the package contained the mountain tapes. This was how Opel had chosen to mark the day of my birth.
On the tapes were twenty-three songs, all written and sung by me, all played by me (without accompaniment) on an old acoustic1 guitar, the first I'd ever owned. The songs were the most recent things I'd done. I'd taped them about fourteen months earlier, alone in the mountains, sitting down with the guitar and tape recorder and making up lyrics2 as I went along. I had just come off a world tour and my voice was weary and scorched3, no sound nearer to my mind than the twang of baby murders in patriarchal hamlets. In time a visitor came upon the tapes and played them. Word got out, distorted of course, shaped by rumor4 and speculation5. I refused to discuss the tapes with anyone. I declined to release them, to re-record the songs, to accept any offer concerning this material. I didn't understand the nature of my own labor6. The guitar work was recognizable but the voice didn't seem to be mine. It possessed7 an extraordinary childlike blandness8, a bit raw at times in its acknowledgments to pain, but mostly lonesome, homeless and dull, lacking true crudeness as well as any other distinctive9 quality. Beyond this were the lyrics themselves, strange little autistic ramblings. Perhaps because the words had never been put on paper, or even thought about for the briefest moment, these songs conveyed a special desolation, a kind of abnormal naturalness. In the past there had been a mind behind every babble10 and moan I'd ever produced. But the mountain tapes were genuinely infantile. I had no idea whether this was good or bad. I didn't know whether the songs were supposed to be redemptive, sardonic11 or something completely different. Tributes to my own mute following. Cheap plastic tricks. Ironic12 sonnets13 to the nation's crazed statesmen. Main Street parade noises. Commercials for baby food. Beseech-ings and calumets. Sequels to the ballads14 of the dead revolution. Whatever they were, the songs had come oozing15 out, one after another, over a period of two or three sleepless16 days. I had no clear memory of that period. The tapes themselves served as confirmation17 of what had taken place. Every reel was full of repetitions, mistakes and slurred18 words. There were long incoherent vocal19 passages interspersed20 with the sounds of eating, drinking and talking back to the TV. I played the tapes a number of times but their essence continued to elude21 me and so I simply put them away, preferring to forget what had been, after all, just a few days of unremembered effort — a collection of songs whose release would be sure to cause vast confusion. After that, mention of the tapes was made only by close friends or fetishistic rock scholars dressed like Superman. I was younger then and felt an obligation to my audience. I wasn't fully22 aware of the uses to which confusion might be put. Fame is treble and bass23, and only a rare man can command the dial to that fractional point where both tones are simultaneously24 his. Opel had put a murmur25 in my head. I didn't know when she had lifted the tapes from my house in the mountains and at first I thought she was being merely playful in returning them. Conjuring27 up my own past confusions. But of course there was more to it than that. I remembered several things she'd either said herself or instructed Hanes to say.
(1) The gift is a stroke of true bitch genius.
(2)It is to be referred to as the product.
(3) It is not to be opened until Globke starts maneuvering28 for his star's return.
Opel saw the tapes as my way back out. She'd known exactly what I needed. I'd told her my own designs were too evil for a mere26 dealer29 to understand. Now she was daring me to prove it, even giving me the means. Wunder's last lick. It was the chance to remake himself, lean man of mystery, returning with the fabled30 tapes for all to hear, luring31 his crowds to new silence, their fear in baby bottles under their seats. I didn't even have to create new material. That was part of the point of it all.
Watney called from the airport. He was on his way in to see me. England's anti-king and duplicate bishop32 of hallucination. Watney was in the fifth or sixth year of his semi-retirement. He'd done very few concerts and recordings33 in that time, preferring to study, meditate34 and gross millions. His sources of income were obscure and apparently35 varied36. Money came to him in undetected torrents37 from the north of England, from the south of France, from secret places in the low wallowy bogs38 of Europe. When I asked him what he wanted to see me about, he said we'd have to discuss it in person. Man to man. Face to face. Hands across the table, as it were.
I repacked the tapes and put them back in the trunk. Opel's mind seemed present in the room. ("Evil is movement toward void.") I took off my shoes and socks, then sat on the bed and counted my toes. In not too long I'd be ready to learn firsthand what rages were ahead, boys and girls nibbling39 at my loins, season of gray space and unknowable words. Things to be figured out first, bits and pieces, some time to spend putting all together. I went into the bathroom and looked in the mirror, counting eyes, ears, nostrils40 and teeth.
1 acoustic | |
adj.听觉的,声音的;(乐器)原声的 | |
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2 lyrics | |
n.歌词 | |
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3 scorched | |
烧焦,烤焦( scorch的过去式和过去分词 ); 使(植物)枯萎,把…晒枯; 高速行驶; 枯焦 | |
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4 rumor | |
n.谣言,谣传,传说 | |
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5 speculation | |
n.思索,沉思;猜测;投机 | |
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6 labor | |
n.劳动,努力,工作,劳工;分娩;vi.劳动,努力,苦干;vt.详细分析;麻烦 | |
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7 possessed | |
adj.疯狂的;拥有的,占有的 | |
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8 blandness | |
n.温柔,爽快 | |
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9 distinctive | |
adj.特别的,有特色的,与众不同的 | |
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10 babble | |
v.含糊不清地说,胡言乱语地说,儿语 | |
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11 sardonic | |
adj.嘲笑的,冷笑的,讥讽的 | |
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12 ironic | |
adj.讽刺的,有讽刺意味的,出乎意料的 | |
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13 sonnets | |
n.十四行诗( sonnet的名词复数 ) | |
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14 ballads | |
民歌,民谣,特别指叙述故事的歌( ballad的名词复数 ); 讴 | |
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15 oozing | |
v.(浓液等)慢慢地冒出,渗出( ooze的现在分词 );使(液体)缓缓流出;(浓液)渗出,慢慢流出 | |
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16 sleepless | |
adj.不睡眠的,睡不著的,不休息的 | |
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17 confirmation | |
n.证实,确认,批准 | |
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18 slurred | |
含糊地说出( slur的过去式和过去分词 ); 含糊地发…的声; 侮辱; 连唱 | |
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19 vocal | |
adj.直言不讳的;嗓音的;n.[pl.]声乐节目 | |
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20 interspersed | |
adj.[医]散开的;点缀的v.intersperse的过去式和过去分词 | |
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21 elude | |
v.躲避,困惑 | |
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22 fully | |
adv.完全地,全部地,彻底地;充分地 | |
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23 bass | |
n.男低音(歌手);低音乐器;低音大提琴 | |
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24 simultaneously | |
adv.同时发生地,同时进行地 | |
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25 murmur | |
n.低语,低声的怨言;v.低语,低声而言 | |
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26 mere | |
adj.纯粹的;仅仅,只不过 | |
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27 conjuring | |
n.魔术 | |
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28 maneuvering | |
v.移动,用策略( maneuver的现在分词 );操纵 | |
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29 dealer | |
n.商人,贩子 | |
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30 fabled | |
adj.寓言中的,虚构的 | |
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31 luring | |
吸引,引诱(lure的现在分词形式) | |
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32 bishop | |
n.主教,(国际象棋)象 | |
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33 recordings | |
n.记录( recording的名词复数 );录音;录像;唱片 | |
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34 meditate | |
v.想,考虑,(尤指宗教上的)沉思,冥想 | |
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35 apparently | |
adv.显然地;表面上,似乎 | |
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36 varied | |
adj.多样的,多变化的 | |
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37 torrents | |
n.倾注;奔流( torrent的名词复数 );急流;爆发;连续不断 | |
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38 bogs | |
n.沼泽,泥塘( bog的名词复数 );厕所v.(使)陷入泥沼, (使)陷入困境( bog的第三人称单数 );妨碍,阻碍 | |
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39 nibbling | |
v.啃,一点一点地咬(吃)( nibble的现在分词 );啃出(洞),一点一点咬出(洞);慢慢减少;小口咬 | |
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40 nostrils | |
鼻孔( nostril的名词复数 ) | |
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