If I Don't Go Crazy

时间：2014-06-23 08:29:01

（单词翻译:单击）

If I Don't Go Crazy
David Kirby
 
 
              There's a sheriff's car parked near Emerald Mound, 
 and the deputy is looking down at his lap and smiling, 
       which means he's probably doing what everyone else is doing 
 these days, that is, texting, though I think he's knitting a quilt 
              out of the scalps（头皮，战利品） he's taken off travelers like me: 
 
              a killer1 has been working these country roads of late 
 with a blue flashing light, pulling people over and shooting 
       them for fun, like the men who lived in caves on the Natchez 
 Trace in the day and who killed travelers for money and then 
              because they found out how much they liked killing2. 
 
              Historian Robert Coates says these men would have been 
 like others if they'd stayed back east, though once they entered 
       the wilderness3, they opened their own hearts 
 to the dark heart of the continent, breathed in its perfumed 
              appeal, beheld4 the terrible flowering of their madness, 
 
              and revealed by their violence how different they were 
 from other men, and I like this, it makes sense, 
       but I wonder if those men might not have been okay if they'd just 
 had girlfriends. It's one big black and white movie 
              when your baby's not in the picture, that's for sure: 
 
              promoter Dick Waterman wakes one morning to the sound 
 of blues5 man Robert Pete Williams playing his guitar 
       and singing softly, and when Waterman says That's 
 beautiful, you should play that at your shows, Williams 
              says Oh, no, that's not music, I'm just talking to my Hattie 
 
              Mae and telling her I'll be home as soon as I can. 
 What are the blues? A good man feeling bad, say some, while others say 
       it's a man losing his woman or the other way around. 
 If I don't go crazy, says Son House, I'm going to lose my mind. 
              Damned straight: you're working twelve-hour days 
 
              at the Dockery or Stovall Plantation6 and can barely get up most 
 mornings and owe more than you earn, but you can play 
       and sing a little, and there's this gal7（姑娘，加仑） who looks at you from time 
 to time, and her name is Louise McGhee, and you tell her 
              you're playing at the Honeydipper this Saturday and ask 
 
              if she'd like to come hear you, and she smiles and says yes, 
 yes, I would, and on the night of the show, you wait for the other 
       fellows to finish and you get up there and say How's everybody 
 doing tonight and you look out into the crowd, and sure 
              enough, there's Louise, your pearl beyond price, your last 
 
              chance at happiness in a world where a man works like 
 an animal till the day he dies and lands in jail if he drinks 
       too much or looks at the wrong person the wrong way, 
 but she's with another fellow, and it's like she can't keep 
              her hands off him, and you grin and you sing, but inside 
 
              you're thinking, God damn every goddamned thing to hell, 
 and when you finish, there's some coins in your tip jar 
       and even a dollar bill or two, and a couple of fellows pull 
 their pints8 out, and you take a few sips9, long ones, 
              but on your way home, when you know nobody's watching, 
 
              you grab your guitar like a baseball bat and swing it 
 against a tree. How do you write the song that gets the girl? 
       If we knew the answer to that one, we'd all have somebody. 
 Ma Rainey is a vaudeville10（杂耍，轻歌舞剧） singer in 1902 when she hears 
              a young miss in a little town sing what she later describes 
 
              as a "strange and poignant11（尖锐的，心酸的） lament12" about a bad man, 
 so Ma starts doing the song herself, and suddenly America 
       hears the blues. A year later, W. C. Handy is cooling his heels 
 late one night in the Tutwiler, Mississippi train station when, 
              in his words, he dozes13 and wakes to the sounds of a "lean, 
 
              loose-jointed Negro" pressing a knife blade to his guitar 
 strings14 and playing "the weirdest15 music I had ever heard." 
       Mr. Handy doesn't know whether he's dreaming this 
 or not: "Going where the Southern cross the Dog," 
              says the singer, that is, where the Southern Line intersects 
 
              the Yazoo & Mississippi, the crossroad, which is where, 
 finally, you have a choice, because you thought you were 
       going one place in your life and now you see you can go 
 left or right or even back home, if you want, but no, 
              you want to go someplace new, someplace you haven't 
 
              been before, even if it's way the hell out in the country, 
 out there by the cemetery16, the one so old they don't even 
       bury folks in it these days, and the wind's picking up, 
 and a man steps over a fallen headstone, a big man, 
              and he has something in his hands, and you don't know 
 
              if it's a rifle or an axe17, something he could hurt or even kill 
 you with, and you can't see his face, but he holds out this thing 
       he's carrying, and it's a guitar, and he says, "Here, 
 I tuned18 this for you, take it," and you know if you do, you'll be lost, 
              but you'll do anything to get that woman back, 
 
              anything at all, so you rest that guitar on your knee 
 and you run your thumb down the strings, and a thousand birds 
       cry at once, and the smell of lavender rises from 
 the hard ground at your feet, and you think you see a line 
              of people against the sky's last light but you can't tell 
 
              where they're going, and you glance at the trees, and their 
 branches are thick with slave ships and Spanish galleons, 
       and you say "Who the hell are you?" and the man shakes 
 his head and points, and his mouth doesn't move, 
              and a voice you never want to hear again says, "Play."

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点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 killer rpLziK     
n.杀人者，杀人犯，杀手，屠杀者
参考例句：
  • Heart attacks have become Britain's No.1 killer disease.心脏病已成为英国的头号致命疾病。
  • The bulk of the evidence points to him as her killer.大量证据证明是他杀死她的。
2 killing kpBziQ     
n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财
参考例句：
  • Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
  • Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。
3 wilderness SgrwS     
n.杳无人烟的一片陆地、水等，荒漠
参考例句：
  • She drove the herd of cattle through the wilderness.她赶着牛群穿过荒野。
  • Education in the wilderness is not a matter of monetary means.荒凉地区的教育不是钱财问题。
4 beheld beheld     
v.看，注视( behold的过去式和过去分词 )；瞧；看呀；（叙述中用于引出某人意外的出现）哎哟
参考例句：
  • His eyes had never beheld such opulence. 他从未见过这样的财富。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • The soul beheld its features in the mirror of the passing moment. 灵魂在逝去的瞬间的镜子中看到了自己的模样。 来自英汉文学 - 红字
5 blues 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。
6 plantation oOWxz     
n.种植园，大农场
参考例句：
  • His father-in-law is a plantation manager.他岳父是个种植园经营者。
  • The plantation owner has possessed himself of a vast piece of land.这个种植园主把大片土地占为己有。
7 gal 56Zy9     
n.姑娘，少女
参考例句：
  • We decided to go with the gal from Merrill.我们决定和那个从梅里尔来的女孩合作。
  • What's the name of the gal? 这个妞叫什么？
8 pints b9e5a292456657f1f11f1dc350ea8581     
n.品脱( pint的名词复数 )；一品脱啤酒
参考例句：
  • I drew off three pints of beer from the barrel. 我从酒桶里抽出三品脱啤酒。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • Two pints today, please. 今天请来两品脱。 来自《简明英汉词典》
9 sips 17376ee985672e924e683c143c5a5756     
n.小口喝，一小口的量( sip的名词复数 )v.小口喝，呷，抿( sip的第三人称单数 )
参考例句：
  • You must administer them slowly, allowing the child to swallow between sips. 你应慢慢给药，使小儿在吸吮之间有充分的时间吞咽。 来自辞典例句
  • Emission standards applicable to preexisting stationary sources appear in state implementation plans (SIPs). 在《州实施计划》中出现了固定污染的排放标准。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法
10 vaudeville Oizw4     
n.歌舞杂耍表演
参考例句：
  • The standard length of a vaudeville act was 12 minutes.一个杂耍节目的标准长度是12分钟。
  • The mayor talk like a vaudeville comedian in his public address.在公共演讲中，这位市长讲起话来像个歌舞杂耍演员。
11 poignant FB1yu     
adj.令人痛苦的，辛酸的，惨痛的
参考例句：
  • His lyrics are as acerbic and poignant as they ever have been.他的歌词一如既往的犀利辛辣。
  • It is especially poignant that he died on the day before his wedding.他在婚礼前一天去世了，这尤其令人悲恸。
12 lament u91zi     
n.悲叹，悔恨，恸哭；v.哀悼，悔恨，悲叹
参考例句：
  • Her face showed lament.她的脸上露出悲伤的样子。
  • We lament the dead.我们哀悼死者。
13 dozes a30219e2edf37e452167a6be2b4e4318     
n.打盹儿，打瞌睡( doze的名词复数 )v.打盹儿，打瞌睡( doze的第三人称单数 )
参考例句：
  • It'scratches, licks or dozes off. 有搔痒、舐毛、打瞌睡等动作。 来自互联网
14 strings nh0zBe     
n.弦
参考例句：
  • He sat on the bed,idly plucking the strings of his guitar.他坐在床上，随意地拨着吉他的弦。
  • She swept her fingers over the strings of the harp.她用手指划过竖琴的琴弦。
15 weirdest 1420dbd419e940f3a92df683409afc4e     
怪诞的( weird的最高级 )； 神秘而可怕的； 超然的； 古怪的
参考例句：
  • Think of the weirdest, craziest shit you'd like to see chicks do. 想想这最怪异，最疯狂的屁事。你会喜欢看这些鸡巴表演的。
  • It's still the weirdest damn sound I ever heard out of a Jersey boy. 这是我所听过新泽西人最为怪异的音调了。
16 cemetery ur9z7     
n.坟墓，墓地，坟场
参考例句：
  • He was buried in the cemetery.他被葬在公墓。
  • His remains were interred in the cemetery.他的遗体葬在墓地。
17 axe 2oVyI     
n.斧子；v.用斧头砍，削减
参考例句：
  • Be careful with that sharp axe.那把斧子很锋利，你要当心。
  • The edge of this axe has turned.这把斧子卷了刃了。
18 tuned b40b43fd5af2db4fbfeb4e83856e4876     
adj.调谐的，已调谐的v.调音( tune的过去式和过去分词 )；调整；（给收音机、电视等）调谐；使协调
参考例句：
  • The resort is tuned in to the tastes of young and old alike. 这个度假胜地适合各种口味，老少皆宜。
  • The instruments should be tuned up before each performance. 每次演出开始前都应将乐器调好音。 来自《简明英汉词典》

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