PBS高端访谈:创造许多经典名曲的"路易纽约"

JUDY WOODRUFF: Tonight's Brief But Spectacular looks at Claude Kelly and Chuck Harmony. The two musicians spent over a decade making hits for blockbuster artists like Mary J. Blige, Bruno Mars, and Rihanna. But they yearned¹ to be more than just hired guns for big-name acts. So, they started their own group, Louis York.

CHUCK HARMONY, Musician: The most common thing that I, personally, Chuck Harmony, have heard from a music exec, executive is that I was too musical.

Dumb your stuff down so that the masses can digest it. And, as a creative, that's jail to me.

CLAUDE KELLY, Musician: Everyone we dreamed of working with as songwriter and producer, we have had the honor of writing very big records for.

CLAUDE KELLY: Michael.

CHUCK HARMONY: Janet.

CLAUDE KELLY: Whitney.

CHUCK HARMONY: Bruno.

CLAUDE KELLY: Celine.

CHUCK HARMONY: Rihanna.

CLAUDE KELLY: You get known for this one big thing you did. It's like, Chuck, give me another Russian Roulette, or Claude, give me another Party in the USA. And if you're always growing and wanting to learn, then that becomes your prison.

CHUCK HARMONY: It literally² drove us crazy, so, to the point we were going to quit our passion because of that. I was going to go to seminary. He was going to go to...

CLAUDE KELLY: Get a master's degree in world religion.

CHUCK HARMONY: Yes.

CLAUDE KELLY: We had this conversation about the music business, and what was on the radio and what was missing, big voices, original voices, horn breakdowns³, live strings⁴, bridges and modulations, and all these things that make music exciting and passionate⁵. What can two black men get together and say that is not being said in pop culture? And we discovered there's a lot. Louis York, which is the name of our band, it was the last thing we came up with. Our original name was Melancholy⁶. It shows you how sad we were at the time. Ran that by a couple people, and they laughed at us. He's from East Saint Louis, and I'm from New York. Louis York. As the lyricist and the guy that's thinking about telling the story, I just don't believe that people are stupid. And they want to be told stories. They want to be brought on a journey. And so just saying, repeat this over and over, or say what you said yesterday, or that little story works, so repeat it again, is jail.

CHUCK HARMONY: For me, collaboration⁷ is essential for creativity. I don't think no man is an island, especially when it comes to being their best selves. You need a person that you can bounce ideas off of. You need a person that you can see yourself in. You need a person that can be your muse⁸.

CLAUDE KELLY: I'm Claude Kelly.

CHUCK HARMONY: And I'm Chuck Harmony.

CLAUDE KELLY: And we are Louis York.

CHUCK HARMONY: Louis York.

CLAUDE KELLY: And this is our Brief But Spectacular take on...

CHUCK HARMONY: ... rediscovering our passion for music.

JUDY WOODRUFF: And you can watch additional Brief But Spectacular episodes on our Web site, PBS.org/NewsHour/Brief.

朱迪·伍德拉夫：今晚《简短而精彩》的主角是克劳德·凯利和查克·哈默尼。这2位音乐家在过去10年中为很多艺术家制作了一炮而红的歌曲。这些艺术家包括但不限于玛丽·布莱姬、布鲁诺·马尔斯、蕾哈娜。但他们二人渴求的不只是为大名鼎鼎的作品写歌。他们也创办了自己的团体“路易纽约”。

查克·哈默尼，音乐家：我经常听到有音乐制作人说我太有音乐天赋了。要将自己的东西变成下里巴人，这样大众才能消化吸收。对于富有创造性的我来说，这如同牢笼。

克劳德·凯利，音乐家：我们曾梦想过很多人合作，为他们写歌，做他们的制作人，而且最后我们也真的有此殊荣为他们写专辑。

克劳德·凯利：迈克尔。

查克·哈默尼：珍妮特。

克劳德·凯利：惠特尼。

查克·哈默尼：布鲁诺。

克劳德·凯利：席琳。

查克·哈默尼：蕾哈娜。

克劳德·凯利：你是从为蕾哈娜写专辑就为世人所知的。他们会这样：查克，给我一个以俄罗斯轮盘赌为风格的歌，或者查克，给我写一首有关美国派对的歌。如果一个人想一直成长并有所学，这就会成为你的牢笼。

查克·哈默尼：这样的生活让我发狂，最后达到一种我们必须要因此丢下激情所在的程度。我要去神学院，而他要去……

克劳德·凯利：在世界宗教领域获得学士学位。

查克·哈默尼：是的。

克劳德·凯利：我们谈过音乐界的事儿，现在广播上都在放什么，少了点什么，有哪些大牌的声音，有哪些原声、鼓点分解、现场片段、搭桥衔接和调整，这些都让音乐变得更让人激动、更有激情。两个黑人聚在一起，就流行文化能聊些什么呢？我们俩发现其实有很多可以聊。路易纽约是我们乐队的名字，是我们俩合力下产生的最后一个作品。我们一开始的名字叫忧郁乐队。这名字也能表明我们当时有多伤心。有些人还为此嘲笑我们。他来自东圣路易斯，我来自纽约。所以就有了这个名字。作为一名作曲家和一名一直在思考故事的人，我无法相信人们有多愚蠢。他们想着让别人来跟他们讲故事，他们希望由别人来带他们踏上一段旅程。所以，在不断的重复下，我们还说着昨天说过的话，同一个故事能讲上1万年，如此循环重复，这就是牢笼。

查克·哈默尼：对我来说，合作是激发创作力的关键。我觉得人类不是孤岛，尤其是涉及到本我的时候。你需要一个人来对你的想法做出回应和点评。你需要一个人来审视你自己。你需要一个人来做你的缪斯。

克劳德·凯利：我是克劳德·凯利。

查克·哈默尼：我是查克·哈默尼。

克劳德·凯利：我们是——路易纽约。

查克·哈默尼：路易纽约（和声）。

克劳德·凯利：这就是我们本期的《简短而精彩》，

查克·哈默尼：内容与重新探索音乐的激情有关。

朱迪·伍德拉夫：更多节目可在PBS.org/NewsHour/Brief观看。

1 yearned   

渴望，切盼，向往( yearn的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The people yearned for peace. 人民渴望和平。
• She yearned to go back to the south. 她渴望回到南方去。

2 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

3 breakdowns   

n.分解( breakdown的名词复数 )；衰竭；（车辆或机器的）损坏；统计分析

参考例句：

• Her old car was unreliable, so the trip was plagued by breakdowns. 她的旧车老不听使唤，一路上总是出故障。 来自辞典例句
• How do we prevent these continual breakdowns? 我们如何防止这些一再出现的故障？ 来自辞典例句

4 strings   

n.弦

参考例句：

• He sat on the bed,idly plucking the strings of his guitar.他坐在床上，随意地拨着吉他的弦。
• She swept her fingers over the strings of the harp.她用手指划过竖琴的琴弦。

5 passionate   

adj.热情的，热烈的，激昂的，易动情的，易怒的，性情暴躁的

参考例句：

• He is said to be the most passionate man.据说他是最有激情的人。
• He is very passionate about the project.他对那个项目非常热心。

6 melancholy   

n.忧郁，愁思；adj.令人感伤（沮丧）的，忧郁的

参考例句：

• All at once he fell into a state of profound melancholy.他立即陷入无尽的忧思之中。
• He felt melancholy after he failed the exam.这次考试没通过，他感到很郁闷。

7 collaboration   

n.合作，协作；勾结

参考例句：

• The two companies are working in close collaboration each other.这两家公司密切合作。
• He was shot for collaboration with the enemy.他因通敌而被枪毙了。

8 muse   

n.缪斯（希腊神话中的女神），创作灵感

参考例句：

• His muse had deserted him,and he could no longer write.他已无灵感，不能再写作了。
• Many of the papers muse on the fate of the President.很多报纸都在揣测总统的命运。