美国国家公共电台 NPR When Metal Goes Acoustic: Disturbed On Covering Simon & Garfunkel

 

LOURDES GARCIA-NAVARRO, HOST: 

If you're familiar with the band Disturbed, you're probably used to hearing them sound like this.

(SOUNDBITE OF DISTURBED SONG, "INSIDE THE FIRE")

GARCIA-NAVARRO: But last year, the band softened¹ its sound when they covered Simon and Garfunkel's "The Sound Of Silence." Now Disturbed has been nominated for a Grammy for its version. David Draiman fronts the band, and he told us why they wanted to go in a new direction.

DAVID DRAIMAN: When we originally were going to approach it, I thought that we'd approach covering the song in the manner that we had done most of our songs - make it more upbeat, more aggressive, more stylistically Disturbed. But it was actually our guitar player, Dan, who made the very strong suggestion to not do that but to stick with it being acoustic² and ambient and ethereal. And I'm very, very glad that we followed his intuition.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "THE SOUND OF SILENCE")

DISTURBED: (Singing) Hello, darkness, my old friend. I've come to talk with you again.

DRAIMAN: I hadn't attempted to go to that spot of my vocal³ ability for very many years. I was so overwhelmed with emotion listening to the way my vocals⁴ sounded in that beautiful bed of music. And not having heard my voice in that way for so long, it was really just very, very overwhelming.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "THE SOUND OF SILENCE")

DISTURBED: (Singing) In restless dreams I walked alone, narrow streets of cobblestone.

DRAIMAN: I was trained to be a cantor, which is someone that leads the Jewish congregation in prayer. So I learned classical vocal technique from a very young age. And when you start venturing into the world of rock 'n' roll, it required a little bit more aggression⁵, a little bit more grit⁶. And it took time to be able to master that delivery as well.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "THE SOUND OF SILENCE")

DISTURBED: (Singing) And in the naked light I saw 10,000 people, maybe more.

DRAIMAN: My religious upbringing was always something that was difficult for me to swallow willingly. But the intellectual aspect of it, the academic aspect of it, was very, very appealing to me. Studying to become a rabbi or heading down that path is really all about becoming very, very engrossed⁷ and very adept⁸ at interpretation⁹ of Jewish law, of the Talmud.

And I had to learn to find my own truths. And little by little, as they say in Judaism, I left the path. And just - since then really, I've been very secular¹⁰. I'm not a religious person by any means, but I am intensely spiritual.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "THE SOUND OF SILENCE")

DISTURBED: (Singing) And the sign flashed out its warning in the words that it was forming.

DRAIMAN: If we are blessed with winning the Grammy this time, I would have to dedicate it to the original songwriter himself, to Paul Simon. No one can really take away the sheer, utter brilliance¹¹ of the composition of that song.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "THE SOUND OF SILENCE")

SIMON AND GARFUNKEL: (Singing) And the sign said, the words of the prophets are written on the subway walls.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: David Draiman from the band Disturbed.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "THE SOUNDS OF SILENCE")

SIMON AND GARFUNKEL: (Singing) Whispered in the sounds of silence.

1 softened   

（使）变软( soften的过去式和过去分词 )； 缓解打击； 缓和； 安慰

参考例句：

• His smile softened slightly. 他的微笑稍柔和了些。
• The ice cream softened and began to melt. 冰淇淋开始变软并开始融化。

2 acoustic   

adj.听觉的，声音的；(乐器)原声的

参考例句：

• The hall has a fine acoustic.这个大厅的传音效果很好。
• Animals use a whole rang of acoustic, visual,and chemical signals in their systems of communication.动物利用各种各样的听觉、视觉和化学信号来进行交流。

3 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。

4 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。

5 aggression   

n.进攻，侵略，侵犯，侵害

参考例句：

• So long as we are firmly united, we need fear no aggression.只要我们紧密地团结，就不必惧怕外来侵略。
• Her view is that aggression is part of human nature.她认为攻击性是人类本性的一部份。

6 grit   

n.沙粒，决心，勇气；v.下定决心，咬紧牙关

参考例句：

• The soldiers showed that they had plenty of grit. 士兵们表现得很有勇气。
• I've got some grit in my shoe.我的鞋子里弄进了一些砂子。

7 engrossed   

adj.全神贯注的

参考例句：

• The student is engrossed in his book.这名学生正在专心致志地看书。
• No one had ever been quite so engrossed in an evening paper.没人会对一份晚报如此全神贯注。

8 adept   

adj.老练的，精通的

参考例句：

• When it comes to photography,I'm not an adept.要说照相，我不是内行。
• He was highly adept at avoiding trouble.他十分善于避开麻烦。

9 interpretation   

n.解释，说明，描述；艺术处理

参考例句：

• His statement admits of one interpretation only.他的话只有一种解释。
• Analysis and interpretation is a very personal thing.分析与说明是个很主观的事情。

10 secular   

n.牧师，凡人；adj.世俗的，现世的，不朽的

参考例句：

• We live in an increasingly secular society.我们生活在一个日益非宗教的社会。
• Britain is a plural society in which the secular predominates.英国是个世俗主导的多元社会。

11 brilliance   

n.光辉，辉煌，壮丽，（卓越的）才华，才智

参考例句：

• I was totally amazed by the brilliance of her paintings.她的绘画才能令我惊歎不已。
• The gorgeous costume added to the brilliance of the dance.华丽的服装使舞蹈更加光彩夺目。