2006年VOA标准英语-Remembering Buck Owens

By Katherine Cole
Washington
28 March 2006

It's been said that the mark of a great artist is the apparent ease with which they perform their craft. In country music, few ever made it look easier than Buck¹ Owens and his band, The Buckaroos. 

Buck Owens    
  
"Act Naturally," recorded in 1963, started Buck Owens' streak² of 15 consecutive³ Number One country singles, and 21 number ones in total. Buck Owens died at 76 Saturday, March 25, hours after taking the stage at his Crystal Theater in Bakersfield, California, and playing some of the songs that rocked Nashville on its boot heels back in the 1960s.

Listening to "Act Naturally" more than 40 years after its release, it's hard to imagine that song could annoy anyone, but, the man with the red, white and blue guitar was considered a maverick⁴ in country music in 1963.

Buck Owens is so closely associated with Bakersfield, California, it may come as a surprise to learn he first set foot in the town in 1951, when he was already 21 years old.

Determined⁵ to make it in music, he soon formed a band and started writing songs. To earn a few extra dollars, Buck regularly started driving 145 kilometers to Hollywood to play guitar at recording⁶ sessions for artists including Wanda Jackson, Gene⁷ Vincent and Faron Young. Although, he signed his first record in 1957, two more years passed before Buck Owens recorded his first Top 10 hit "Under Your Spell Again," starting a streak of hit singles that lasted more than a decade.

Buck Owens' early recordings⁸ featured the traditional sound of country music, with steel guitars and fiddles⁹ clearly out in front. But live shows from the same era found him routinely playing requests for songs by rockers Chuck Berry and Eddie Cochran, along with classic country tunes¹⁰ by Hank Williams and Bob Wills.

By 1963, Buck's band featured Don Rich on electric guitar and harmony vocals¹¹, along with a drummer, bassist and pedal steel guitar. One of his first bassists was the now-legendary singer-songwriter Merle Haggard, who named the group The Buckaroos.

Soon, Buck turned his back on Nashville, and started making country records his way, using his own road band instead of Nashville players. The result was records that sounded more like a Buck Owens concert, and nothing like the string-laden smooth country-pop hit songs coming out of Nashville … and the Bakersfield sound was born.

While some in Nashville fumed¹² over Buck Owen's new sound, lots of people loved what we now know as the "Bakersfield Sound." Brian Hofeldt, founder¹³ of the hit country band The Derailers, considers Buck Owens Bakersfield sound a major influence on his own music. In a recent interview, Brian Hofeldt explained why Buck Owens' sound is so important in the history of American country music.

"At its time, it was looked at as maverick, and out of left field, you know," he said. "Buck was in Bakersfield. He wasn't in Tennessee. And he was doing his own thing, and it was a really stripped-down, revved-up sound. And it just turned everybody on their ear. They loved it! And he was arguably the most successful country artist of the 1960s. His music, I think, still retains the freshness because it's pure, and soulful."

After a string of Number One hits, and sold-out concerts, including one recorded at New York's Carnegie Hall, Buck Owens soon found himself on national television, co-hosting the long-running comedy program, Hee Haw. Buck's career flourished, and he continued to record hit songs and perform sold-out concerts.

But then Buck Owens suffered a tragic¹⁴ blow, one that threatened to end his career. On July 17, 1974, his longtime musical partner, Don Rich, was killed in a motorcycle accident. Buck Owens admitted, "After Don's death, I don't think I ever quite recovered."

A year later, Buck Owens returned to the recording studio, but the magic was gone.

In 1980, Buck Owens decided¹⁵ he didn't want to continue the grind of constant performing and recording, and declared himself semi-retired.
 

Singer Dwight Yoakam, left, poses with Buck Owens on Hollywood Walk of Fame (2003 photo)   
  
In the ensuing years, country music has lost much of its edge, and returned to the softer sound that was in vogue¹⁶ before Buck Owens hit with the "Bakersfield Sound." His musical impact has been forgotten by many who simply remember him as a television star. Nevertheless, several generations of musicians, from Gram Parsons in the late 1960s, to Dwight Yoakam in the 1980s were influenced by his music.

For the past 15 years, musicians in Austin, Texas, have been celebrating Buck Owens' birthday with a party at the famed Continental¹⁷ Club. A few years ago, Buck Owens himself made a surprise appearance. At the end of the night, he took the stage, and performed a set of his own hits, including a version of "Love's Gonna Live Here."

1 buck   

n.雄鹿，雄兔；v.马离地跳跃

参考例句：

• The boy bent curiously to the skeleton of the buck.这个男孩好奇地弯下身去看鹿的骸骨。
• The female deer attracts the buck with high-pitched sounds.雌鹿以尖声吸引雄鹿。

2 streak   

n.条理，斑纹，倾向，少许，痕迹；v.加条纹，变成条纹，奔驰，快速移动

参考例句：

• The Indians used to streak their faces with paint.印第安人过去常用颜料在脸上涂条纹。
• Why did you streak the tree?你为什么在树上刻条纹？

3 consecutive   

adj.连续的，联贯的，始终一贯的

参考例句：

• It has rained for four consecutive days.已连续下了四天雨。
• The policy of our Party is consecutive.我党的政策始终如一。

4 maverick   

adj.特立独行的；不遵守传统的；n.持异议者，自行其是者

参考例句：

• He's a maverick.He has his own way of thinking about things.他是个特异独行的人。对事情有自己的看法。
• You're a maverick and you'll try anything.你是个爱自行其是的人，样样事情都要尝试一下。

5 determined   

adj.坚定的；有决心的

参考例句：

• I have determined on going to Tibet after graduation.我已决定毕业后去西藏。
• He determined to view the rooms behind the office.他决定查看一下办公室后面的房间。

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 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。

8 recordings   

n.记录( recording的名词复数 )；录音；录像；唱片

参考例句：

• a boxed set of original recordings 一套盒装原声录音带
• old jazz recordings reissued on CD 以激光唱片重新发行的老爵士乐

9 fiddles   

n.小提琴( fiddle的名词复数 )；欺诈；（需要运用手指功夫的）细巧活动；当第二把手v.伪造( fiddle的第三人称单数 )；篡改；骗取；修理或稍作改动

参考例句：

• He fiddles with his papers on the table. 他抚弄着桌子上那些报纸。 来自辞典例句
• The annual Smithsonian Festival of American Folk Life celebrates hands-hands plucking guitars and playing fiddles. 一年一度的美国民间的“史密斯索尼安节”是赞美人的双手的节日--弹拔吉他的手，演奏小提琴的手。 来自辞典例句

10 tunes   

n.曲调，曲子( tune的名词复数 )v.调音( tune的第三人称单数 )；调整；（给收音机、电视等）调谐；使协调

参考例句：

• a potpourri of tunes 乐曲集锦
• When things get a bit too much, she simply tunes out temporarily. 碰到事情太棘手时，她干脆暂时撒手不管。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 vocals   

（乐曲中的）歌唱部份，声乐部份( vocal的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Also look out for soaring vocals on The Right Man. 另外，也可留意一下《意中人》中的那高亢的唱腔。
• Lazy bass line, lazier drums, lush violins, great piano and incomparable vocals. 懒惰的低音线，较懒惰的鼓，饮小提琴，棒的钢琴和无比的声音。

12 fumed   

愤怒( fume的过去式和过去分词 )； 大怒； 发怒； 冒烟

参考例句：

• He fumed with rage because she did not appear. 因为她没出现，所以他大发雷霆。
• He fumed and fretted and did not know what was the matter. 他烦躁，气恼，不知是怎么回事。

13 Founder   

n.创始者，缔造者

参考例句：

• He was extolled as the founder of their Florentine school.他被称颂为佛罗伦萨画派的鼻祖。
• According to the old tradition,Romulus was the founder of Rome.按照古老的传说，罗穆卢斯是古罗马的建国者。

14 tragic   

adj.悲剧的，悲剧性的，悲惨的

参考例句：

• The effect of the pollution on the beaches is absolutely tragic.污染海滩后果可悲。
• Charles was a man doomed to tragic issues.查理是个注定不得善终的人。

15 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。

16 Vogue   

n.时髦，时尚；adj.流行的

参考例句：

• Flowery carpets became the vogue.花卉地毯变成了时髦货。
• Short hair came back into vogue about ten years ago.大约十年前短发又开始流行起来了。

17 continental   

adj.大陆的，大陆性的，欧洲大陆的

参考例句：

• A continental climate is different from an insular one.大陆性气候不同于岛屿气候。
• The most ancient parts of the continental crust are 4000 million years old.大陆地壳最古老的部分有40亿年历史。