VOA慢速英语2012 THIS IS AMERICA - Musical Legend Chuck Berry Still Reeling and Rocking on Stage at 86

 

THIS IS AMERICA - Musical Legend Chuck Berry Still Reeling¹ and Rocking on Stage at 86

Welcome to THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English. I’m Faith Lapidus. This week on our program -- the music of Chuck Berry. The man often called the "father of rock and roll" will be eighty-six this week and is still performing.

Another music great, Smokey Robinson, has described Chuck Berry as “the inspiration² for all of today’s rock 'n' roll guitarists." And, Anthony Kiedis from the Red Hot Chili³ Peppers calls him "a musical scientist who discovered a cure for the blues⁴."

One of Chuck Berry's first releases was "Brown Eyed Handsome Man." The last verse⁵ goes like this:

Two, three count with nobody on

He hit a high fly into the stand

Rounding third he was headed for home

It was a brown eyed handsome man

That won the game; it was a brown eyed handsome man

The song came out in nineteen fifty-six, less than ten years after major league baseball began to accept black players. The first was Jackie Robinson.

Rob Sheffield at Rolling Stone magazine wrote about baseball songs on his blog and had this to say: "The guitar speeds up as Chuck Berry heads into the climactic final verse, when that brown-eyed handsome man (Willie Mays? Hank Aaron? Jackie Robinson?) wins the game with a home run. Chuck would've made a lousy sportscaster ('two-three the count'?) but that just adds to the excitement."

On stage, he became known for his wild performances, and his "duck walk" that many musicians copied. But his songwriting skills -- some call him a rock and roll poet -- and his guitar work really set him apart.

Early in his career he played mostly blues for black audiences in clubs in St. Louis, Missouri. But the most popular music in the area was country. So this musical scientist mixed country and blues and got songs like "Maybellene."

Chuck Berry was born on October eighteenth, nineteen twenty-six, in St. Louis, where he still lives. His mother, Martha, was a high school principal. His father, Henry, worked with wood; he was a carpenter.

Charles Edward Anthony Berry was born the fourth of six children. He started singing in church when he was six years old. His interest in music stuck with him.

A lot of Chuck Berry's material is about teenage life, especially school.

Chuck Berry left school when he was seventeen. He headed west with two friends, but they did not get far. They were arrested after they used a gun to steal a car in Kansas City, Missouri.

He was released from prison after four years when he reached the age of twenty-one. But that would not be the last of his legal problems over the years. 

Chuck Berry signed his first recording⁶ contract in nineteen fifty-five, with Chess Records. One of his early hits was "Rock & Roll Music."

That song also became a hit with other bands, including a certain well-known British group.

Chuck Berry started performing around the country in nineteen fifty-seven. Many years later, his tradition of asking to be paid before concerts even earned a part in the lighthearted crime film "Ocean's Thirteen."

BASHER TARR (DON CHEADLE): "Mr. Bank, do you know what Chuck Berry said every night before counting one-two-three-four?"

WILLIE BANK (AL PACINO): "What did he say?"

BASHER TARR: "Pay me my money!"

Filmmaker Taylor Hackford made a documentary⁷ called "Hail⁸! Hail! Rock 'n' Roll," named for a Chuck Berry song. It centered on the making of a concert to honor the musician on his sixtieth birthday in nineteen eighty-six.

Guitarist Keith Richards from the Rolling Stones organized the concert. Listening to Chuck Berry songs got him interested in music. In Keith Richards' words, "I didn’t dream I could make a living at it but that’s what I wanted to do."

Some of the best moments in "Hail! Hail! Rock 'n' Roll" are between Keith Richards and Chuck Berry. 

More than seventy-five artists and bands have done their own versions of Chuck Berry songs. Many have done several, including the Rolling Stones, Elvis Presley, Conway Twitty and Bruce Springsteen.

Here are George Thorogood and the Destroyers with “It Wasn’t Me.”

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio, included Chuck Berry in its first year of honors in nineteen eighty-six. The Hall of Fame had this to say: "While no individual can be said to have invented rock and roll, Chuck Berry comes the closest of any single figure to being the one who put all the essential pieces together."

Our program was written and produced by Caty Weaver⁹. Tell us your favorite Chuck Berry song. Go to www.voanews.cn or the VOA Learning English page on Facebook. On our site you can also download MP3s of our programs and read the transcripts¹⁰. I’m Faith Lapidus.

And I’m Doug Johnson. Join us again next week for THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English.

1 reeling   

把东西用卷轴卷起来，从卷轴上放出来( reel的现在分词 )； 感到震惊； 发昏； 似乎在不停旋转

参考例句：

• His mind was reeling at the shock. 他吃惊得脑袋发晕。
• He was reeling a little. He must be very drunk. 他走起来有点儿摇晃，一定是喝多了。

2 inspiration   

n.灵感，鼓励者，吸气

参考例句：

• These events provided the inspiration for his first novel.这些事件给了他创作第一部小说的灵感。
• What an inspiration she was to all around her!她对于她周围所有的人是一种多么大的鼓舞！

3 chili   

n.辣椒

参考例句：

• He helped himself to another two small spoonfuls of chili oil.他自己下手又加了两小勺辣椒油。
• It has chocolate,chili,and other spices.有巧克力粉，辣椒，和其他的调味品。

4 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。

5 verse   

n.诗，韵文，诗行

参考例句：

• He is good at verse.他善于作诗。
• His book was in parts written in verse.他的书有许多地方是用韵文写的。

6 recording   

n.录音，记录

参考例句：

• How long will the recording of the song take?录下这首歌得花多少时间？
• I want to play you a recording of the rehearsal.我想给你放一下彩排的录像。

7 documentary   

adj.文献的；n.纪录片

参考例句：

• This case lacked documentary proof.本案缺少书面证据。
• I watched a documentary on the Civil War.我看了一部关于内战的纪录片。

8 hail   

n.雹，一阵；vi.下雹；vt.高呼，为...喝彩

参考例句：

• Hail fell with such violence that it broke windows.冰雹猛落，把玻璃窗也砸破了。
• The people lined the streets to hail the returning heroes.人们夹道欢迎凯旋的英雄们。

9 weaver   

n.织布工；编织者

参考例句：

• She was a fast weaver and the cloth was very good.她织布织得很快，而且布的质量很好。
• The eager weaver did not notice my confusion.热心的纺织工人没有注意到我的狼狈相。

10 transcripts   

n.抄本（ transcript的名词复数 ）；转写本；文字本；副本

参考例句：

• Like mRNA, both tRNA and rRNA are transcripts of chromosomal DNA. tRNA及rRNA同mRNA一样，都是染色体DNA的转录产物。 来自辞典例句
• You can't take the transfer students'exam without your transcripts. 没有成绩证明书，你就不能参加转学考试。 来自辞典例句