A really great way to improve your English is by singing along to some cool music.
When you learn English with songs, there are lots of benefits that can make your overall level of spoken English much better.
INCREASE THE SPEED OF YOUR ENGLISH
You can increase the speed of your spoken English in normal conversation through singing.
This is because when you are sing the lyrics of a tune that you know, at some points you will have to move your speech organs (your mouth and tongue) more quickly than you would do if you were just speaking English in a conversation with your teacher or friends.
So, the singing actually helps you to develop your speed of output when speaking a foreign language.
NEW ENGLISH VOCABULARY
When you learn the lyrics to a song, you will often find some words or phrases that you really don’t understand.
Sometimes this is because the person who wrote the song has used ‘artistic licence’ to invent or make up something crazy. For example, think of John Lennon singing ‘I am the Walrus’ or the words to Led Zeppelin’s ‘Stairway to Heaven. But even when this is the situation, and you might be singing nonsense lyrics, you are still speaking English, so there is some benefit (see the first point above).
Sometimes you will discover a word that you don’t know the meaning of and you will look it up in an online dictionary, just becuase you are curious to know what the song really means. This is great for learning because you will probably always remember that word, because it helped you understand the the true feelings of one of your favourite songs. You might even start to tell your friends what the song really means.
This is all great motivation for learning and let’s be honest, if you weren’t doing this ‘looking up words from a song’, how many times a day do you look up new English words in a dictionary? Answer: Zero (probably) .
THE PROBLEM WITH SONGS IN ENGLISH
Some students say that the problem with learning English by singing is that
- they can’t hear the lyrics properly, or that …
- they can’t remember all the words.
Well, thanks to the internet, those excuses are no longer valid!
1. Can’t hear the lyrics
Nowadays you can find some famous songs with the voice/main vocal track isolated without any other music, so that you can clearly hear the voice on its own. There are no musical distractions. So, you can learn to singalong and then when you are confident, you can go back to the original track with all the band playing at once.
2. Can’t remember all the words
You can google the title of your favourite song and then put ‘lyrics’ and you will always find that someone has written out the whole song for you: e.g. Bruno Mars Uptown Funk lyrics
You can also use youtube to find your lyrics. A lot of big international hits are on Youtube with a video that contains all the lyrics as subtitles. Job done! Easy!
SOME CLASSIC SONGS TO SING-A-LONG TO (with lyrics)
Here are some classic tunes for you to sing-a-long to in English. All the lyrics are written our for you below each video,
If you are really advanced and speak English very quickly, then you could try the last track on this page by Eminem! 🙂
John Lennon – Imagine
Imagine there’s no heaven
It’s easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today
Imagine there’s no countries
It isn’t hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion, too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace
You may say I’m a dreamer
But I’m not the only one
I hope someday you will join us
And the world will be as one
Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world
You, you may say I’m a dreamer
But I’m not the only one
I hope someday you will join us
And the world will live as one
Adele – Rolling in the Deep
There’s a fire starting in my heart
Reaching a fever pitch, it’s bringing me out the dark
Finally I can see you crystal clear
Go ‘head and sell me out and I’ll lay your ship bare
See how I leave with every piece of you
Don’t underestimate the things that I will do
There’s a fire starting in my heart
Reaching a fever pitch
And it’s bringing me out the dark
The scars of your love remind me of us
They keep me thinking that we almost had it all
The scars of your love, they leave me breathless
I can’t help feeling
We could have had it all
(You’re gonna wish you never had met me)
Rolling in the deep
(Tears are gonna fall, rolling in the deep)
You had my heart inside of your hand
(You’re gonna wish you never had met me)
And you played it, to the beat
(Tears are gonna fall, rolling in the deep)
Baby, I have no story to be told
But I’ve heard one on you
And I’m gonna make your head burn
Think of me in the depths of your despair
Make a home down there
As mine sure won’t be shared
(You’re gonna wish you never had met me)
The scars of your love remind me of us
(Tears are gonna fall, rolling in the deep)
They keep me thinking that we almost had it all
(You’re gonna wish you never had met me)
The scars of your love, they leave me breathless
(Tears are gonna fall, rolling in the deep)
I can’t help feeling
We could have had it all
(You’re gonna wish you never had met me)
Rolling in the deep
(Tears are gonna fall, rolling in the deep)
You had my heart inside of your hand
(You’re gonna wish you never had met me)
And you played it, to the beat
(Tears are gonna fall, rolling in the deep)
We could have had it all
Rolling in the deep
You had my heart inside of your hand
But you played it, with a beating
Throw your soul through every open door (woah)
Count your blessings to find what you look for (woah)
Turn my sorrow into treasured gold (woah)
You’ll pay me back in kind and reap just what you sow (woah)
(You’re gonna wish you never had met me)
We could have had it all
(Tears are gonna fall, rolling in the deep)
We could have had it all
(You’re gonna wish you never had met me)
It all, it all, it all
(Tears are gonna fall, rolling in the deep)
We could have had it all
(You’re gonna wish you never had met me)
Rolling in the deep
(Tears are gonna fall, rolling in the deep)
You had my heart inside of your hand
(You’re gonna wish you never had met me)
And you played it to the beat
(Tears are gonna fall, rolling in the deep)
We could have had it all
(You’re gonna wish you never had met me)
Rolling in the deep
(Tears are gonna fall, rolling in the deep)
You had my heart inside of your hand
(You’re gonna wish you never had met me)
But you played it
You played it
You played it
You played it to the beat.
Queen – Bohemian Rhapsody
Is this the real life?
Is this just fantasy?
Caught in a landslide
No escape from reality
Open your eyes
Look up to the skies and see
I’m just a poor boy, I need no sympathy
Because I’m easy come, easy go
A little high, little low
Anyway the wind blows, doesn’t really matter to me, to me
Mama, just killed a man
Put a gun against his head
Pulled my trigger, now he’s dead
Mama, life had just begun
But now I’ve gone and thrown it all away
Mama, ooo
Didn’t mean to make you cry
If I’m not back again this time tomorrow
Carry on, carry on, as if nothing really matters
Too late, my time has come
Sends shivers down my spine
Body’s aching all the time
Goodbye everybody I’ve got to go
Gotta leave you all behind and face the truth
Mama, ooo (anyway the wind blows)
I don’t want to die
I sometimes wish I’d never been born at all
I see a little silhouetto of a man
Scaramouch, scaramouch will you do the fandango
Thunderbolt and lightning very very frightening me
Gallileo, Gallileo,
Gallileo, Gallileo,
Gallileo Figaro – magnifico
But I’m just a poor boy and nobody loves me
He’s just a poor boy from a poor family
Spare him his life from this monstrosity
Easy come easy go will you let me go
Bismillah! No we will not let you go – let him go
Bismillah! We will not let you go – let him go
Bismillah! We will not let you go let me go
Will not let you go let me go (never)
Never let you go let me go
Never let me go ooo
No, no, no, no, no, no, no
Oh mama mia, mama mia, mama mia let me go
Beelzebub has a devil put aside for me
For me
For me
So you think you can stone me and spit in my eye
So you think you can love me and leave me to die
Oh baby can’t do this to me baby
Just gotta get out just gotta get right outta here
Ooh yeah, ooh yeah
Nothing really matters
Anyone can see
Nothing really matters nothing really matters to me
Anyway the wind blows
Marvin Gaye – I heard it through the grapevine
I bet you’re wonderin’ how I knew
‘Bout your plans to make me blue
With some other guy you knew before
Between the two of us guys
You know I loved you more
It took me by surprise I must say
When I found out yesterday
Don’t you know that I heard it through the grapevine
Not much longer would you be mine
Oh I heard it through the grapevine
Oh I’m just about to lose my mind
Honey, honey yeah.
I heard it through the grapevine
Not much longer would you be mine baby
I know a man ain’t supposed to cry
But these tears I can’t hold inside
Losin’ you would end my life you see
‘Cause you mean that much to me
You could have told me yourself
That you loved some one else
Instead I heard it through the grapevine
Not much longer would you be mine
Oh, I heard it through the grapevine
And I’m just about to lose my mind
Honey, honey yeah
I heard it through the grapevine
Not much longer would you be mine, baby
People say believe half of what you see
Son and none of what you hear
But I can’t help but be confused
If it’s true please tell me dear
Do you plan to let me go
For the other guy you loved before?
Don’t you know I heard it through the grapevine
Not much longer would you be mine, baby yeah
I heard it through the grapevine
I’m just about to love my mind
Honey, honey, yeah
I heard it through the grapevine,
Not much longer would you be mine, baby yeah
Honey, honey, yeah
I heard it through the grapevine,
Not much longer would you be mine, baby yeah yeah
I heard it through the grapevine,
Not much longer would you be mine, baby yeah yeah
I
Eminem – Lose Yourself
Yo, if you could just, for one minute
Or one split second in time, forget everything
Everything that bothers you, or your problems
Everything, and follow me
If I was frozen inside of a moment
If I could capture time inside a capsule
An hourglass full of sand in the palm of my hand, it passes through it
If I can grasp it, and just control what happens to it
Then I can trap it, so no more time elapses through it
If raps could do it, maybe I could tap into it
Then I could try to channel it through Cadillacs and Buicks
To transmit through ’em, to make you put your ass into it
And that’s when you hit the roof because you can’t sit through it
Your passions too much for you to not to be dancing to it
And as you do it, your movements become fast and fluent
You’re mashin’ to it, moshing until you’re black and bluish
And shit you’re acting foolish, this music it has influenced you to be rowdy but in an orderly fashion
True it’s chaotic, but it’s got your body moving as a unit
Uniting together tonight, so make it last and you better just
Lose yourself in this music, this moment we own it
We won’t never let it go (go), you better move yourself
Because tomorrow’s ass can wait
There is no time, to sit there and procrastinate
Lose yourself in this music, this moment we own it
We won’t never let it go (go), you better move yourself
Because tomorrow’s ass can wait
There is no time, to sit there and procrastinate
‘Cause when we descend together, we begin to move as one
In perfect unison just like the moon and sun
Illuminate the room and humans soon become aluminum
Rhythmically in sync, if you’ll excuse the pun
But if you could lose it once, I mean if you could let shit go
Relax, take a breath, and just let it exit slow
Then rest your soul
You could leave the rest to me, if I could give the world a hit of ecstasy
To make ’em feel the feeling I’m feeling right this minute
‘Cause I feel like the night won’t end til I get finished
So close the shades, makin’ sure no light gets in it
The skies the limit tonight because the night’s infinite
A high percentage, of black people and white mixed in it
But no one really gives a fuck because they just like what’s spinnin’
His life was spinnin’, the whole entire night just spinnin’
Like life’s beginning so come out from inside your skin and quit hidin’ in it
Lose yourself in this music, this moment we own it
We won’t never let it go (go), you better move yourself
Because tomorrow’s ass can wait
There is no time, to sit there and procrastinate
Lose yourself in this music, this moment we own it
We won’t never let it go (go), you better move yourself
Because tomorrow’s ass can wait
There is no time, to sit there and procrastinate
