2005-2-10
DOUG JOHNSON: Welcome to AMERICAN MOSAIC, in VOA Special English.
I'm Doug Johnson. On our show this week:
Grammy-nominated music from the group called the Killers ...
A question about the upcoming Valentine's Day holiday ...
And a look at a new book by a popular American musician.
Bob Dylan's "Chronicles, Volume One"
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Bob Dylan is one of the America's
greatest songwriters. Now he has written a book about his life that
critics have praised. Shep O'Neal tells us about it.
SHEP O'NEAL: Bob Dylan's book, "Chronicles: Volume One," was
published in October. It has been among the best-selling books in
America. The New York Times newspaper named it one of the five best
non-fiction, or true life, books of two thousand four. And recently,
the National Book Critics Circle named it one of the five finalists
for best biography or autobiography of last year.
Bob Dylan grew up in the small town of Hibbing, Minnesota. As a
young man, in nineteen sixty-one, he moved to New York City with his
guitar. He wanted to become a folk singer and musician. In his book,
he writes about his experiences playing and singing other people's
songs in clubs in the Greenwich Village area. He writes about the
many artists, writers and musicians who influenced him.
His main influence was the great folk singer Woody Guthrie.
Guthrie was living in a hospital in New Jersey because he had a
serious disease. Dylan visited him often and played Guthrie's songs
to him.Later, Dylan became extremely famous for the songs he wrote.
The media called him the "voice of a generation." But he rejected
this fame. He writes: "All I'd ever done was sing songs that were
dead straight and expressed powerful new realities. I had very
little in common with, and knew even less about, a generation that I
was supposed to be the voice of."
Bob Dylan writes that his wife and five children were the most
important part of his life. He describes trying to find privacy for
his family at his home in Woodstock, a town in New York State. But
people from all over the country came to visit him and destroyed his
peace.
Dylan also writes about spending time in New Orleans, Louisiana,
while recording the album "Oh Mercy" in nineteen eighty-nine. He
writes about the process of recording the album. And he writes about
the interesting people he met in Louisiana. One was a store owner
named Sun Pie, who gave Dylan a sign for his car that says "World's
Greatest Grandpa."
Critics have compared Bob Dylan's book "Chronicles" to one of his
songs. They say it brings to life images, faces and places. They say
the book forms layers of meaning through rich details. "A song is
like a dream," Dylan writes, "and you try to make it come true."
Valentine's Day
DOUG JOHNSON: Our VOA listener question this week comes from
Iran. Nima Foroud asks about the holiday called Valentine's Day.
Americans celebrate Valentine's Day each year on February
fourteenth. It is a holiday for lovers.
Valentine's Day is a good day for a man to ask his girlfriend to
marry him. It is also a good day for couples to get married. Other
couples might go out for a special meal at a nice restaurant.
The holiday is named for Saint Valentine. He was an early
Christian churchman who reportedly helped young lovers. Valentine
was executed for his Christian beliefs on February fourteenth, more
than one thousand seven hundred years ago. But the day that has his
name is even older than that.
The ancient Romans celebrated a holiday for lovers more than two
thousand years ago. As part of the celebration, each girl wrote her
name on a piece of paper and put it in a large container. Each boy
reached into the container and pulled out the name of a girl. That
girl became his girlfriend for a year.
Lovers still put their names on pieces of paper on Valentine's
Day. They send each other cards that express their love. Sometimes
they send other gifts, too, like jewelry… or flowers… or candy…or
all three!
Americans usually send cards through the mail system or in a
computer message. But there is another way many Americans send
messages of love on Valentine's Day. They pay to have them printed
in a newspaper.
Some of these messages are simple and short: "Susan, I love you
very much. From John." Others say more, like this example: "David,
roses are red, violets are blue, I hope you love me as much as I
love you. Forever, Mary."
There is only one problem in sending a Valentine's Day message
this way. It will only reach the one you love if he or she reads the
newspaper that day!
The Killers
Have you heard of the American
rock group called the Killers? The group was popular in Britain
before becoming well known in the United States. Now the group has
been nominated for three Grammy awards. Faith Lapidus has more.
FAITH LAPIDUS: The four members of the Killers are Brandon
Flowers, David Keuning, Mark Stoermer and Ronnie Vanucci. They met a
few years ago in their hometown, Las Vegas, Nevada. The first song
that Flowers and Keuning wrote together is called "Mister
Brightside." Keuning says it is still the only song the group plays
every time it performs. Let's listen:
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"Mister Brightside" is one of eleven songs on the Killers' first
album, "Hot Fuss." The album has been nominated for a Grammy for
Best Rock Album. Another popular song from the album is about a girl
who is killed by her boyfriend. It is called "Jenny Was a Friend of
Mine."
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One song on "Hot Fuss" is nominated for two Grammys -- Best Rock
Performance by a Duo or Group, and Best Rock Song. It was also the
first hit single from the album. We leave you now with the Killers
singing that song, "Somebody Told Me."
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DOUG JOHNSON: I'm Doug Johnson. I hope you enjoyed our program
this week.
This show was written by Shelley Gollust and Nancy.
Paul Thompson was the producer. Our engineer was Efeem Drucker.
Join us again next week for AMERICAN MOSAIC, VOA's radio magazine
in Special English.