")

MURRAY: (Reading) I told him they was out of sight so he'd come aboard. He says, lawsy, hell, you did fool them, Huck. That was the smartest dodge¹⁸. Ole Jim ain't going to forget you for that, honey.

VOGLER: Each time Bill reads this in the concert, we really have to focus hard to pick our instruments up afterwards - to see that someone trained so wrong has the instinct to do the right thing. And I think this evening is about American culture, but it's also about the story of humanity, I think.

MARTIN: I asked Bill Murray which piece in this literary feast he found most satisfying, and he pointed¹⁹ to his cover of a Van Morrison song. He was playing the original song in his car as he drove across the California desert. Because of all the rain this year, it was covered in flowers.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "WHEN WILL I EVER LEARN TO LIVE IN GOD")

MURRAY: (Singing) The sun was setting over Avalon the last time we stood in the West.

I've made this drive a number of times in my life, and I'd never seen all this beauty. And as I got to the top of the divide, there were people that had come up from the desert to see the flowers, all these kinds of people. It had that look of "Close Encounters Of The Third Kind" where they're all looking and they're all transfixed. And this music just got me, and I felt like we were all listening to the same song.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "WHEN WILL I EVER LEARN TO LIVE IN GOD")

MURRAY: (Singing) When will I ever learn to live in God? When will I ever learn?

GREENE: That was our co-host, Rachel Martin, talking to Bill Murray and Jan Vogler. Their album is called "New Worlds."

1 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

2 taxpayer   

n.纳税人

参考例句：

• The new scheme will run off with a lot of the taxpayer's money.这项新计划将用去纳税人许多钱。
• The taxpayer are unfavourably disposed towards the recent tax increase.纳税者对最近的增加税收十分反感。

3 cellist   

n.大提琴手

参考例句：

• The cellist's bowing was very sensitive . 那位大提琴手的弓法十分细腻。 来自辞典例句
• World-renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma founded The Silk Road Project in 1998. 世界闻名的大提琴家马友友于1998年创建了丝路工程。 来自互联网

4 cello   

n.大提琴

参考例句：

• The cello is a member of the violin family.大提琴是提琴家族的一员。
• She plays a melodious cello.她拉着一手悦耳的大提琴。

5 compartment   

n.卧车包房，隔间；分隔的空间

参考例句：

• We were glad to have the whole compartment to ourselves.真高兴，整个客车隔间由我们独享。
• The batteries are safely enclosed in a watertight compartment.电池被安全地置于一个防水的隔间里。

6 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

7 killers   

凶手( killer的名词复数 )； 消灭…者； 致命物； 极难的事

参考例句：

• He remained steadfast in his determination to bring the killers to justice. 他要将杀人凶手绳之以法的决心一直没有动摇。
• They were professional killers who did in John. 杀死约翰的这些人是职业杀手。

8 hue   

n.色度；色调；样子

参考例句：

• The diamond shone with every hue under the sun.金刚石在阳光下放出五颜六色的光芒。
• The same hue will look different in different light.同一颜色在不同的光线下看起来会有所不同。

9 allure   

n.诱惑力，魅力；vt.诱惑，引诱，吸引

参考例句：

• The window displays allure customers to buy goods.橱窗陈列品吸引顾客购买货物。
• The book has a certain allure for which it is hard to find a reason.这本书有一种难以解释的魅力。

10 witty   

adj.机智的，风趣的

参考例句：

• Her witty remarks added a little salt to the conversation.她的妙语使谈话增添了一些风趣。
• He scored a bull's-eye in their argument with that witty retort.在他们的辩论中他那一句机智的反驳击中了要害。

11 choir   

n.唱诗班，唱诗班的席位，合唱团，舞蹈团；v.合唱

参考例句：

• The choir sang the words out with great vigor.合唱团以极大的热情唱出了歌词。
• The church choir is singing tonight.今晚教堂歌唱队要唱诗。

12 ashore   

adv.在(向)岸上，上岸

参考例句：

• The children got ashore before the tide came in.涨潮前，孩子们就上岸了。
• He laid hold of the rope and pulled the boat ashore.他抓住绳子拉船靠岸。

13 legacy   

n.遗产，遗赠；先人(或过去)留下的东西

参考例句：

• They are the most precious cultural legacy our forefathers left.它们是我们祖先留下来的最宝贵的文化遗产。
• He thinks the legacy is a gift from the Gods.他认为这笔遗产是天赐之物。

14 slur   

v.含糊地说；诋毁；连唱；n.诋毁；含糊的发音

参考例句：

• He took the remarks as a slur on his reputation.他把这些话当作是对他的名誉的中伤。
• The drug made her speak with a slur.药物使她口齿不清。

15 jargon   

n.术语，行话

参考例句：

• They will not hear critics with their horrible jargon.他们不愿意听到评论家们那些可怕的行话。
• It is important not to be overawed by the mathematical jargon.要紧的是不要被数学的术语所吓倒.

16 decency   

n.体面，得体，合宜，正派，庄重

参考例句：

• His sense of decency and fair play made him refuse the offer.他的正直感和公平竞争意识使他拒绝了这一提议。
• Your behaviour is an affront to public decency.你的行为有伤风化。

17 courageous   

adj.勇敢的，有胆量的

参考例句：

• We all honour courageous people.我们都尊重勇敢的人。
• He was roused to action by courageous words.豪言壮语促使他奋起行动。

18 dodge   

v.闪开，躲开，避开；n.妙计，诡计

参考例句：

• A dodge behind a tree kept her from being run over.她向树后一闪，才没被车从身上辗过。
• The dodge was coopered by the police.诡计被警察粉碎了。

19 pointed   

adj.尖的，直截了当的

参考例句：

• He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
• She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。