美国国家公共电台 NPR Jenny Lewis Puts Her Emotions 'On The Line': 'It Can Get Ugly Sometimes'

 

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

Jenny Lewis was a child actor. She did cereal commercials and Barbie ads and films, including "Troop Beverly Hills" and "The Wizard," before she became frontwoman for Rilo Kiley. When that band broke up, she went solo. She's just released her fourth album under her own banner. It's called "On The Line."

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "RED BULL & HENNESSY")

JENNY LEWIS: (Singing) I'm on fire. Come on and get next to me. I want to ride with you.

SIMON: The track is called "Red Bull & Hennessy." And if that's true, this could be quite a conversation. Jenny Lewis joins us now from the studios of NPR West. Thanks so much for being with us.

LEWIS: Oh, thanks for having me.

SIMON: So who's playing those drums we hear?

LEWIS: There are two drummers on that track.

SIMON: Yeah.

LEWIS: One being the great Jim Keltner, who played on "Imagine." And the other drummer is Ringo Starr.

SIMON: Were you in the studio at the same time?

LEWIS: Yes. To sit in the control room and watch those two play together, it was like a bullet train. I mean, the power, the sound, the feel is like a big-boy pirate ship.

(SOUNDBITE OF JENNY LEWIS SONG, "RED BULL & HENNESSY"

SIMON: You dedicate this album, "On The Line," to the memory of your mother, who was a singer, I gather.

LEWIS: She was. She was a lounge singer in Las Vegas, where I was born.

SIMON: And she had her challenges, I guess, in life.

LEWIS: She did, as we all do. But, yeah, my mom - she was an addict¹ and struggled with the disease of addiction² for her entire life.

SIMON: Which has passed now, I guess.

LEWIS: Yeah. She passed in 2017.

SIMON: I hope you don't mind if we listen to a little bit of the track "Little White Dove."

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "LITTLE WHITE DOVE")

LEWIS: (Singing) A mother and child - eternity³. Under a cool white sheet, here we go. In the middle of love, I'm a little white dove, yeah. I'm the heroine.

These relationships with our parents are so potent⁴ and complex. And reaching the end of life and being able to see someone go through that process is so intimate. And, really, the song is about the little white dove, you know, showing up with love and forgiveness and understanding and peace.

SIMON: I hope you don't mind if I ask, but when you say forgiveness, you forgiving your mother?

LEWIS: Well, also, I think she forgave me.

SIMON: Forgave you for what?

LEWIS: I guess for not being around.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "LITTLE WHITE DOVE")

LEWIS: (Singing) In the middle of love.

SIMON: Well, let me ask you about another song, "Heads Gonna Roll."

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "HEADS GONNA ROLL")

LEWIS: (Singing) Since I haven't talked to you, I dream about your baby blues⁵ and wonder why you stopped getting high. Even though we were just friends, I think of us as bookends. And I'm going to love you till I die.

SIMON: Doesn't sound like a happy, sitcom⁶ relationship, somehow.

LEWIS: But I view it as a success. Even though we were just friends, I think of us as bookends. And I'm going to love you till the day I die. That, I hope, is the takeaway. I mean, I think if you can spend four years with someone, or five, or 10, or 15, or 20, and you move on and go your separate ways, I view that as a success.

SIMON: Do some people find bad relationships addictive⁷?

LEWIS: Absolutely. I mean, this is - I talk about this with my girlfriends every day. We're trying to decode⁸ it.

SIMON: Which brings up Ryan Adams.

LEWIS: Great segue.

SIMON: Well, it just kind of presented itself. You made a statement recently. He's been accused of sexual misconduct. Your statement says, in part, although he and I had a working, professional relationship, I stand in solidarity⁹ with the women who have come forward. Do you regret working with him?

LEWIS: No. I can't change the past. We were co-workers, and he is a part of the story of my music. Do I condone¹⁰ that behavior? Absolutely not. Was that my exact experience? No. However, yeah, I mean, I understand that we need to have this dialogue moving forward.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "ON THE LINE")

LEWIS: (Singing) It used to be Bobby forever. We were together day and night.

SIMON: This album has so much personal material. Was it fun? Was it fulfilling always?

LEWIS: Well, music is - for me, that's when I feel most connected to the cosmos¹¹ or the best version of myself. And it's not always light stuff. And I think we, as artists, you know, we open that channel. And it's a little bit magical.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "ON THE LINE")

LEWIS: (Singing) Listen to my heart beating. Listen to my heart beating. Listen to my heart beating on the line - on the line.

SIMON: Jenny Lewis - her new album, "On The Line." Thank you so much for being with us.

LEWIS: Thank you.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "ON THE LINE")

LEWIS: (Singing) You're not the only one.

1 addict   

v.使沉溺；使上瘾；n.沉溺于不良嗜好的人

参考例句：

• He became gambling addict,and lost all his possessions.他习染上了赌博，最终输掉了全部家产。
• He assisted a drug addict to escape from drug but failed firstly.一开始他帮助一个吸毒者戒毒但失败了。

2 addiction   

n.上瘾入迷，嗜好

参考例句：

• He stole money from his parents to feed his addiction.他从父母那儿偷钱以满足自己的嗜好。
• Areas of drug dealing are hellholes of addiction,poverty and murder.贩卖毒品的地区往往是吸毒上瘾、贫困和发生谋杀的地方。

3 eternity   

n.不朽，来世；永恒，无穷

参考例句：

• The dull play seemed to last an eternity.这场乏味的剧似乎演个没完没了。
• Finally,Ying Tai and Shan Bo could be together for all of eternity.英台和山伯终能双宿双飞，永世相随。

4 potent   

adj.强有力的，有权势的；有效力的

参考例句：

• The medicine had a potent effect on your disease.这药物对你的病疗效很大。
• We must account of his potent influence.我们必须考虑他的强有力的影响。

5 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。

6 sitcom   

n.情景喜剧，（广播、电视的）系列幽默剧

参考例句：

• This sitcom is produced in cooperation with Hong Kong TV.这部连续剧是同香港电视台联合制作的。
• I heard that a new sitcom is coming out next season.我听说下一季会推出一个新的情境喜剧。

7 addictive   

adj.(吸毒等)使成瘾的，成为习惯的

参考例句：

• The problem with video game is that they're addictive.电子游戏机的问题在于它们会使人上瘾。
• Cigarettes are highly addictive.香烟很容易使人上瘾。

8 decode   

vt.译（码），解（码）

参考例句：

• All he had to do was decode it and pass it over.他需要做的就是将它破译然后转给他人。
• The secret documents were intercepted and decoded.机密文件遭截获并被破译。

9 solidarity   

n.团结；休戚相关

参考例句：

• They must preserve their solidarity.他们必须维护他们的团结。
• The solidarity among China's various nationalities is as firm as a rock.中国各族人民之间的团结坚如磐石。

10 condone   

v.宽恕；原谅

参考例句：

• I cannot condone the use of violence.我不能宽恕使用暴力的行为。
• I will not condone a course of action that will lead us to war.我绝不允许任何导致战争的行为。

11 cosmos   

n.宇宙；秩序，和谐

参考例句：

• Our world is but a small part of the cosmos.我们的世界仅仅是宇宙的一小部分而已。
• Is there any other intelligent life elsewhere in the cosmos?在宇宙的其他星球上还存在别的有智慧的生物吗？