Thank you. Thank you for that introduction. First, I should say a few words about who I am and what on earth I’m doing up here.
My name is Bono, and I am a rock star. I tell you this not as a boast1 but more as a kind of confession2. In my view the only thing worse than a rock star is a rock star with a conscience, a celebrity with a cause. But worse yet is a singer with a conscience. I’m a singer. You know what a singer is. A singer is someone with a hole in his heart almost as big as the size of his ego3. When you need 20,000 people screaming your name in order to feel good about your day, you know you’re a singer.
I’m a singer. I’m a songwriter. I’m also a father. I talk too much when I’m drunk and sometimes even when I am not. But I must tell you that I owe more than my spoiled lifestyle to rock music—I owe my worldview. Music was like an alarm clock for me as a teenager and still keeps me awake from falling asleep in the comforts of my freedom. Rock music to me is rebel music. But rebelling against what?
In the 50"s it was usual mores4 and double standards. In the 60"s it was racial and social inequality. What are we rebelling against now? If I am honest, I’m rebelling against my own indifference. I am rebelling against the idea that the world is the way the world is and there’s not a damned thing I can do about it. So I’m trying to do a thing. But fighting my indifference is my own problem.
What’s your problem? What’s the hole in your heart? I need the noise, the applause. You needed the grades.
Why do you have to listen to me? Your potential. The potential of a given situation. Is missing the moment unacceptable to you? Is wasting inspiration5 a crime to you? It is for the musician. If this is where we find our lives rhyme6, if this is our common ground, well, then, I can be inspired as well as humbled to be on this great campus because that’s where I come from—music. But I’ve seen the other side of music—the business. I’ve seen success as a drug of choice7. I’ve seen great minds and prolific8 imaginations disappear because they think so highly of themselves they forget everything around them. I’m one of them. I’ve seen the misery of having it all your own way, the loneliness of sitting at a table where everybody works for you.
You know what I’m talking about. But you’ve got to keep asking yourself, “Why are you doing this?” You’ve gotta keep checking your motives.
Success for my group, U2, was easier than, say, getting everyone to open their eyes and be conscientious9 about what’s happening around them. That’s difficult. And, of course, failure is not such a bad thing. It’s not a word that many of you know. I’m sure it’s what you fear the most, actually. But from an artist’s point of view, failure is going to get your best material.
谢谢。谢谢你的介绍。首先，我要先说几句，说说我是谁，我在台上究竟要干什么。
我叫保罗，一个摇滚明星。我告诉大家这些不是在炫耀，更多的是一种自白。在我看来，惟一比做个摇滚明星更糟糕的就是：做个有良知的摇滚明星，做个有目标的名人；但还要糟糕的就是做个有良心的歌手。我是一个歌手。你们知道歌手什么样，歌手就是心里的空洞和自尊心一样大的人。当你需要两万人尖叫着你的名字才能觉得好受的话，你就知道你是名歌手了。
我是一个歌手，一位词作者，也是一位父亲。我喝醉的时候话很多，甚至有时没醉的时候也是这样。但是我必须告诉你们：摇滚乐带给我的不仅仅是那种糜乱的生活方式——还有我的世界观。自十几岁的时候，音乐对我来说就像个警钟一样，至今仍让我在自由的安逸中保持清醒而不至浑浑噩噩。摇滚乐对我来说是叛逆的音乐，但反叛的是什么呢？
50年代反叛的是传统道德观和双重标准，60年代反叛的是种族歧视和社会不平等，现在我们反叛的是什么？如果我说实话，我反叛的是我自己的冷漠。我反叛的是一种观念，那种认为世界就是现在这样而我们却根本无能为力的观念。所以我要做点儿事。但是战胜心中的冷漠是我自己的问题。
你们的问题是什么？你们内心的空洞是什么？我需要声音，我需要掌声；而你们，你们需要成绩。
你们为什么要听我演讲？那是因为你们的潜能，在特定情形下的潜能。对你们来说，错过时机是不可接受的吗？浪费灵感是罪恶吗？对音乐人来说，是的。如果这是我们找到生命韵律的地方，如果这是我们共通之处，那么，现在站在这伟大的校园里，我既感到思如泉涌，也感到谦卑异常，因为音乐是我的源头。可我也看到了音乐的另一面——商业。我看到成功成了首选；我也看到伟大的思想和丰富的想象消失殆尽，因为他们自恃过高而忘记了身边的一切。我就是其中之一。自行其是的悲哀，端坐桌边众人服侍的孤独，都尽收眼前。
你们知道我说的是什么。不过你们也必须要问自己：“你为什么要这么做？”你们要时时审视自己的动机。
让每个人都睁开双眼，让大家都留意身边发生的事情——比起这些，我的乐队，U2的成功要容易得多。能做到很难。当然，失败也不是什么坏事。“失败”意味着什么，你们中的很多人都不明白。但我肯定，失败实际上是你们最害怕的。然而从一个艺术家的角度看，失败会带给你最好的素材。
1. boast n. 自夸；吹捧
2. confession n. 自白
3. ego n. 自尊心；自负
4. mores n. 道德观
5. inspiration n. 灵感
6. rhyme [raim] n. 韵律
7. drug of choice 首选
8. prolific adj. 丰富的
9. conscientious adj. 尽责的