Interview with “Nighthawk” Cummings

1

I was doin’ a gig at Shorty’s, up in Seattle where I was livin’ at the time, and I needed a good black-and-white?

glossy

of myself for?

publicity

.

glossy /?ɡlɑ?si/ n.?用亮光紙印刷的雜志

publicity /p?b?l?s?ti/ n.?宣傳

2

The bass player told me there was a guy livin’ out on one of the islands who did some good work. He didn’t have a phone, so I sent him a?

postcard

.

postcard /'post'kɑrd/ n.?明信片

3

He?

came by

, a real strange-lookin’ old dude in jeans and boots and orange?

suspenders

, takes out these old?

beat-up

cameras that didn’t even look like they’d work, and I thought, Uh-oh.

came by vt.?短暫拜訪

suspender /s?'sp?nd?/ n.?吊褲帶

beat-up /?bit??p/ adj.?破舊的

4

He put me up against a light-colored wall with my?

horn

?and told me to play and keep on playing. So I played.

horn /h??rn/ n.?喇叭

5

For the first three minutes or so, the guy just stood there and looked at me hard, real hard, with the coolest blue eyes you’ve ever seen.

6

After a little while, he starts takin’ pictures. Then he asks if I’ll play “Autumn Leaves.” And I do that.

7

I play the tune for maybe ten minutes?

straight

?while he keeps?

banging away

?with his cameras, takin’ one shot after another. Then he says, “Fine, I’ve got it. I’ll have them for you tomorrow.”

straight /stret/ adv.?連續(xù)地

bang away?砰砰地不住射擊

8

Next day he brings them by, and I’m?

knocked over

. I’ve had a lot of pictures taken of me, but these were the best,?

by far

. He?

charged

?me fifty dollars, which seemed pretty cheap to me.

knock over?使吃驚

by far?到目前為止

charge /t?ɑ?rd?/ vt.?對(duì)…索費(fèi)

9

He thanks me, leaves, and on his way out asks where I’m playin’. So I tell him, “Shorty’s.”

10

A few nights later, I look out at the audience and see him sittin’ at a table off in the corner, listenin’ real?

hard

.

hard /hɑ?rd/ adj.?認(rèn)真的

11

Well, he started comin’ in once a week, always on a Tuesday, always drank beer, but not much of it.

12

I sometimes went over on breaks and talked with him for a few minutes. He was quiet, didn’t say a lot, but real pleasant, always asked politely if I’d mind playin’ “Autumn Leaves.”

13

After a while we got to know each other a little. I used to like to go down to the harbor and watch the water and ships; turns out, so did he.

14

So we?

got to the point

?we’d sit on a bench for whole afternoons and talk. Just a couple of old guys?

winding it down

, starting to feel a little?

irrelevant

, a little obsolete.

got to the point?直接了當(dāng)?shù)卣f

wind down?放松一下

irrelevant /??rel?v?nt/ adj.?不相關(guān)的

15

Used to bring his dog along. Nice dog. Called him Highway.

16

He understood magic. Jazz musicians understand it, too. That’s probably why we?

got along

.

get along?相處融洽

17

You’re playing some tune you’ve played a thousand times before, and suddenly there’s a whole new set of ideas coming straight out of your horn without ever going through your?

conscious

?mind.

conscious /?kɑ?n??s/ adj.?意識(shí)到的

18

He said photography and life?

in general

?were a lot like that. Then he added, “So is making love to a woman you love.”

in general?通常

19

He was workin’ on somethin’ where he was tryin’ to convert music into visual images. He said to me,

20

“John, you know that?

riff

?you almost always play in the fourth?

measure

?of ‘

Sophisticated

?Lady’? Well, I think I got that on film the other morning.

riff /r?f/ n.?即興重復(fù)段

measure /?me??r/ n. <美>小節(jié)

sophisticated /s??f?st?ke?t?d/ adj.?老于世故的

21

The light came across the water just right and a blue?

heron

?kind of?

looped

?through my viewfinder all at the same time. I could actually see your?

riff

?while I was hearing it and hit the shutter.”

heron /'h?r?n/ n.?鷺

loop /lu?p/ v.?成環(huán)形運(yùn)動(dòng)

riff /r?f/ n.?即興重復(fù)段

22

He spent all his time on this music-into-images thing. Was?

obsessed

?by it. Don’t know how he made a living.

obsess /?b?ses/ v.?使癡迷

23

He never said much about his own life. I knew he’d traveled a lot doing photography, but not much more until one day I asked him about the little silver thing he had on a chain around his neck.

24

Up close, I could see the name Francesca on it. So I asked him, “Anything special about that?”

25

He didn’t say anything for a while, just stared out at the water. Then he said, “How much time do you have?” Well, it was a Monday, my night off, so I told him I had as much as it took.

26

He started talkin’. It was like a?

faucet

?got turned on. Talked all afternoon and most of the night. I had the feelin’ he’d kept this all inside of him for a long time.

faucet /?f?s?t/ n.?旋塞

27

Never mentioned the woman’s last name, never said where it all took place. But, man, this Robert Kincaid was a poet when he talked about her. She must’ve really been something, one incredible lady.

28

Started quotin’ from a piece he’d written for her — something about Dimension Z, as I recall. I remember thinking it sounded like one of Ornette Coleman’s?

free-form

?

improvisations

.

free-form /'fri:f?:m/ adj.?自由形態(tài)的

improvisation /??mpr?va?'ze??n/ n.?即興創(chuàng)作

29

And, man, he cried while he talked. He cried big tears, the kind it takes an old man to cry, the kind it takes a saxophone to play. Afterward, I understood why he always?

requested

?“Autumn Leaves.”

request /r??kwest/ vt.?請(qǐng)求

30

And, man, I started to love this guy. Anyone who can feel that way about a woman is worth lovin’ himself.

31

So I got to thinkin’ about it, about the power of this thing he and the woman had. About what he called the “old ways.”

32

And I said to myself, “I’ve got to play that power, that love affair, make those old ways come out of my horn.” There was somethin’ so damn?

lyrical

?about it.

lyrical /'l?r?kl/ adj.?抒情般的

33

So I wrote this tune — took me three months. I wanted to keep it simple,?

elegant

.

elegant /?el?ɡ?nt/ adj.?雅致的

34

Complex things are easy to do. Simplicity’s the real challenge. I worked on it every day until I began to get it right.

35

Then I worked on it some more and wrote out some?

lead sheets

?for the piano and bass. Finally, one night I played it.

lead sheet?主奏譜表

36

He was out there in the audience; Tuesday night, as usual. Anyway, it’s a?

slow

?night, maybe twenty people in the place, nobody payin’ much attention to the group.

slow /slo/ adj. (生意)清淡的

37

He’s sittin’ there, quietly, listenin’ hard like he always did, and I say over the microphone, “I’m gonna play a tune I wrote for a friend of mine. It’s called ‘Francesca.’ ”

38

I watched him when I said it. He’s starin’ at his bottle of beer,

39

but when I said “Francesca,” he slowly looked up at me, brushed back his long gray hair with both hands, lit a Camel, and those blue eyes came right at me.

40

I made that horn sound like it never had before; I made it cry for all the miles and years that separated them.

41

There was a little?

melodic

?figure in the first measure that sort of?

pronounced

?her name — “Fran… ces… ca.”

melodic /m?'lɑd?k/ adj.?有旋律的

pronounce /pr??na?ns/ vt. & vi.?發(fā)音

42

When I finished, he stood real straight by his table, smiled and nodded, paid his bill, and left. After that I always played it when he came by.

43

He framed a photograph of an old covered bridge and gave it to me for writin’ the song. It’s hangin’ right over there. Never told me where he took it, but it says “Roseman Bridge” right below his?

signature

.

signature /?s?ɡn?t??r/ n.?簽名

44

One Tuesday night, seven, maybe eight years ago, he doesn’t show. He’s not there the next week, either. I think maybe he’s sick or somethin’.

45

I start to worry, go down to the harbor, ask around. Nobody knows nothin’ about him. Finally, I take a boat over to the island where he lived. It was an old?

cabin

?—?

shack

, really — down by the water.

cabin /?k?b?n/ n.?小屋

shack /??k/ n.?簡(jiǎn)陋的小屋

46

While I’m pokin’ around, a neighbor comes over and asks what I’m doin’. So I tell him. Neighbor says he died about ten days ago. Man, I hurt when I heard that. Still do.

47

I liked that guy a lot. There was somethin’ about that?

cat

, somethin’. I had the feelin’ there were things he knew that the rest of us don’t.

cat /k?t/ n. <俚>家伙

48

I asked this neighbor about the dog. He doesn’t know. Said he didn’t know Kincaid, either.

49

So I call the?

pound

, and sure enough they’ve got old Highway down there.

pound /pa?nd/ n.?（流浪貓狗的）收留所

50

I go down and get him out and gave him to my nephew. The last I saw of him, he and the kid were having a?

love affair

. I felt good about that.

love affair n.?強(qiáng)烈愛好

51

Anyway, that’s about it.

52

Not long after I found out what happened to Kincaid, my left arm started going?

numb

?when I play for more than twenty minutes. Something to do with a?

vertebra

?problem. So I don’t work anymore.

numb /n?m/ adj.?失去感覺的

vertebra /'v?t?br?/ n. <解>脊椎

53

But, man, I’m?

haunted

?by that story he told me about him and the woman. So, every Tuesday night I get out my horn, and I play that tune I wrote for him. I play it here, all by myself.

haunt /h??nt/ v.?縈繞在……心頭

54

And for some reason I always look at that picture he gave me while I play it. Somethin’ about it, don’t know what it is, but I can’t take my eyes off that picture when I play the tune.

55

I just stand here, about twilight, makin’ that ol’ horn?

weep

, and I play that tune for a man named Robert Kincaid and a woman he called Francesca.

weep /wi?p/ vi.?哭泣

56