Greetings Audacity Forum!
Please excuse my lack of experience. I have no idea how or why this file is the way it is, but can it be repaired?
I tried the normalize, like I have done on so many other recordings, but I have never seen anything like this.
How bad does it sound? You probably can’t fix the sound. 
Normalize with Remove DC Offset will make it look better but it won’t do anything for the sound.
Or try a high-pass filter at 20 or 30Hz, and then normalize (or amplify) to bring-up the volume. (Again, don’t expect any improvement in sound.)
…There’s a general rule that “you can’t fix distortion”.
wow, thank you, that did it… High Pass filter, normalize then loudness.