Instrumentally Yours: Learn English with Songs

Dear students,

Believe it or not, attending classes and doing homework will not enable you to communicate in English; Studying English, learning its grammar and memorising new words might help with your everyday use of English but are certainly not enough simply because language is much more than putting words together in a certain grammatical order. Language is a representation of what its speakers think and how they perceive the world and that is one reason why the world looks different in different languages. Have you ever wondered why using the moon as a metaphor for beauty is completely acceptable in Arabic but sounds odd and unfamiliar in English?

So, to be able to communicate using a certain language, you must learn about the culture it originated from and see the world from the perspective of its own speakers. For that reason, you should not depend solely on books and dictionaries to learn a language. Read books, travel, watch movies or simply, listen to music. 

Songs, while having the powerful and magical ability to change your mood and cling to your memories, encapsulate many cultural values and attitudes. They are also a very convenient way to stay in touch with the language while improving your vocabulary at the same time. 

Because of that, I decided to start sharing some of my favorite songs that have great and profound lyrics, in addition to being catchy. Every week, I will post a song along with its lyrics and a short comment. All you have to do is listen to it once while reading the lyrics, translate the difficult words and put it on repeat until it makes you puke :D

The song that I would like to initiate this series with is Heaven by an underrated rock band named Warrant. It is a song about being devoted to the person you love regardless of what others think. It came out almost 30 years ago in 1989.

Lyrics

I've got a picture of your house
And you're standing by the door.
It's black and white and faded,
And it's looking pretty worn.
See the factory that I worked
Silhouetted in the back.
The memories are gray but man they're really coming back.

I don't need to be the king of the world
As long as i'm the hero of this little girl

Heaven isn't too far away
Closer to it everyday 
No matter what your friends might say

How I love the way you move
And the sparkle in your eyes
There's a color deep inside them
Like blue suburban skies
When I come home late at night
And you're in bed asleep
I wrap my arms around you
So I can feel you breathe

I dont need to be a superman
As long as you will always be my biggest fan

Heaven isn't too far away
Closer to it everyday (Ah, ah)
No matter what your friends might say
We'll find our way, yeah

Now the lights are going out,
Along the boulevard
Memories come rushing back and makes it pretty hard
I've got nowhere left to go
And no one really cares
I don't know what to do
But I'm never giving up on you.

Heaven isn't too far away
Closer to it every day
ohhhh ohhh
No matter what your friends say
I know we're gonna find a way

(Heaven)

Whoah, oohh, ohhh
Whoah, oohh, ohhh

(Heaven)

It's not too far away
Whoah, oohh, ohhh
Yeah yeah yeah

More on lyrics

1. What is a Silhouette? 

According to Dictionary.com, a silhouette is "the dark shape and outline of someone or something visible against a lighter background, especially in dim light." 

Elephants silhouetted against sunset sky

2. Pictures looking worn?

A worn-out photo is a photo so old it looks damaged and shabby. We also use worn-out to describe other items like shoes, bags and other articles of clothing. We can sometimes say 'you look worn out' to someone who looks tired or exhausted.

Worn out dog

A worn-out photograph

until next week,

Keep rocking! \m/