Colorful Emotions: Born to be Blue

Emotions in English are strongly related to colors: green with envy, red with rage, white with anger, red or pink with embarrassment, rosy or peachy to indicate good fortune or optimism, yellow-belly which means coward in American English... And this post's protagonist: blue.

To have the blues, or to feel blue, means to be in a state of depression or melancholy. Blues music has at its heart this idea of melancholy mixed with anger against slavery and humiliation, as it is associated with the blue color of the indigo plant, grown in many southern US slave plantations.

I'd like to present here one of my favorite jazzmen, Chet baker, who had the blues deeply entrenched in his singing: The song that I post for you today is called Born to be Blue. Check out the lyrics below before or after you listen to it, and notice how he plays around with the colors that surround us in nature, then complete the missing words please!

Born to Be Blue_Words and Glossary

Torn, by Natalie Imbruglia

And the verb goes: tear-tore-torn 

This song is dedicated to Bianca and Cristina.

And Nothing Else Matters...

This is a song for you to notice the different ways British and Americans pronounce the letter R. Pay attention to how the Metallica vocalist, James Hetfield, rolls the R when he sings .."and nothing else matters...", pronouncing the <tt> segment as an /r/. Ready to imitate him as you sing along? Please...

So close, no matter how far

Couldn't be much more from the heart

Forever trusting who we are

And nothing else matters

Never opened myself this way

Life is ours, we live it our way

All these words I don't just say

And nothing else matters

Trust I seek and I find in you

Every day for us something new

Open mind for a different view

And nothing else matters

Never cared for what they do

Never cared for what they know

But I know

So close, no matter how far

Couldn't be much more from the heart

Forever trusting who we are

And nothing else matters

Never cared for what they do

Never cared for what they know

But I know

I never opened myself this way

Life is ours, we live it our way

All these words I don't just say

Nothing else matters

Especially dedicated to David R.

This is the Life, by Amy MacDonald

Where you gonna go, where you gonna go, where you gonna sleep tonight.... Still playing this tune in your head?

Don't Stop Me Now!

I actually got a question for you, guys: How does the man actually mime the planet Mars? Enjoy!

PS: And what about a "real good time"? Got the mime for that?

Let's Get Funky!

 Daft Punk is a famous French  electronic music duo who released a great funky song three years ago called Lose Yourself to Dance. The title is totally straightforward: lose your fears, lose your shyness, lose your worries... get lost into the music, and JUST DANCE. I believe that this is definitely the attitude to learn a language, we just have to dance ourselves into it!

The video you're just about to see is a tribute to those funky people who back in the 70s and 80s danced  to the music in total joy and freedom in one the most famous TV shows in the US: The Soul Train.

Enjoy!

Music to Welcome You to NI2

Dear all,

Here is a really nice song by First Aid Kit, a Swedish Folk Band which has become quite famous in the last years due to the beautiful playing and singing of these two sisters. How about listening to this song to get our wheels turning for the coming new year of English? (And our feet moving too...) 

Never thought that I was weak
Always thought I could get hurt pretty bad
Still get up on my own two feet

I always believed that I was free
That I had some sense of integrity
That would rise above whatever tried to change me

But honey, now I won't wait
For something to bring me round and smile
'Cause that only sticks for a while
Then I'm back again

Oh, I'm a master pretender

I always knew that I was young
But with a head held high and a sharp tongue
I could fool almost anyone

I never expected to be struck
By the fatal hands of fortune or by sheer bad luck

Now we won't change
And memories just rearrange
And fall into place
So I'm back again

Oh, I'm a master pretender

All the streets of New York City
Sure look pretty from way up here
And I was headed home, just felt more alone
The further I'd go

I always thought that you'd be here
But shit gets fucked up and people just disappear

So honey, now, don't be mad
Time has told me it can't be that bad
And if it is, well, I'll be goddamn
But I'll stick around

I'll be your master defender
Yeah, I'll stick around
I'll be your master defender

What is Love? By Alexander Milov, and Ayo

Alexander Milov is a Ukrainian sculptor. His art work called "Love" was shown at the Burning Man Festival, 2015, Nevada's Black Rock Desert

Ayo is a Nigerian-German song-writer and singer. Her name means Joy in Yoruba language.

Read the lyrics and fill in the gaps

I'd Rather Dance With You

You're probably wondering by now why I chose the name I'd rather dance with you for the classblog... Ok, let me spill the beans: I was just listening to this song at home as I was trying to find a name for your classblog, and I thought,"hey, this could be something we could actually do as we learn: move our bodies!". So, here it is, especially dedicated to you guys. Hope you enjoy the music, and, of course, fill in the gapped lyrics below!

I'd rather dance with you lyrics

/səˈsaɪəti/

Society is a song from the original soundtrack for the film Into the Wild (2007), composed and performed by Eddie Vedder (Pearl Jam vocalist). Apart from the note on pronunciation I pointed out in our pronunciation workshop last Friday, I believe you may find the lyrics a nice antidote against consumerist excess in this sometimes crazy world. Enjoy!

Listen to Society, by Eddie Vedder
Read the lyrics here

Because I'm Happy!

You've made it through the mid-year exam, hurray!! Guess you're all happy about that, huh? As part of our karaoke sessions, your classmate Carlos has sent the following song to celebrate we're all alive and kicking after the oral exams.
You can first read the lyrics (to check out the words you don't know and stuff), and then just click on the video below to sing along!

 Happy by Pharrell Williams: Lyrics
NEW!: Happy Lyrics Phonetic Transcription

PS.: Remember to clap along if you feel like a room without a roof!!

PS.2: Thanks a lot Carlos!This is an awesome song to start the day!

The Karaoke Season starts right here!

Remember the tips to improve your English we went through in class? One of them was singing along to your favourite songs, right? Well, this is the song your classmate Alberto sent to me to kick off the Karaoke Season: Hey Brother, by Avicii. So everybody get down to the music! And thanks, Alberto, for your message!