VOA常速英语2007-Beatles Soundtrack Tells Story of Romance, Prote

By Alan Silverman
Hollywood
14 October 2007

For many, the music of the Beatles was the soundtrack for the turbulent 1960s. In her new film musical set in that decade, award-winning director Julie Taymor uses almost three dozen of those songs to tell a story of romance, protest and hope. Alan Silverman spoke¹ with the filmmaker for this look at "Across The Universe"

His story begins in Liverpool: a lad named Jude who sets out for America, quitting his job at the shipyard and leaving his girlfriend behind. What Jude doesn't know is that his true love awaits him across the Atlantic: a vivacious² young Yankee named Lucy.

But it is the tumultuous '60s with violence punctuating³ the struggle for civil rights at home while, in a far-off country, young men die on the battlefields of an escalating⁴ war.

Director Julie Taymor chose 33 Beatles songs for "Across The Universe." With all due respect to purists, Taymor knew the iconic music had to be re-interpreted and performed by her cast. "How can you use the Beatles' performances? It is impossible. What are you going to do, have these guys lip-syncing the Beatles? No, that is not this movie. What you have to really respect is that John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison, with a little help from Ringo Starr, were great songwriters. That means their songs can be interpreted by many performers. To limit it to being the Beatles is a mistake. Those are perfect performances, but that doesn't mean those songs can't be re-interpreted like all of Mozart or Sondheim ...you have different singers singers singing great artist's work," she says.

There are some cameos including rock stalwart Joe Cocker's take on "Come Together" and Irish pop star Bono does "I Am The Walrus⁵" as a turned-on, tuned-out drug guru.

But most of the music is by the fresh-faced young people playing the main characters. Evan Rachel Wood as lovestruck young Lucy and English newcomer Jim Sturgess is wistful Jude.

Director Taymor says their youth and energy reflects the more innocent time in which the film is set. "Having these young people means you are going to have fresh faces. They are not jaded⁶ in any way. We also had to do a month and a half of rehearsal⁷ and pre-recording, so they got together for what they called 'Beatles Camp.' The thing is they bonded⁸. They came together as a group from very disparate places and they were what you see in that film. The charisma⁹ and the chemistry is what you see in the movie," she says.

It also may come as a revelation that songs - especially the early Beatles love songs - originally performed by men work really well when sung by women; and Taymor says not a word had to be changed. "Do you think any guy right now would sing 'Hold Me Tight' or 'It won't be long, yeah, yeah, yeah?' The Beatles at that time were channelling 15-year-old girls. That's why the girls were going nuts: because they sang their feelings," she says.

While it is a love story at heart, "Across The Universe" also deals with social unrest and political upheaval¹⁰; and Taymor says other Beatles songs fit those themes well. "I and the writers and all of the kids in the movie were very aware that this is not a nostalgic period piece ...that this is as important and contemporary today. I think that their songs, which were simple and love songs - 'Hold Me Tight' and all of those - going right through their psychedelic and druggy period were fabulously¹¹ moving and entertaining, but they also were social statements," she says.

"Across The Universe" features Joe Anderson as Maxwell (who, yes, has a silver hammer); Dana Fuchs belts out like Janis Joplin as sexy Sadie; and Martin Luther McCoy sings like Marvin Gaye and does Jimi Hendrix guitar riffs as Jo-Jo. Salma Hayek and Eddie Izzard also have cameos; and several of the wide-screen production numbers include director Julie Taymor's signature over-sized puppets.

1 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

2 vivacious   

adj.活泼的，快活的

参考例句：

• She is an artless,vivacious girl.她是一个天真活泼的女孩。
• The picture has a vivacious artistic conception.这幅画气韵生动。

3 punctuating   

v.（在文字中）加标点符号，加标点( punctuate的现在分词 )；不时打断某事物

参考例句：

• Finally, it all came to a halt, with only Leehom's laboured breathing punctuating the silence. 最后，一切静止，只剩力宏吃力的呼吸，打破寂静。 来自互联网
• Li, punctuating the air with her hands, her fingernails decorated with pink rose decals. 一边说着，一边用手在空中一挥，指甲上还画了粉红玫瑰图案。 来自互联网

4 escalating   

v.（使）逐步升级( escalate的现在分词 )；（使）逐步扩大；（使）更高；（使）更大

参考例句：

• The cost of living is escalating. 生活费用在迅速上涨。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The cost of living is escalating in the country. 这个国家的生活费用在上涨。 来自辞典例句

5 walrus   

n.海象

参考例句：

• He is the queer old duck with the knee-length gaiters and walrus mustache.他穿着高及膝盖的皮护腿，留着海象般的八字胡，真是个古怪的老家伙。
• He seemed hardly to notice the big walrus.他几乎没有注意到那只大海象。

6 jaded   

adj.精疲力竭的；厌倦的；（因过饱或过多而）腻烦的；迟钝的

参考例句：

• I felt terribly jaded after working all weekend. 整个周末工作之后我感到疲惫不堪。
• Here is a dish that will revive jaded palates. 这道菜简直可以恢复迟钝的味觉。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 rehearsal   

n.排练，排演；练习

参考例句：

• I want to play you a recording of the rehearsal.我想给你放一下彩排的录像。
• You can sharpen your skills with rehearsal.排练可以让技巧更加纯熟。

8 bonded   

n.有担保的，保税的，粘合的

参考例句：

• The whisky was taken to bonded warehouses at Port Dundee.威士忌酒已送到邓迪港的保稅仓库。
• This adhesive must be applied to both surfaces which are to be bonded together.要粘接的两个面都必须涂上这种黏合剂。

9 charisma   

n.(大众爱戴的)领袖气质，魅力

参考例句：

• He has enormous charisma. He is a giant of a man.他有超凡的个人魅力，是个伟人。
• I don't have the charisma to pull a crowd this size.我没有那么大的魅力，能吸引这么多人。

10 upheaval   

n.胀起，(地壳)的隆起；剧变，动乱

参考例句：

• It was faced with the greatest social upheaval since World War Ⅱ.它面临第二次世界大战以来最大的社会动乱。
• The country has been thrown into an upheaval.这个国家已经陷入动乱之中。

11 fabulously   

难以置信地，惊人地

参考例句：

• The couple are said to be fabulously wealthy. 据说这对夫妇家财万贯。
• I should say this shirt matches your trousers fabulously. 我得说这衬衫同你的裤子非常相配。