美国国家公共电台 NPR Funk Band Behind 'Amen Break' Drum Riff Receives Long Overdue Notoriety

 

ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:

What do Salt-N-Pepa, Amy Winehouse, Oasis¹ and the theme song to the animated² TV show "Futurama" have in common - these six seconds.

(SOUNDBITE OF THE WINSTONS' "AMEN, BROTHER")

SHAPIRO: This is called the Amen break. It's used in at least 2,000 songs spanning a range of genres³. It was created half a century ago by the band The Winstons, but they never saw a cent from it. Erin Wygant of member station WFAE visited one of the last remaining band members in Wadesboro, N.C.

ERIN WYGANT, BYLINE⁴: The Winstons were a funk and soul band formed in 1967 in Washington, D.C. They started out as backup musicians before briefly⁵ hitting it big. Bandleader Richard Spencer, who plays the saxophone and sang lead, remembers the rush of those days fondly. The group's first professional photo hangs in his living room.

RICHARD SPENCER: The guy at the top is Ray Maritano. Now, that's Phil. Phil was the pretty boy. That's me. And now that's Greg right there with the shades on.

WYGANT: Gregory Coleman was the drummer. He died in 2006. He was the one who play the Amen break. Spencer and the rest of the band didn't think much of it at the time.

SPENCER: Everybody was doing drum beats, you know? It just was nothing new to me.

WYGANT: What do you think it is about the Amen break that is so...

SPENCER: I have - honest to God, I have tried to think - it was different. I don't think it was anything special. I'll tell you what was special - when I met Michael Jackson.

WYGANT: Or when he played backup for Otis Redding. Or when he won the 1969 Grammy for best rhythm and blues⁶ song for "Color Him Father."

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "COLOR HIM FATHER")

THE WINSTONS: (Singing) I think I'll color him father. I'm going to color him love.

WYGANT: But it's the song on the B side of that record that gave The Winstons music immortality⁷. The Amen break came out of their instrumental version of a gospel hymn⁸ that they called "Amen, Brother."

(SOUNDBITE OF THE WINSTONS' "AMEN, BROTHER")

WYGANT: That middle part is what early hip-hop artists sampled. N.W.A. was one of the first back in 1988.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "STRAIGHT OUTTA COMPTON")

N.W.A.: (Rapping) Straight out of Compton is a crazy brother named Ice Cube from the stupid-dope gang with an attitude.

WYGANT: Now try to catch it sped up in David Bowie's 1997 song "Little Wonder."

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "LITTLE WONDER")

DAVID BOWIE: (Singing) Stinky weather, fat, shaky hands, dopey morning, doc, grumpy gnomes⁹.

WYGANT: Artists are still using it. Roni Size is a popular drum and bass¹⁰ producer and DJ in the U.K. who says the Amen break is one of the backbones¹¹ of his music.

RONI SIZE: God, I've used it pretty much in every record I've ever done. It was just one of those breaks where you can just manipulate it, and you could just make it sing and dance the way that you wanted it to.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "ALL THE CREW BIG UP - 95 RELICK")

SIZE: (Rapping) All the crew that is big up, is big up, is big up (ph).

WYGANT: In 1996, Spencer was surprised to get a call from another U.K. record producer looking to license¹² the break. That was the first time anyone had actually asked him to use it.

SPENCER: I tried a couple of times to see if I could regain¹³ some of my money, I guess, and it was just too expensive. And plus, I had other things to do than be sitting around, chasing the past.

WYGANT: Because this song was recorded before 1972, it's not covered by federal copyright law. Spencer isn't angry, just more resigned. As a black musician in the 1960s, he became used to being somewhat anonymous¹⁴.

SPENCER: They wouldn't put the picture of The Winstons on the album 'cause the Southern distributors said they would not distribute anything that seemed like it was promoting racial integration¹⁵. Because we were a mixed group, we couldn't get jobs in certain places.

WYGANT: Spencer still practices his music but just at home.

(SOUNDBITE OF PIANO MUSIC)

WYGANT: After the Winstons broke up in 1969, he worked for the D.C. public transit¹⁶ system and went back to school.

SPENCER: I had nothing after the record. I had a high school education and a Grammy, which had no value. So I had to go back to college. And I just fell in love with reading.

WYGANT: He ended up pursuing his Ph.D. in political science at Howard University. In 2000, he returned to his hometown, Wadesboro, and taught history at the local high school. It's here that he raised his son, Richard, in a modest brick house. In the living room, his Grammy award and gold record are lost in a sea of pictures and framed diplomas.

SPENCER: That's Richard's degree. That's Pfeiffer University. I swear to God. I'm more proud of that than anything.

WYGANT: In the past few years, Spencer has received some recognition. In 2015, a DJ in the U.K. set up a GoFundMe page in Spencer's name as a thank you for the Amen break. Almost 2,000 people donated about $26,000. He posted a video of himself on Facebook holding a giant check.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

SPENCER: You guys are the best. Thank you very, very much. Amen.

WYGANT: This October, Spencer will join such legends as Andy Griffith, James Taylor and Ben E. King when he's inducted into the North Carolina Music Hall of Fame. For NPR News, I'm Erin Wygant in Wadesboro, N.C.

(SOUNDBITE OF THE WINSTONS' "AMEN, BROTHER")

1 oasis   

n.（沙漠中的）绿洲，宜人的地方

参考例句：

• They stopped for the night at an oasis.他们在沙漠中的绿洲停下来过夜。
• The town was an oasis of prosperity in a desert of poverty.该镇是贫穷荒漠中的一块繁荣的“绿洲”。

2 animated   

adj.生气勃勃的，活跃的，愉快的

参考例句：

• His observations gave rise to an animated and lively discussion.他的言论引起了一场气氛热烈而活跃的讨论。
• We had an animated discussion over current events last evening.昨天晚上我们热烈地讨论时事。

3 genres   

（文学、艺术等的）类型，体裁，风格( genre的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Novel and short story are different genres. 长篇小说和短篇小说是不同的类别。
• But confusions over the two genres have a long history. 但是类型的混淆，古已有之。 来自汉英文学 - 散文英译

4 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。

5 briefly   

adv.简单地，简短地

参考例句：

• I want to touch briefly on another aspect of the problem.我想简单地谈一下这个问题的另一方面。
• He was kidnapped and briefly detained by a terrorist group.他被一个恐怖组织绑架并短暂拘禁。

6 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。

7 immortality   

n.不死，不朽

参考例句：

• belief in the immortality of the soul 灵魂不灭的信念
• It was like having immortality while you were still alive. 仿佛是当你仍然活着的时候就得到了永生。

8 hymn   

n.赞美诗，圣歌，颂歌

参考例句：

• They sang a hymn of praise to God.他们唱着圣歌，赞美上帝。
• The choir has sung only two verses of the last hymn.合唱团只唱了最后一首赞美诗的两个段落。

9 gnomes   

n.矮子( gnome的名词复数 )；侏儒；（尤指金融市场上搞投机的）银行家；守护神

参考例句：

• I have a wonderful recipe: bring two gnomes, two eggs. 我有一个绝妙的配方：准备两个侏儒，两个鸡蛋。 来自互联网
• Illusions cast by gnomes from a small village have started becoming real. 53侏儒对一个小村庄施放的幻术开始变为真实。 来自互联网

10 bass   

n.男低音(歌手)；低音乐器；低音大提琴

参考例句：

• He answered my question in a surprisingly deep bass.他用一种低得出奇的声音回答我的问题。
• The bass was to give a concert in the park.那位男低音歌唱家将在公园中举行音乐会。

11 backbones   

n.骨干( backbone的名词复数 )；脊骨；骨气；脊骨状物

参考例句：

• Why do hummingbirds and gorillas both have backbones? 为什么蜂鸟和大猩猩都有脊骨？ 来自辞典例句
• Simply adding bandwidth to the Internet backbones is not an answer. 只是简单的在互联网骨架上增加带宽是应付不了的。 来自互联网

12 license   

n.执照，许可证，特许；v.许可，特许

参考例句：

• The foreign guest has a license on the person.这个外国客人随身携带执照。
• The driver was arrested for having false license plates on his car.司机由于使用假车牌而被捕。

13 regain   

vt.重新获得，收复，恢复

参考例句：

• He is making a bid to regain his World No.1 ranking.他正为重登世界排名第一位而努力。
• The government is desperate to regain credibility with the public.政府急于重新获取公众的信任。

14 anonymous   

adj.无名的；匿名的；无特色的

参考例句：

• Sending anonymous letters is a cowardly act.寄匿名信是懦夫的行为。
• The author wishes to remain anonymous.作者希望姓名不公开。

15 integration   

n.一体化，联合，结合

参考例句：

• We are working to bring about closer political integration in the EU.我们正在努力实现欧盟內部更加紧密的政治一体化。
• This was the greatest event in the annals of European integration.这是欧洲统一史上最重大的事件。

16 transit   

n.经过，运输；vt.穿越，旋转；vi.越过

参考例句：

• His luggage was lost in transit.他的行李在运送中丢失。
• The canal can transit a total of 50 ships daily.这条运河每天能通过50条船。