美国国家公共电台 NPR Mystic Rhythms: Rush's Neil Peart On The First Rock Drummer

 

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

This next story begins with a man listening to this song on the radio.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "MY GENERATION")

THE WHO: (Singing) People try to put us down. Talkin' about my generation.

INSKEEP: He heard it in a distinct way. When I listen to this song by The Who, I take in the lyrics², the harmony, the whole thing. Neil Peart's mind focused on a single thing, the drums.

NEIL PEART: I was driving down the length of California the other day with classic rock on. And they played "My Generation." And I just kind of tuned³ in to Keith Moon's snare⁴ sound and his figures and all that. And of course I know every beat of it.

(SOUNDBITE OF THE WHO SONG, "MY GENERATION")

INSKEEP: Of course he would. The Who's Keith Moon was one of the great drummers of his generation. And Neil Peart is among the greatest drummers of his.

(SOUNDBITE OF RUSH SONG, "FREE WILL")

INSKEEP: He gained a massive following as the drummer and songwriter for Rush. Even people who never bought their albums have '70s and '80s Rush hits stored in their heads.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "FREE WILL")

RUSH: (Singing). I will choose a path that's clear. I will choose free will.

INSKEEP: We reached out to Neil Peart because this is "Beat Week" on MORNING EDITION. We're profiling some of the people at the back of the stage. At age 62, Neil Peart has lived through and listen to a substantial slice of the history of modern drumming.

Do you remember when, as a kid, your ear started being drawn⁵ to what was happening with the drums?

PEART: Yeah, I sure do. I saw "The Gene¹ Krupa Story," an old black and white, much fictionalized but still very musical biography of Gene Krupa. And that's what made me really want to be a drummer.

(SOUNDBITE OF UNIDENTIFIED SONG)

INSKEEP: Why don't you describe for people who don't know who Gene Krupa was?

PEART: He was the first rock drummer in very many ways. Without Gene Krupa, there wouldn't have been a Keith Moon.

INSKEEP: But he was a jazz drummer, right? He was a big band drummer, wasn't he?

PEART: Big band drummer, he was the first drummer to command the spotlight⁶ and the first drummer to be celebrated⁷ for his solos 'cause they were very flamboyant⁸. He did fundamentally easy things but always made them look spectacular.

(SOUNDBITE OF UNIDENTIFIED SONG)

PEART: People don't realize how young the drum set is as an instrument. It's barely a hundred years old. When Mr. Ludwig invented the bass⁹ drum pedal, that's what made the drum set possible. And then silent movies were a really important part of drum set history because, of course, by definition, silent - so typically in a small movie theater, they might have a piano player and maybe a piano player and a drummer. Well, the drummer had to do all the sound effects. And the drum sets they had were enormous.

INSKEEP: Even bigger than the kind of drum set that Neil Peart plays today. He's commonly surrounded by so many instruments that he has to spin around to reach them.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "TOM SAWYER")

RUSH: (Singing) A modern day warrior¹⁰, mean, mean stride. Today's Tom Sawyer, mean, mean pride.

INSKEEP: The drummer who played on this hit started his career in his childhood bedroom, slamming drumsticks on the pillows. It was the early 1960s in Canada. He was a kid who couldn't skate, and his parents signed him up for drum lessons.

PEART: Drumming completely eclipsed my life from age 13, as I started drum lessons. And everything disappeared. I had done well in school up until that time. I was fairly adjusted socially up until that time. And I became completely monomania obsessed¹¹ all through my teens. And nothing else existed anymore.

(SOUNDBITE OF RUSH SONG, "TOM SAWYER")

INSKEEP: He was growing into the drummer we're hearing on this Rush song. And he had role models in the beginning. Even back then, he was tuned into The Who's Keith Moon and other stars in what's considered a golden age of rock drumming.

PEART: And all of a sudden, the bar for what it took to be a rock drummer kept getting raised higher and higher. So it was challenging and inspiring. And I was fortunate to not be the kind to get discouraged. And I've heard the stories, like Eric Clapton said he wanted to burn his guitar when he heard Jimi Hendrix play. And I never understood that because when I went and saw a great drummer or heard one, all I wanted to do was practice.

(SOUNDBITE OF RUSH SONG, "TOM SAWYER")

INSKEEP: And he practiced obsessively¹². He says for the first several decades on the drums - decades - he could feel the difference if he took just a few days off. It was that hard. Only recently has he felt that drums are so much a part of him that he could sometimes take a break.

PEART: We've been on sabbatical for a while. And I deliberately¹³ stepped away from my normal patterns of life, which consist of riding around on a motorcycle to concert halls and playing drums for three hours a night. So I stepped away from it and then, months later, sat down at the drum set and picked up exactly where I left off. And that wasn't the case in my 20s and 30s at all. But 50 years is a long time to do anything.

INSKEEP: As Rush fans know, he's more than a drummer. He writes lyrics. He writes books. But when he does pick up the sticks today, you can still see the intensity¹⁴ on his face.

(SOUNDBITE OF RUSH SONG, "TOM SAWYER")

INSKEEP: We were watching a documentary about Rush. And of course there are many shots of you. And the benefit of that is seeing you work and seeing your face. To me watching, I thought what I saw was the look of a craftsman¹⁵. You were not necessarily in your own space. You were in that place. Your eyes are moving around. You're watching what you're doing. You look like a carpenter almost.

PEART: Wow, that's a lovely analogy because - well, I think of my mother's, you know, why don't you smile more when you're playing? Mom, it's hard.

INSKEEP: (Laughter).

PEART: And so I tend to define it as grim determination because it is very physical and painful.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "FLY BY NIGHT")

RUSH: (Singing) Fly by night away from here. Change my life again. Fly by night; goodbye, my dear. My ship isn't coming and I just can't pretend, whoa.

PEART: The exertion¹⁶ level is very much of an athlete level. So when I see myself, I just see kind of a stone face. But it is that kind of immersion¹⁷. I'll be looking out in between the immersion. I might pop my head above the water for a second to be alligator¹⁸, you know, and see people in the audience reacting or holding up a sign or whatever. And that does delight me because in a larger sense, I'm very much an audience kind of person more than a performer.

INSKEEP: You wanted to watch the show that you were performing in. That's what you're...

PEART: Well, ideally - oh, what a fantasy. How I dream of that and often consciously think of it. Man, I wish I was out in the audience right now. And that has two meanings, of course.

(LAUGHTER)

INSKEEP: What are the two meanings? Lay them out.

PEART: Oh, yeah. I obviously - well, I'd love to observe what we're a part of because our band has been together for 40 years. So I sense sometimes when magic is happening. And also, if I was in the audience, I wouldn't have to be working so hard.

(SOUNDBITE OF RUSH SONG, "FLY BY NIGHT")

INSKEEP: That's Rush drummer Neil Peart during "Beat Week" on MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm Steve Inskeep.

LINDA WERTHEIMER, HOST:

And I'm Linda Wertheimer.

1 gene   

n.遗传因子，基因

参考例句：

• A single gene may have many effects.单一基因可能具有很多种效应。
• The targeting of gene therapy has been paid close attention.其中基因治疗的靶向性是值得密切关注的问题之一。

2 lyrics   

n.歌词

参考例句：

• music and lyrics by Rodgers and Hart 由罗杰斯和哈特作词作曲
• The book contains lyrics and guitar tablatures for over 100 songs. 这本书有100多首歌的歌词和吉他奏法谱。

3 tuned   

adj.调谐的，已调谐的v.调音( tune的过去式和过去分词 )；调整；（给收音机、电视等）调谐；使协调

参考例句：

• The resort is tuned in to the tastes of young and old alike. 这个度假胜地适合各种口味，老少皆宜。
• The instruments should be tuned up before each performance. 每次演出开始前都应将乐器调好音。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 snare   

n.陷阱，诱惑，圈套；（去除息肉或者肿瘤的）勒除器；响弦，小军鼓；vt.以陷阱捕获，诱惑

参考例句：

• I used to snare small birds such as sparrows.我曾常用罗网捕捉麻雀等小鸟。
• Most of the people realized that their scheme was simply a snare and a delusion.大多数人都认识到他们的诡计不过是一个骗人的圈套。

5 drawn   

v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的

参考例句：

• All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
• Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。

6 spotlight   

n.公众注意的中心，聚光灯，探照灯，视听，注意，醒目

参考例句：

• This week the spotlight is on the world of fashion.本周引人瞩目的是时装界。
• The spotlight followed her round the stage.聚光灯的光圈随着她在舞台上转。

7 celebrated   

adj.有名的，声誉卓著的

参考例句：

• He was soon one of the most celebrated young painters in England.不久他就成了英格兰最负盛名的年轻画家之一。
• The celebrated violinist was mobbed by the audience.观众团团围住了这位著名的小提琴演奏家。

8 flamboyant   

adj.火焰般的，华丽的，炫耀的

参考例句：

• His clothes were rather flamboyant for such a serious occasion.他的衣着在这种严肃场合太浮夸了。
• The King's flamboyant lifestyle is well known.国王的奢华生活方式是人尽皆知的。

9 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。

10 warrior   

n.勇士，武士，斗士

参考例句：

• The young man is a bold warrior.这个年轻人是个很英勇的武士。
• A true warrior values glory and honor above life.一个真正的勇士珍视荣誉胜过生命。

11 obsessed   

adj.心神不宁的,鬼迷心窍的,沉迷的

参考例句：

• He's obsessed by computers. 他迷上了电脑。
• The fear of death obsessed him throughout his old life. 他晚年一直受着死亡恐惧的困扰。

12 obsessively   

ad.着迷般地，过分地

参考例句：

• Peter was obsessively jealous and his behaviour was driving his wife away. 彼得过分嫉妒的举止令他的妻子想离他而去。
• He's rude to his friends and obsessively jealous. 他对他的朋友很无礼而且嫉妒心重。

13 deliberately   

adv.审慎地；蓄意地；故意地

参考例句：

• The girl gave the show away deliberately.女孩故意泄露秘密。
• They deliberately shifted off the argument.他们故意回避这个论点。

14 intensity   

n.强烈，剧烈；强度；烈度

参考例句：

• I didn't realize the intensity of people's feelings on this issue.我没有意识到这一问题能引起群情激奋。
• The strike is growing in intensity.罢工日益加剧。

15 craftsman   

n.技工，精于一门工艺的匠人

参考例句：

• A cabinet maker must be a master craftsman.家具木工必须是技艺高超的手艺人。
• The craftsman is working up the mass of clay into a toy figure.艺人把一团泥捏成玩具形状。

16 exertion   

n.尽力，努力

参考例句：

• We were sweating profusely from the exertion of moving the furniture.我们搬动家具大费气力，累得大汗淋漓。
• She was hot and breathless from the exertion of cycling uphill.由于用力骑车爬坡，她浑身发热。

17 immersion   

n.沉浸；专心

参考例句：

• The dirt on the bottom of the bath didn't encourage total immersion.浴缸底有污垢，不宜全身浸泡于其中。
• The wood had become swollen from prolonged immersion.因长时间浸泡，木头发胀了。

18 alligator   

n.短吻鳄(一种鳄鱼)

参考例句：

• She wandered off to play with her toy alligator.她开始玩鳄鱼玩具。
• Alligator skin is five times more costlier than leather.鳄鱼皮比通常的皮革要贵5倍。