Writers' Apprentices: SLASH's Book and My Translation to Portuguese

The autobiography written by Slash, Saul Hudson, born in England in 1965, is a real trip throughout the music world. Slash tells us about his musical preferences since he was a kid and traces an interesting time line since, mainly, the 1970s till present day. This alone, for those who enjoy music (almost everyone, I guess), would turn it into a “must-have” book. In Guns N’ Roses golden days, Slash was (and always will be, of course) an extremely talented guitarist, indeed. But, to me, as a rock fan, at that time he was still someone hidden behind a mountain of hair and a top hat. The curious thing is that this book has been given to another translator who wasn't able to do it because of the deadline, and I ended up having the privilege of translating it.

Of course, as most fans, I've never really known Slash, nor Saul Hudson, as a person. I only know the things I've read about him, and I love his irresistible rock music and riffs and those incredible songs (Though I was lucky to meet him in a show, as in the picture below.) But it was only after I translated Slash’s book that I came to admire him as a person as well. As I use to say, to translate a book, you have to enter a bit into the author’s mind, to understand his/her ideas to be able to transmit them in the most precise way, while you read the book hundreds of times in the process. But always, as a translator, you have to transmit all this in a detached way, and so, this translation of the book to Portuguese is impartial as it must be.

As a reader, though, I think Slash revealed himself a generous, gentle, sensible, determined person. Slash talks about his childhood, his friendships, the mischievousness of the youth, of school times, and his fascination for snakes and exotic animals in general. It’s amazing the candidness Slash uses to give us his account, so perfectly transmitted by Anthony Bozza’s style as he wrote the book. As Slash talks with all his heart, we’ve got the impression, throughout the book, that we're in a kind of chat with our idol as readers. (If you want to know it all, his book is really great to read.)

Another admirable aspect is Slash’s innate talent for music and to play guitar. Without many resources, he learned to play practically by himself, starting using his grandmother’s famous flamenco guitar and reading dozens and dozens of sheet music and guitar tabs, while playing together with his favorite rock bands’ albums. His efforts ended up enabling him to achieve great success in his musical projects. (I went to his shows in São Paulo in 2011 and in 2012 and was amazed to see the energy the man has to play his guitar. We get breathless just looking at him as fans!)

Naturally, in his book, Slash tells us about his trajectory in Guns N’ Roses, the way the band started, how he met the other members, about ups and downs, the huge success, what he felt becoming famous, the tours, the opening shows to his own idols, like Aerosmith and Mötley Crüe. Like Rome, there was the inevitable decline of the band, and it was a pity because they were perfect together, with an incredible chemistry, as all gunners would agree. And it’s not a report about choosing sides _ in all stories everybody has his/her own version of the facts, his/her points of view. Anyway, I guess certain aspects are all water under the bridge now, and concerning the parts involved. If I had to use a single word to describe the book itself as a reader I would say it’s about “endurance”.

And my translation, naturally, was totally impartial as translations must be, transmitting all the contents as they are in the original book, though I’m also giving my own opinions as a reader in this article. The translation itself to Portuguese was long and hard with lots of slangs, technical details about music, playing and recording, references to countless people, places, etc. etc., and it demanded lots of researching. But it was very pleasurable indeed. It’s my favorite among all the translations I’ve done. Because when one translates a book, the result is much better when he/she also enjoys it as a reader first. And I’ve been lucky enough to always translate things I enjoy.

In the book, there is the somber and dramatic side, the deep darkness to which addiction unfortunately drags human beings sometimes. As a reader, I think this part about addiction/drugs/alcohol/smoke/self-destruction must be faced as a guide about what NOT to do with our lives.

In his autobiography, Slash tells us how he has gotten his nickname, and also the top hat that would become his trademark when he had to improvise some garments for shows. There we find drama, friendship, nostalgia, a lot about Rock, a bit of something like the “Twilight Zone”, and there’s a lot of sense of humor in the book too, what’s very charming. We can laugh with some of Slash’s mishaps, as he talks about them, including the glam period of the band, or when he had to dress like a woman to go inside a nightclub.

One of my favorite of those parts is when he jumped straight from the stage during a show and the audience parted like the Red Sea, and he fell hard on the floor _ a kind of miscalculation. Then, as if nothing had happened, he cleaned the dust, went back to the stage and kept on playing. I think that’s a good metaphor for the way he gathered up the pieces of his old life and turned it into a greater success.

Slash With Anthony Bozza

Translation to Portuguese: Tina Jeronymo