美国国家公共电台 NPR John Geils, Guitarist Of The J. Geils Band, Dies At 71

 

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

And we are remembering a musician today whose band gave us these wise words.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "LOVE STINKS¹")

J. GEILS BAND: (Singing) Love stinks. Love stinks, yeah, yeah.

GREENE: Yeah, that's The J. Geils Band. And their leader-guitarist John Warren Geils, well better known as J., died yesterday at the age of 71. This group was strictly² a blues³ band when they got things started in the mid-'60s, but they would soon take on a rock 'n' roll swagger.

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

Yeah, they got this huge, massive regional fan base around Boston, slowly picking up a national following through the '70s. And by the middle of the decade, The J. Geils Band was opening for groups like The Rolling Stones and Rod Stewart.

GREENE: Yeah, and their lead singer, Peter Wolf, really was stealing the show. He would twirl the microphone stand like it was a baton⁴, riffing between songs, I mean, like a fiery⁵ preacher. But still, the heart of the band really came from J. Geils. His guitar playing was the calm - I think you could say - amid the chaos⁶ of his more flamboyant⁷ bandmates. He described his style to station WGBH in Boston in 2013.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

JOHN GEILS: I don't care if I ever took another solo. You know, everybody's into the Guitar Hero, oh. I would prefer to just do this (playing guitar).

MARTIN: At the beginning of the 1980s, The J. Geils Band combined those guitar chops with some new wave panache⁸. And they scored huge hits doing so. The song "Centerfold" topped the charts. This one, "Freeze Frame" got to number four.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "FREEZE FRAME")

J. GEILS BAND: (Singing) Freeze frame. Freeze Frame.

GREENE: But I mean, what band finds smashing success without some fighting within the group? Peter Wolf left to start his own career, and the band called it quits in 1985. J. Geils recorded sparingly after that. He spent most of his time restoring sports cars.

MARTIN: Geils lived in the town of Groton, Mass., for more than 30 years. After a constant rock star life on the road, he relished⁹ a more quiet life. He told The Boston Globe in 2004, quote, "everyone in town knows me. Nobody bugs¹⁰ me. I'm just a regular guy." J. Geils, rock star turned regular guy, died yesterday at the age of 71.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "CENTERFOLD")

J. GEILS BAND: (Singing) My blood runs cold. My memory has just been sold. My angel is the centerfold. Angel is the centerfold. My blood runs cold. My memory has just been sold. Angel is the centerfold.

1 stinks   

v.散发出恶臭( stink的第三人称单数 )；发臭味；名声臭；糟透

参考例句：

• The whole scheme stinks to high heaven—don't get involved in it. 整件事十分卑鄙龌龊——可别陷了进去。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The soup stinks of garlic. 这汤有大蒜气味。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

2 strictly   

adv.严厉地，严格地；严密地

参考例句：

• His doctor is dieting him strictly.他的医生严格规定他的饮食。
• The guests were seated strictly in order of precedence.客人严格按照地位高低就座。

3 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。

4 baton   

n.乐队用指挥杖

参考例句：

• With the baton the conductor was beating time.乐队指挥用指挥棒打拍子。
• The conductor waved his baton,and the band started up.指挥挥动指挥棒，乐队开始演奏起来。

5 fiery   

adj.燃烧着的，火红的；暴躁的；激烈的

参考例句：

• She has fiery red hair.她有一头火红的头发。
• His fiery speech agitated the crowd.他热情洋溢的讲话激动了群众。

6 chaos   

n.混乱，无秩序

参考例句：

• After the failure of electricity supply the city was in chaos.停电后，城市一片混乱。
• The typhoon left chaos behind it.台风后一片混乱。

7 flamboyant   

adj.火焰般的，华丽的，炫耀的

参考例句：

• His clothes were rather flamboyant for such a serious occasion.他的衣着在这种严肃场合太浮夸了。
• The King's flamboyant lifestyle is well known.国王的奢华生活方式是人尽皆知的。

8 panache   

n.羽饰；假威风，炫耀

参考例句：

• She dresses with great panache.她穿著十分浮华。
• Her panache at dealing with the world's media is quite astonishing.她应付世界媒体的派头非常令人吃惊。

9 relished   

v.欣赏( relish的过去式和过去分词 )；从…获得乐趣；渴望

参考例句：

• The chaplain relished the privacy and isolation of his verdant surroundings. 牧师十分欣赏他那苍翠的环境所具有的幽雅恬静，与世隔绝的气氛。 来自辞典例句
• Dalleson relished the first portion of the work before him. 达尔生对眼前这工作的前半部分满有兴趣。 来自辞典例句

10 bugs   

adj.疯狂的，发疯的n.窃听器( bug的名词复数 )；病菌；虫子；[计算机]（制作软件程序所产生的意料不到的）错误

参考例句：

• All programs have bugs and need endless refinement. 所有的程序都有漏洞，都需要不断改进。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The sacks of rice were swarming with bugs. 一袋袋的米里长满了虫子。 来自《简明英汉词典》