VOA标准英语2012--Lionel Richie Takes a New Musical Direction With 'Tuskegee'

Lionel Richie Takes a New Musical Direction With 'Tuskegee'

Richie pays tribute to his Southern roots on his new duets album. The album features 13 of his famous pop hits, this time performed with some of today’s biggest Country stars. They include Little Big Town, Rascal¹ Flatts, Tim McGraw, Kenny Chesney and Sugarland’s Jennifer Nettles², as well as Country legends Kenny Rogers and Willie Nelson. Each was given the choice of what song they would cover and Lionel encouraged them to sing them as if they were their own.

The album is named after Richie’s hometown. He describes what it was like growing up in Tuskegee, Alabama. 

“It was probably just about as normal as life could be, except I was born and raised on a university campus," he said. "More academics than there was hunting and fishing, but the good news was that it was 15 seconds from Country. And when I say that, in that community, Country music was pop music on the radio and R&B music was just the standard form. That music kept squeaking³ in the side door. Between gospel music, Country music and R&B music, I was deeply influenced right there on that wonderful campus of Tuskegee.”

“Tuskegee” debuted⁴ at Number One on the Country Albums chart and at Number 2 on the Billboard⁵ 200. First-week sales reached nearly 199,000 copies, making it Richie’s highest-charting album since 1986.

Promotion⁶ for “Tuskegee” included a stop at this year’s South By Southwest festival in Austin, Texas. Several thousand people attended the show, and to Richie’s surprise, the new younger generation of music fans knew all the words to his songs. That might not have been the case, had Richie listened to some of the ideas he was given for his latest project.

“I had lots of suggestions from people in the record business, my friends, ‘Lionel you should do a Gershwin album, a tribute to Gershwin.’ ‘Lionel, you should do a tribute to Cole Porter.’ ‘Lionel, you should do Nat King Cole’s catalog,’" he said. "And, I kept thinking, ‘Why don’t I do Lionel Richie’s catalog?’ I only know how to be me. Do I rap? No, terrible. Am I a Gospel singer? Terrible. I’m a Southern boy. And, I went back and thought about it and I said, ‘What’s the place I haven’t been? Country. Where have all the songs gone? Country.’ So, I’ll put it out there to see if I get any response. The answer was everybody called.” 

The first single from “Tuskegee” teams Richie with international superstar Shania Twain to sing a Country version of his 1981 Number One hit, “Endless Love.” 

1 rascal   

n.流氓；不诚实的人

参考例句：

• If he had done otherwise,I should have thought him a rascal.如果他不这样做，我就认为他是个恶棍。
• The rascal was frightened into holding his tongue.这坏蛋吓得不敢往下说了。

2 nettles   

n.荨麻( nettle的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• I tingle where I sat in the nettles. 我坐过在荨麻上的那个部位觉得刺痛。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• This bleak place overgrown with nettles was the churchyard. 那蔓草丛生的凄凉地方是教堂公墓。 来自辞典例句

3 squeaking   

v.短促地尖叫( squeak的现在分词 )；吱吱叫；告密；充当告密者

参考例句：

• Squeaking floorboards should be screwed down. 踏上去咯咯作响的地板应用螺钉钉住。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Can you hear the mice squeaking? 你听到老鼠吱吱叫吗？ 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 debuted   

初次表演，初次登台（debut的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• In late 2003 a full-size SUV, the Pathfinder Armada, debuted. 2003年末，全尺寸SUV的探路者无敌舰队，推出。
• The album debuted at number two and quickly went platinum. 专辑一亮相就荣登排行榜第二名，很快就取得了白金销量。

5 billboard   

n.布告板，揭示栏，广告牌

参考例句：

• He ploughed his energies into his father's billboard business.他把精力投入到父亲的广告牌业务中。
• Billboard spreads will be simpler and more eye-catching.广告牌广告会比较简单且更引人注目。

6 promotion   

n.提升，晋级；促销，宣传

参考例句：

• The teacher conferred with the principal about Dick's promotion.教师与校长商谈了迪克的升级问题。
• The clerk was given a promotion and an increase in salary.那个职员升了级，加了薪。