VOA标准英语2013--摇滚乐从何而来?

 

Where Did Rock 'n' Roll Come From? 摇滚乐从何而来?

For nearly 50 years, rock 'n' roll was the most popular music in America and in many other parts of the world. There are some common stories about where rock 'n' roll came from, but a new book argues that many of those stories are myths.

近50年,摇滚乐在美国和世界上很多其它地区是最流行的音乐。有一些共同的故事关于摇滚乐的来历,但一本新书认为,许多故事都是虚构的。

According to Larry Birnbaum, author of the new book "Before Elvis" everyone thinks they know the story of rock 'n’ roll.

“If you ask any -- the average person - where rock 'n' roll came from, they'll say 'It came from the Blues¹.'  They think it came from the Delta² Blues like Robert Johnson or Muddy Waters -- which it did not,” he said.

On songs like "Little Red Rooster," Birnbaum points out that this version of the blues didn’t become part of rock music until the 1960s, when the Rolling Stones embraced Delta Blues.   And what about the other origin story for rock - that it came from rhythm and blues, or R&B?

Birnbaum says that doesn’t tell the whole story either.

“When they do these histories of rock 'n' roll, they'll say that rock 'n’ roll came from R&B,” he said.

While that’s true, he says the problem is: Historians who say that aren’t looking far enough back.

“They don't question where R&B came from," he said. "It's like it fell from the sky or something.”

Every artist builds on the previous generation’s work. Birnbaum's book looks at that phenomenon when it comes to rock 'n' roll - exploring not only the music that came before rock 'n' roll, but the music that came before that.  There are many examples and some of them go way back.

"You've got Louis Jordon -- he did ‘Ain't That Just Like a Woman’ and that has the guitar intro that Chuck Berry lifted for ‘Johnny B. Goode,’” he said.

There’s another important element of early rock, an element that goes back even further.  

The song “Weary Blues” by Artie Mathews came out almost a century ago, during World War I.  Its most important element is the Boogie-Woogie baseline.

“The Boogie-Woogie baseline is used in a lot of the early rock songs," Birnbaum said. "There are several Boogie baselines that are typical of the Boogie-Woogie and the most common one is [sings it] and you hear that in a lot of rock 'n' roll songs.”

Take that Boogie Beat, combine it with one more ingredient - and that, Birnbaum says, is the origin of rock 'n' roll.  

“A combination of a back beat and a Boogie Woogie baseline and when you combine those two, you get a rock 'n' roll feel,” he said.

One example comes with Harry³ James and his orchestra in 1939, playing a song with a perfectly⁴ descriptive title: “Back Beat Boogie.”  

“It's unusual to use the back beat that early and that prominently, but there it is!  There it was," Birnbaum said.

It may seem like a quantum leap from the suave⁵ orchestrations of the Big Band Era to the rowdy sounds of rock 'n' roll, but it was really just a hop⁶, skip and jump. 

1 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。

2 delta   

n.（流的）角洲

参考例句：

• He has been to the delta of the Nile.他曾去过尼罗河三角洲。
• The Nile divides at its mouth and forms a delta.尼罗河在河口分岔，形成了一个三角洲。

3 harry   

vt.掠夺，蹂躏，使苦恼

参考例句：

• Today,people feel more hurried and harried.今天，人们感到更加忙碌和苦恼。
• Obama harried business by Healthcare Reform plan.奥巴马用医改掠夺了商界。

4 perfectly   

adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
• Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。

5 suave   

adj.温和的；柔和的；文雅的

参考例句：

• He is a suave,cool and cultured man.他是个世故、冷静、有教养的人。
• I had difficulty answering his suave questions.我难以回答他的一些彬彬有礼的提问。

6 hop   

n.单脚跳，跳跃；vi.单脚跳，跳跃；着手做某事；vt.跳跃，跃过

参考例句：

• The children had a competition to see who could hop the fastest.孩子们举行比赛，看谁单足跳跃最快。
• How long can you hop on your right foot?你用右脚能跳多远？