美国国家公共电台 NPR This 'Greatest Hits' Album Is Real. Its Artist Is Fiction

 

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

Cass Wheeler has hit her 60s, a musical star who burst into fame in the 1970s. Here's one of her first big hits, "Common Ground."

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "COMMON GROUND")

KATHRYN WILLIAMS: (As Cass Wheeler, singing) It was early morning when she left. And the city under gray sky was dim, sleeping.

SIMON: Written and sung by Cass Wheeler, recorded June 1971 in London. Remember?

No, you don't. Cass Wheeler is a creation of Laura Barnett, the journalist and novelist, and Kathryn Williams. Barnett has fashioned a novel around a singer-songwriter who looks back at her life as she slides into her 65th birthday and prepares an album of her greatest hits that she associates with some of the hits and hardships of her life. The novel and album are both called "Greatest Hits."

And Laura Barnett and Kathryn Williams join us now from the BBC in Exeter. Thank you both so much for being with us.

LAURA BARNETT: Thank you so much for having us.

SIMON: So who is the chicken, and who is the egg?

BARNETT: That's a very good question.

WILLIAMS: I'm the egg.

BARNETT: I feel like I'm the chicken, definitely.

SIMON: And you are?

BARNETT: I'm Laura.

SIMON: Right, the novelist.

BARNETT: The novelist, yeah. Novelist/chicken - professional chicken.

SIMON: All right. And where does Cass Wheeler come from in your mind?

BARNETT: I had in mind what we might call a long-view novel, a novel that takes the character in their later years and has them look back over the arc of their life, from birth onwards, really. And the idea of wanting to do that for a woman in her 60s converged¹ in my head with the idea of wanting to write about a female musician. I think it was around the time that Kate Bush announced her comeback. And I think the two things converged.

So although Cass is entirely² fictional³, she certainly has roots in a kind of real-life inspiration from women like Kate Bush, Sandy Denny, Joni Mitchell, the amazing pioneers of women in music.

SIMON: As you were working on the book, who would say, we need a song here?

BARNETT: Well, actually, I had pretty much finished the first draft of the novel before approaching Kathryn. And, actually, we worked in quite a unique way. This is the first time that we know of that this has ever been done - that, A, a novelist has collaborated⁴ with a songwriter to create an original soundtrack for a fictional songwriter. So we didn't really have a blueprint⁵, and we worked it out for ourselves.

But as I say, I approached Kathryn when I was already more or less done with the book, so I'd figured out where the songs were going to come and the material that Kath was going to draw on from her life.

As we say, she's an autobiographical songwriter. So we actually decided⁶ quite early on that Kath wouldn't read the whole novel because she didn't want to have all the kind of hindsight and foresight⁷ that the character wouldn't have had. She sort of wanted to live the moment with Cass.

SIMON: Let's hear another song, if we could. This one, "Don't Step On The Cracks."

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "DON'T STEP ON THE CRACKS")

WILLIAMS: (As Cass Wheeler, singing) Don't step on the cracks, you said, that sat by those nights (ph).

SIMON: Laura Barnett, what prompted this song from Cass Wheeler in your narrative⁸?

BARNETT: This is a very key song, actually. I'm really glad you chose to play it. It comes out of an experience that is a real kind of turning point, keystone in the novel. When Cass is 21 years old, it's the winter of 1971. She's a young woman in an astrakhan coat walking along a street in central London, having just had a meeting with a record label who are wanting to sign her as a solo act.

And you'd think that would be wonderful news, and it is, in a way. But she is faced with a dilemma⁹ where she has formed a band with her partner in life and in music, Ivor Tait. And the record label don't want to sign the band; they want to sign her. So it's really about a woman deciding to strike out on her own in life and in music and in art.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "DON'T STEP ON THE CRACKS")

WILLIAMS: (As Cass Wheeler, singing) And fallen too far to make up from the start. I told you I wouldn't, but then that's a lie (ph).

SIMON: Kathryn Williams, when you sing, are you Cass or yourself?

WILLIAMS: I'm definitely Cass in my mind because I write as her. I mean, it is quite amusing, writing songs for a fictional songwriter who's much more successful than me (laughter). But, yes, so I'm writing, I'm singing as her. Obviously, you know, I'm not going to put a voice on and not sing with my own voice, but I'm sort of going through and trying to sort of think as her.

SIMON: Some of the most difficult sections have to do with parenthood and motherhood. Is there an irreconcilable¹⁰ division between her interest as an artist and her interest in being the best possible parent?

BARNETT: Yeah. I wish there could've been a story in which Cass' success was entirely supported by her husband, either by her family, and no sacrifices were made in terms of her status as a mother. But that didn't seem realistic to me.

I found this incredible thing that most of these women had in common, which was that they had made some sort of sacrifice in terms of motherhood, whether it was Joni Mitchell famously giving up a child in order to pursue - to move down to the U.S. and pursue her career, or Kate Bush withdrawing from music for decades, as I mentioned, essentially¹¹, as she said it, to raise her son, as I understand it. So it seemed impossible, really, to write this without exploring that.

I don't think they are irreconcilable. I hope increasingly now women are able to combine the two, and men, too. But I think of that era. It was so unusual for a woman to step out for herself in that way.

SIMON: Let's hear from another song, if we could, "When Morning Comes."

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "WHEN MORNING COMES")

WILLIAMS: (As Cass Wheeler, singing) I spent so many nights, love, restless and alone, sleepless¹² in my own bed, willing for the dawn (ph).

SIMON: I think this is my favorite song.

WILLIAMS: Me too.

BARNETT: Me too.

SIMON: All right.

BARNETT: We're all in agreement.

SIMON: Good. Well, and, of course, it coincides happily with the fact that Cass meets a man from Chicago, right?

BARNETT: Indeed. She first realizes that this could be something special. He's a sculptor¹³ named Larry.

WILLIAMS: We love Larry.

BARNETT: We love Larry. We do.

WILLIAMS: We have hard crush on Larry.

BARNETT: We do. We love Larry, yeah.

SIMON: So what happens if the two of you were on tour together and the crowd begins to chant that they want a new Cass Wheeler song?

WILLIAMS: Oh, yeah. That's a weird¹⁴ one. Well, I had a really fun idea that we could start putting, like, Cass Wheeler albums in sort of old record shops and charity shops and build up this sort of completely fake Wikipedia thing and see if she did enter into the history of people like, oh, if you've never heard of her...

BARNETT: You know, just keep digging through the vinyl, listeners. You never know. You might find a Cass Wheeler album in there.

SIMON: (Laughter) Laura Barnett - she's written the novel. Kathryn Williams - the songs for "Greatest Hits." Thank you both so much for being with us.

WILLIAMS: Thank you.

BARNETT: Thank you so much. It's been a pleasure.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "WHEN MORNING COMES")

WILLIAMS: (As Cass Wheeler, singing) When morning comes, I will reach for you. When morning comes, I'll call you (ph).

1 converged   

v.（线条、运动的物体等）会于一点( converge的过去式 )；（趋于）相似或相同；人或车辆汇集；聚集

参考例句：

• Thousands of supporters converged on London for the rally. 成千上万的支持者从四面八方汇聚伦敦举行集会。
• People converged on the political meeting from all parts of the city. 人们从城市的四面八方涌向这次政治集会。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。

3 fictional   

adj.小说的，虚构的

参考例句：

• The names of the shops are entirely fictional.那些商店的名字完全是虚构的。
• The two authors represent the opposite poles of fictional genius.这两位作者代表了天才小说家两个极端。

4 collaborated   

合作( collaborate的过去式和过去分词 )； 勾结叛国

参考例句：

• We have collaborated on many projects over the years. 这些年来我们合作搞了许多项目。
• We have collaborated closely with the university on this project. 我们与大学在这个专案上紧密合作。

5 blueprint   

n.蓝图，设计图，计划；vt.制成蓝图，计划

参考例句：

• All the machine parts on a blueprint must answer each other.设计图上所有的机器部件都应互相配合。
• The documents contain a blueprint for a nuclear device.文件内附有一张核装置的设计蓝图。

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 foresight   

n.先见之明，深谋远虑

参考例句：

• The failure is the result of our lack of foresight.这次失败是由于我们缺乏远虑而造成的。
• It required a statesman's foresight and sagacity to make the decision.作出这个决定需要政治家的远见卓识。

8 narrative   

n.叙述，故事；adj.叙事的，故事体的

参考例句：

• He was a writer of great narrative power.他是一位颇有记述能力的作家。
• Neither author was very strong on narrative.两个作者都不是很善于讲故事。

9 dilemma   

n.困境，进退两难的局面

参考例句：

• I am on the horns of a dilemma about the matter.这件事使我进退两难。
• He was thrown into a dilemma.他陷入困境。

10 irreconcilable   

adj.（指人）难和解的，势不两立的

参考例句：

• These practices are irreconcilable with the law of the Church.这种做法与教规是相悖的。
• These old concepts are irreconcilable with modern life.这些陈旧的观念与现代生活格格不入。

11 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

12 sleepless   

adj.不睡眠的，睡不著的，不休息的

参考例句：

• The situation gave her many sleepless nights.这种情况害她一连好多天睡不好觉。
• One evening I heard a tale that rendered me sleepless for nights.一天晚上，我听说了一个传闻，把我搞得一连几夜都不能入睡。

13 sculptor   

n.雕刻家，雕刻家

参考例句：

• A sculptor forms her material.雕塑家把材料塑造成雕塑品。
• The sculptor rounded the clay into a sphere.那位雕塑家把黏土做成了一个球状。

14 weird   

adj.古怪的，离奇的；怪诞的，神秘而可怕的

参考例句：

• From his weird behaviour,he seems a bit of an oddity.从他不寻常的行为看来，他好像有点怪。
• His weird clothes really gas me.他的怪衣裳简直笑死人。