Ode to Billie Joe

You can follow the lyrics to this song by clicking here.

H is for Oss - The Black Country Alphabet

Rudolph The Tuneless Reindeer

Sorry that it's taken me so long to upload these, but it's never too late to enjoy beautiful beautiful music...

Jingle Bells, But Who Smells?

Norwegian Wood

I once had a girl, or should I say, she once had me...
She showed me her room, isn't it good, Norwegian wood?

She asked me to stay and she told me to sit anywhere,
So I looked around and I noticed there wasn't a chair.

I sat on a rug,  biding my time, drinking her wine,

We talked until two and then she said, "It's time for bed"

She told me she worked in the morning and started to laugh.
I told her I didn't and crawled off to sleep in the bath

And when I awoke, I was alone, this bird had flown
So I lit a fire, isn't it good, Norwegian wood.

Speaking Hypothetically

In class we played a game called Scruples (e.g. If you found a wallet containing 100,000 Yen inside, would you keep the money? Yes, no, or depends...). To take part in an online scruples noticboard, click here.

For the same kind of grammar set to music, you might like this Gwen Stefani track...the quality of this video is a bit poor but it starts with some Japanese! Incidentally, if anyone can explain the Harajuku girls to me I'd be very grateful.



...and better still if you want to practice English (or singing), here's a karaoke version...



For romantics and lovers of real music, here's a much better song - If I Were A Carpenter - first by Bobby Darin



and finally by the great Johnny Cash and his wife June Carter:

The Kaiser Chiefs on 6 Music

As we discussed in class, an online recording of the Stephen Merchant Show hosted by The Kaiser Chiefs is available from the BBC until Sunday. Click here to go to the programme website, and select LATEST SHOW under LISTEN AGAIN. You can use the BBC media player to access any BBC radio broadcast from the last week. Enjoy!

Subterranean Homesick Blues

Not really part of today's lesson, but something for Shinya and Minami.  This is one of my favourite songs, and definitely one of my favourite videos.  If you ever understand all of the words, you'll know your English is perfect.

Pinacolada

A terrible terrible song, but it's got an interesting story to it...well, kind of, and the pictures in this home-made video are cute. If you want to use it as a dictation, turn your back and write down the lyrics you hear. You'll then be able to check your work because all the words are provided in the video clip.

Crush!

Hye Jin's question about "crush" brought back some memories for me - and not just about my economics teacher. Whenever I think of "crush", I immediately think of this terrible song from 1986, and it got me thinking that songs are a really good way of learning vocabulary. If you listen to this song twice (it might be hard, but try) I don't think you'll ever forget that the correct use of this word is HAVE + A CRUSH + ON + someone. I found this awful video on Youtube, and you can find just about any song there...if you're not sure how to use a word and you want to remember it forever, just go to youtube, search for that word, and start listening. Or dancing. Or singing...whatever it takes to make you learn.

Girl

You can now listen to this song as many time as you like in order to fill the gaps...Good luck!



Is there __________ going to __________ to my __________
All about the __________ who __________ to __________?
She's the __________ of __________ you __________ so much
It __________ you __________;
__________, you don't __________ a __________ __________.

When I ________ of all the ________ I've __________ to __________ her
She will __________ to me and __________ to __________;
And she __________ the __________ to me
And I __________ her.
After all this __________ I don't __________ __________.

She's the __________ of __________ who'll __________ you __________
When __________ are there, you __________ a __________.
When you __________ she's __________ing __________
She __________ as if it's __________
She's __________, __________, __________, __________,

Was she __________ when she was __________
that __________ would __________ to __________?
Did she __________ it when they __________
That a __________ must __________ his __________
To __________ his __________ of __________?
Will she __________ __________ it when he's __________?

If you get really stuck, you can find the full lyrics here.

Ode To Billy Joe

The weird video doesn't do justice to the beautiful beautiful song, but at least you get the chance to listen again...



The first thing we did in class was listen to the song, note down key phrases and categorise them under the following headings:

- Family Meal
- Life & Geography of the Area
- Farm Life
- Other details

Now listen again and fill the gaps:

It was the ______________, another sleepy, dusty Delta day. I was out ______________ and my brother was baling hay. And at dinner time we stopped and walked back to ______________. And Mama hollered out the back door "y'all remember to ______________," And then she said "I got ______________ this morning from Choctaw Ridge," "Today, Billy Joe MacAllister ______________ the Tallahatchie Bridge." And Papa said to Mama as he passed around the ______________: "Well, Billy Joe never had a lick of sense; pass ______________." "There's ______________ in the lower forty I've got to plow." And Mama said it was a ____________________________, anyhow. Seems like nothing ever comes to no good up ______________. And now Billy Joe MacAllister's jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge. And brother said he recollected when he and Tom and Billie Joe, Had put _________________________ at the Carroll County picture show. And wasn't I talking to him after ____________________________? "I'll have another _______________________; you know it don't seem right. "I saw him at the sawmill ______________ on Choctaw Ridge, "And now you tell me Billie Joe's jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge." And Mama said to me: "Child, what's happened to ______________? "I've been cooking all morning and you haven't _______________________. "That nice young preacher, ______________, dropped by today. "Said he'd be pleased to have dinner on Sunday, oh, ______________. "He said he saw a girl that looked ________________ up on Choctaw Ridge. "And she and Billy Joe was ______________ off the Tallahatchie Bridge." A year has come and gone since we ____________________________, And brother married Becky Thompson, they _________________________. There was a virus going 'round, Papa caught it and ____________________. And now Mama doesn't seem to wanna ____________________________. And me, I spend a lot of time picking ____________________________. And drop them into the muddy water ____________________________.

If you just want to check the original lyrics you can find them here and there are some interesting "facts" about the song here.