美国国家公共电台 NPR How Prince Worked His Magic On The Bangles' 'Manic Monday'

 

LULU GARCIA-NAVARRO, HOST:

"Originals" is the latest posthumous¹ release from Prince's estate. It's a 15-song compilation² of previously³ unreleased songs Prince wrote and demoed for other artists, including Sheila E's "The Glamorous⁴ Life," Kenny Rogers' "You're My Love" and The Bangles' "Manic Monday." NPR's Samantha Balaban caught up with Bangle Susanna Hoffs, who explained how that collaboration⁵ came about.

SUSANNA HOFFS: Hello. This is Susanna Hoffs, musician, Bangle.

(SOUNDBITE OF PRINCE SONG, "WHEN DOVES CRY")

SAMANATHA BALABAN, BYLINE⁶: The year was 1984. Prince was putting out his sixth studio album, "Purple Rain." And Hoffs was just discovering his music.

HOFFS: My first introduction to Prince's music was actually hearing "When Doves Cry" on the radio.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "WHEN DOVES CRY")

PRINCE: (Singing) Dig if you will a picture. You and I engaged in a kiss.

HOFFS: Soon after I heard it, maybe even within the same week, somebody let me know that Prince had discovered The Bangles. So it was this sort of interesting feeling of kismet.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "WHEN DOVES CRY")

PRINCE: (Singing) This is what it sounds like when doves cry.

BALABAN: The Bangles also had an album out that year, their debut⁷ studio album. One night, they were performing a show in Hollywood.

HOFFS: Suddenly, word gets to us - to us Bangles backstage - that Prince had come to see us.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING⁸)

THE BANGLES: (Singing) When the hero takes a fall, when the hero takes a fall.

BALABAN: But not just see them - to perform their single "Hero Takes A Fall" with them onstage.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

HOFFS: It was truly mind-blowing. I'd never seen anybody play guitar like that. I mean, it was almost like his guitar was just part of his body. There was no disconnect. It wasn't like this thing he was holding and playing. It was - he was somehow channeling from the inside out. And it just came through. And it was really magnificent on so many levels.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

BALABAN: Later, when The Bangles were recording their second studio album "Different Light," they got word that Prince had written a song for the band. And would they come to the studio to pick up a cassette?

HOFFS: I still have it, (laughter) the actual one. We Bangles hovered⁹ around the cassette machine because, back then, it was tape. And we were smitten¹⁰ with the song.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "MANIC MONDAY")

PRINCE: (Singing) Six o'clock already - I was just in the middle of a dream. I was kissing Valentino by a crystal-blue, Italian stream.

HOFFS: I mean, the fact that Prince had written a song about Mondays that was very relatable in so many ways...

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "MANIC MONDAY")

PRINCE: (Singing) Just another manic Monday.

HOFFS: I think he was able to write for women really well. It kind of shows a day in the life in the morning of getting up and preparing yourself to keep your life moving forward but the sense of, like, it's just on the verge¹¹ of falling apart. And you're, like - tape and glue and just trying to get through the moments. And then there's this sort of balancing of the relationship part. And so it really has a lot going on in it, in a three-minute story.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "MANIC MONDAY")

PRINCE: (Singing) If I had an airplane, I still couldn't make it on time 'cause it takes me so long just to figure out what I'm going to wear.

HOFFS: It had a beautiful, simple melody. There was something in the arpeggiated riff that was a bit baroque. The Bangles always gravitated to what we called baroque pop music, things with harpsichords¹² and, you know - since we were children in the '60s when some of that sound was happening on the radio.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "MANIC MONDAY")

PRINCE: (Singing) All of the nights - why did my lover have to pick last night to get down?

HOFFS: I know that there was some idea that we would just have access to the tracks and could just put our voices on it. And that's one thing that we Bangles decided¹³ en masse and were very unified¹⁴ in this that we wanted to kind of make it ours - Bangle-fy it in a sense.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "MANIC MONDAY")

PRINCE: (Singing) Time goes so fast when you're having fun. It's just another manic Monday.

BALABAN: So they built the tracks from the ground up, simplified the bridge, changed some of the chords and released the version that became famous.

(SOUNDBITE OF THE BANGLES' SONG "MANIC MONDAY")

BALABAN: Hoffs still remembers the first time she sang "Manic Monday" in a studio.

HOFFS: Because, obviously - well, maybe it's not obvious, but I felt a great pressure to do a good job on it. There's always a feeling when you sing a song for the first time where you don't know, as the singer, if the dress is going to fit, the shoe is going to fit, the key is going to fit, the words coming out of your mouth are going to make sense. And I can just tell you that the first time I had that out-of-body experience of standing¹⁵ in a darkened studio alone taking a crack at the vocal¹⁶, that red-light-fever moment where I see the red light - we're in record - and I thought, oh, yeah. This feels good.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "MANIC MONDAY")

THE BANGLES: (Singing) It's just another manic Monday - wish it was Sunday 'cause that's my fun day, my I-don't-have-to-run day. It's just another manic Monday.

HOFFS: It was just, you know, kind of magical. And any time that we had the opportunity to play music with Prince - I mean, there was a time when he just invited us to go hang out and play music with him for no one but us, just musicians being musicians doing what they enjoy doing, whether there's an audience or not. And that has stuck with me and has resonated in recent years more than I could have ever, ever known. And actually, I get very emotional thinking about it because, you know, I now have a little group of musicians that I get together with almost every week, and that's what we do. And I didn't even think about that till now, that it doesn't matter if we're just doing it for ourselves, you know? We do it because we love playing. And it does take us somewhere beautiful.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "MANIC MONDAY")

THE BANGLES: (Singing) Another manic Monday.

HOFFS: I feel so deeply grateful for the gift of this song. You know, I wish I had a chance, you know, in the decades after to tell him that, to just say, thank you for the song. It's still fun to sing every time.

BALABAN: That was Susanna Hoffs of The Bangles.

I'm Samantha Balaban, NPR News.

1 posthumous   

adj.遗腹的；父亡后出生的；死后的，身后的

参考例句：

• He received a posthumous award for bravery.他表现勇敢，死后受到了嘉奖。
• The legendary actor received a posthumous achievement award.这位传奇男星在过世后获得终身成就奖的肯定。

2 compilation   

n.编译，编辑

参考例句：

• One of the first steps taken was the compilation of a report.首先采取的步骤之一是写一份报告。
• The compilation of such diagrams,is of lasting value for astronomy.绘制这样的图对天文学有永恒的价值。

3 previously   

adv.以前，先前（地）

参考例句：

• The bicycle tyre blew out at a previously damaged point.自行车胎在以前损坏过的地方又爆开了。
• Let me digress for a moment and explain what had happened previously.让我岔开一会儿，解释原先发生了什么。

4 glamorous   

adj.富有魅力的；美丽动人的；令人向往的

参考例句：

• The south coast is less glamorous but full of clean and attractive hotels.南海岸魅力稍逊，但却有很多干净漂亮的宾馆。
• It is hard work and not a glamorous job as portrayed by the media.这是份苦差，并非像媒体描绘的那般令人向往。

5 collaboration   

n.合作，协作；勾结

参考例句：

• The two companies are working in close collaboration each other.这两家公司密切合作。
• He was shot for collaboration with the enemy.他因通敌而被枪毙了。

6 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

7 debut   

n.首次演出，初次露面

参考例句：

• That same year he made his Broadway debut, playing a suave radio journalist.在那同一年里，他初次在百老汇登台，扮演一个温文而雅的电台记者。
• The actress made her debut in the new comedy.这位演员在那出新喜剧中首次登台演出。

8 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。

9 hovered   

鸟( hover的过去式和过去分词 )； 靠近（某事物）； （人）徘徊； 犹豫

参考例句：

• A hawk hovered over the hill. 一只鹰在小山的上空翱翔。
• A hawk hovered in the blue sky. 一只老鹰在蓝色的天空中翱翔。

10 smitten   

猛打，重击，打击( smite的过去分词 )

参考例句：

• From the moment they met, he was completely smitten by her. 从一见面的那一刻起，他就完全被她迷住了。
• It was easy to see why she was smitten with him. 她很容易看出为何她为他倾倒。

11 verge   

n.边，边缘；v.接近，濒临

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• She was on the verge of bursting into tears.她快要哭出来了。

12 harpsichords   

n.有键竖琴，羽管键琴，大键琴( harpsichord的名词复数 )

参考例句：

13 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。

14 unified   

(unify 的过去式和过去分词)； 统一的； 统一标准的； 一元化的

参考例句：

• The teacher unified the answer of her pupil with hers. 老师核对了学生的答案。
• The First Emperor of Qin unified China in 221 B.C. 秦始皇于公元前221年统一中国。

15 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

16 vocal   

adj.直言不讳的；嗓音的；n.[pl.]声乐节目

参考例句：

• The tongue is a vocal organ.舌头是一个发音器官。
• Public opinion at last became vocal.终于舆论哗然。