Songs are a great way to learn English and also find out about different cultures and points of view. Take Slovak singer Celeste Buckingham and her hit “I was wrong”, for example:
So I stare into the sunlight
Thinking about the way we were
I try to keep on walking
But my heart still hurts
Told you I was better off without you (without you)
Told you I was better on my own (alone)
And that I didn’t want you, and I didn’t need you
And I didn’t want your love
But I guess that I was wrong (wrong, yeah)
But I guess that I was wrong
So I walk for you
“I was wrong” by Celeste Buckingham and Majk Spirit
Questions for you
- Did you like the song?
- What is it about? How are they both feeling?
Word bank
You can take away some words and patterns in English here:
To stare – to look at someone or something in a longer, more direct way
To think about something or doing something
To keep on doing something – to continue doing something
My heart hurts – you feel pain because of a problem in your relationship
To be better off – to be in a better situation or state.
eg
“If you’re not happy at work, you might be better off leaving the company.”
“You’re better off shopping online than going all the way to the store.”
“You’re better off living near the centre.”
To be on your own – by yourself (it’s not the same as being lonely)
I told you.. – sing this line 20 times and you might not mix up “I said TO you” and “I told you..”
I guess that.. – a nice phrase to say how things might be or that it’s possibly or even probably true
And what does this mean, folks?
Do you want to tell me what these lyrics in Slovak mean..? Please leave a comment below – and if you can recommend a song in English which you like, feel free to tell us:
Telo, myseľ, duch,
uzavretý kruh,
zdravé oči, dobrý sluch,
silné ruky, nohy a do nosa prúdi vzduch,
som dobrý druh,
srdcom dobrodruh,
jednou ranou 7 múch.
Nekonečno možností a sloboda si vybrať,
všetci v jednej hre a nielen jeden musí vyhrať,
ale nemôžeš sa báť, takže potrebuješ lásku,
ostatné sú kecy, vôbec nemusíš sa vyznať.
Výzva je ísť, zakúsiť a prežiť,
a zvoliť si kým si, podľa toho kým chceš nebyť,
a mal by si sa tešiť, si živý, môžeš meniť,
máme vlastnú vôľu, povedz mi ako môžme zhrešiť.
Táto chvíľa, tu a teraz, to je to jediné čo chcem riešiť,
a to jediné čo chcem, je byť najlepším akým len viem byť,
a viem, že aj ten môj príbeh niekedy jedného dňa spozná koniec,
neľutujem nič, aj keď to bolí, je to dobrá bolesť!
Credits
Copyright rests with Buckingham Entertainment Group & Spirit MBA
Majk raps:
Body, mind, spirit
closed circle
healthy eyes, good ears
strong hands, feet
and the air flows into the nose,
I kind of good,
heart adventurer,
7 birds with one stone
Infinite possibilities and freedom to choose
all in one game and only one shall win,
but you can’t be afraid, so you need to love,
others are crap,
you don’t need to confess
The challenge is to go to experience and survive
and choose a while,
depending on who you want to be
and you should be glad you are alive,
you can change,
we own will,
tell me how we can sin
This moment, here and now
that is all I want to adress
and the only thing I want is to be the best way as I can be
and I know well that my story ever recognize one day end
I don’t regret anything,
even if it hurts
it’s a good pain.
I don’t know, if it’s without error, but better than nothing 🙂
Hi Mima
Thanks a lot for your comment – are you a fan of this song..? If you’re from Slovakia, do you have any favourite singers you’d like to recommend..? 🙂
David
Hey,
ya, I am from Slovakia and I really like Celeste, she is amazing. But I’m not huge fan of our artists. Celeste’s sister Carmel is great too and raper Rytmus with his band Kontrafakt. That’s all, I guess 🙂
Hi Mima
This is actually the first hit I remember from when I came to Prague, and it’s from a Slovak 🙂 I like it a lot. Back then I didn’t understand any of the words, although it sounded sad, that she misses her boyfriend..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SAuLBciZ4qI
Hello,
name of song in English is “Blue”. I know this song, but it’s not my cup of tea, if you understand me 🙂 She sings about boy, but it’s more about remembering, i guess. She sings in one part something like: “We can run barefoot, naked, as you were a little boy…”
But one of my favorite song by Slovak band is Elán – Voda. It’s in English too: Anthony Field – Water of Love. It’s awesome and really nice song. And second good song (in my opinion) is Ráno by Inekafe – it’s old song, but still amazing 🙂
Hi Mima
I know this song! Yeah, it’s very good 🙂
I wasn’t a fan of the other one as much, though.
Here’s an Aussie song you might like:
David
Hey,
I so much love this kind of songs. Best for me is “Iris” by Goo Goo Dolls, I guess, you know this one 🙂