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听力材料：
One of Chuck Berry's first releases was "Brown EyedHandsome Man." The last verse 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 1956, less than 10 years after major league baseball began to acceptblack players. The first was Jackie Robinson.
Rob Sheffield at Rolling Stone magazine wrote about baseball songs on his blog and had thisto say: "The guitar speeds up as Chuck Berry heads into the climactic final verse, when thatbrown-eyed handsome man (Willie Mays? Hank Aaron? Jackie Robinson?) wins the game with ahome run. Chuck would've made a lousy sportscaster ('two-three the count'?) but that justadds to the excitement."
On stage, he became known for his wild performances, and his "duck walk" that many musicianscopied. But his songwriting skills -- some call him a rock and roll poet -- and his guitar workreally set him apart.
Early in his career he played mostly blues for black audiences in clubs in St. Louis, Missouri. Butthe most popular music in the area was country. So this musical scientist mixed country andblues and got songs like "Maybellene."
Chuck Berry was born on October 18, 1926, 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 churchwhen 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 17. He headed west with two friends, but they did not getfar. 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 21. But that wouldnot be the last of his legal problems over the years.
Chuck Berry signed his first recording contract in 1955, with Chess Records. One of his earlyhits 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 1957. Many years later, his tradition ofasking to be paid before concerts even earned a part in the lighthearted crime film "Ocean'sThirteen."
BASHER TARR (DON CHEADLE): "Mr. Bank, do you know what Chuck Berry said every nightbefore counting one-two-three-four?"
WILLIE BANK (AL PACINO): "What did he say?"
BASHER TARR: "Pay me my money!"
Filmmaker Taylor Hackford made a documentary called "Hail! Hail! Rock 'n' Roll," named for aChuck Berry song. It centered on the making of a concert to honor the musician on his 60thbirthday in 1986.
''So I take my verses and put them to the same rhythm, and I was on my way. You know,poetry is my blood flow.''
Guitarist Keith Richards from the Rolling Stones organized the concert. Listening to ChuckBerry songs got him interested in music. In Keith Richards' words, "I didn't dream I could makea 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 ChuckBerry.
More than 75 artists and bands have done their own versions of Chuck Berry songs. Many havedone 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 ofhonors in 1986. The Hall of Fame had this to say: "While no individual can be said to haveinvented rock and roll, Chuck Berry comes the closest of any single figure to being the one whoput all the essential pieces together." |
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发表于 2016-7-28 21:08:55