光輝歲月

Bruce Springsteen played my guitar. I am not making this up. It was the high point of my musical life. It was even better than the time when， for a few minutes， I was in the same airport as Ray Charles. I am never going to wash my guitar again.(Not that I ever did before.)

I should explain that I belong to a band called the 1)Rock Bottom Remainders. It consists mostly of writers. The original concept was that people who spend all their time writing would enjoy a chance to express their musical talent. The flaw here is that most of us don’t have any musical talent. So we compensate by playing amplified instruments loud enough to affect the weather. Also， we stick to songs that are so well known that even when WE play them， people sometimes recognize them.

我必須得解釋一下，我是一支名叫“搖滾滯銷貨”的樂隊的一員。這支樂隊的成員大多是作家。最初的想法是這些成天寫作的人也能有機會一展各自的音樂才華。唯一的缺憾是我們大多數人根本沒有任何音樂才華可言。于是我們把揚聲樂器演奏得聲可震天來掩蓋這個小小的不足。而且，我們只選取最流行的歌曲，這樣，即使是由我們來演奏，也偶爾有人能認出這首歌來。

So we went back onstage， and I picked up one of the two guitars I’d been using， and just as we were about to start， Stephen King tapped me on the shoulder and said， “We have a special guest.” I turned around， and there was Bruce Springsteen. I still don’t know how he came to be at this convention; I don’t believe he’s a bookseller. All I know is， he was picking up the other guitar. My guitar. “Bruce，” I said to him.“Do you know the guitar part to ‘Gloria’?” This is like asking James Michener if he knows how to write his name.

“I think so，” he said.

So we played “Gloria”， and I say in all modesty that it was the best version of that song ever played in the history of the world， going back thousands of years. I would shout， “G…L…O…R…I-I-I-I-I-A”; and the band， including Bruce Springsteen， would respond “GLORIA !”; and the crowd would scream as only truly receptive booksellers can scream. I could have died happy right then. Anyway， now I’m back in my office， tapping at my computer， being a columnist again. But from time to time my mind drifts back to that night， remembering how it sounded. I haven’t polled the other members of the Remainders， but I think we would definitely let Bruce join the band， if he wrote a book.

于是我們走回舞臺上，我拿起自己常用的兩把吉他中的一把，正準備開始，史蒂芬·金拍了拍我的肩，說道：“來了位特別的客人。”我轉身一看，布魯斯·斯普林斯汀站在那兒。我不知道他怎么會出現在這個大會上，我可不相信他是個書商。我所知的是，他拿起了另外一把吉他——我的吉他。“布魯斯，”我問道：“你知道怎么彈《格洛里亞》的吉他部分嗎？”這簡直就像是在問詹姆斯·米切納會不會寫他自己的名字。

于是我們演奏了《格洛里亞》，我毫不夸張地說，這是這首歌史上最棒的一個版本，就算歷數幾千年以來都是最棒的一次。我大聲吼叫道：“格—洛—里——亞”；而樂隊，包括布魯斯·斯普林斯汀跟著回應：“格洛里亞！”；人群爆發出了只有當書商們都醉倒了才能發出的尖叫。那一刻，我愿意就此含笑死去。不管怎樣，現在我已經回到了我的辦公室，正敲擊著電腦，乖乖做回專欄作家。但我的思緒時不時還會飛回那晚，重溫那晚的美妙音符。我沒問過樂隊其他人的意見，但我覺得如果布魯斯寫本書的話，我們一定會同意讓他加入我們的樂隊?！?br>