11 great English language song lyrics

Steffanie Zazulak
A boy wearing headphones smiling listening to music

What is it about music that helps boost your English skills, confidence and pronunciation? A song can provide an emotional connection between the music and the listener, providing learners with new ways to express their feelings. Music and rhythm have also been shown to benefit memorization, which is a key component of learning.

Here are some of our favorite lyrics to some of our favorite songs:

1. The Beatles C Blackbird

The Beatles are the best band to help you learn English. There are many Beatles songs with catchy melodies and simple lyrics, but Blackbird captures the Fab Four at their most poetic:

Blackbird singing in the dead of night
Take these broken wings and learn to fly
All your life
You were only waiting for this moment to arise

2. The Cure C Friday Im In Love

This song is a great way to help learn the days of the week (that may be obvious). Love is also a very popular English word, so this one is for all the romantics out there.

Always take a big bite
Its such a gorgeous sight
To see you eat in the middle of the night

3. Ed Sheeran C Thinking Out Loud

Another one for the lovers, Eds heartfelt lyrics are huge in the mainstream pop charts. Here, he tells the sweet story of long-time love in this ballad and hes becoming one of the worlds most sought-after songwriters.

Take me into your loving arms
Kiss me under the light of a thousand stars
Place your head on my beating heart

4. The Smiths C How Soon Is Now?

This classic from Morrissey and co was voted runner-up in VH1s Top Lyrics poll, for the lyrics: So you go and you stand on your own, and you leave on your own, and you go home and you cry and you want to die but its the opening lines of the song that are the most intriguing. Firstly, theyre adapted from George Eliots novel Middlemarch and include some rather clever double meanings C namely son (sun) and heir (air).

I am the son
And the heir
Of a shyness that is criminally vulgar

5. Neil Young C Heart of Gold

This was Neil Youngs only number-one hit single from 1972s Harvest album. He uses simple lyrics and melodies to tell his story of searching for true love.

Ive been in my mind
Its such a fine line
That keeps me searchin for a heart of gold
And Im gettin old

6. U2 C City of Blinding Lights

U2 is the second-best band to help you learn English and frontman Bono is the second-best male artist to help you learn (edged out by Justin Timberlake). The chorus was inspired by a moment during a performance in New York City, when Bono saw the audience lit up and shouted, Oh, you look so beautiful tonight!

And I miss you when youre not around
Im getting ready to leave the ground
Oh you look so beautiful tonight
In the city of blinding lights

7. The Police C Every Breath You Take

These lyrics are a good use of repetition and rhyme, which is excellent for helping memorization. Most people consider this a love song, but thats a common mistake. In 1983, Sting was interviewed for New Musical Express and explained: I think its a nasty little song, really rather evil. Its about jealousy and surveillance and ownership.

Every move you make and every vow you break
Every smile you fake, every claim you stake, Ill be watching you
Every move you make, every step you take, Ill be watching you

8. Bob Dylan C Mr Tambourine Man

Dylans whimsical, poetic lyrics might be difficult for an English language learner to interpret, but that doesnt mean theyre not a pleasure to listen and sing along to.

Hey! Mr Tambourine Man, play a song for me
Im not sleepy and there is no place Im going to
Hey! Mr Tambourine Man, play a song for me
In the jingle jangle morning Ill come followin you

9. Madness C Our House

This song takes you through the daily goings-on in a typical household in the 80s. This song has been around for a while now but is a story that most people can still connect with. This is an excellent song for understanding the concept of nostalgia!

I remember way back then when
everything was true and when
we would have such a very good time
such a fine time

10. Otis Reading C (Sittin on) The Dock of the Bay

Sadly, Otis Redding lost his life in a plane crash shortly after this song was recorded, and it was released after his death. His lyrics are quite reflective, provoking both contentment and sadness. You can really imagine yourself sitting on the dock with his simple yet descriptive words.

Sittin in the morning sun
Ill be sittin when the evening comes
Watching the ships roll in
Then I watch them roll away again

11. Leonard Cohen C Everybody Knows

No list of standout turns of phrase would be complete without Leonard Cohen, a man whose songwriting process is so painstaking hell often spend years on the same song. When quizzed on his process, Cohen once said it often took so long because, After a while, if you stick with the song long enough it will yield. Its interesting to note then that, even for a master of the English language, the words dont always come easily. Everybody Knows remains a firm favorite among fans, with the majority of lines starting with the words Everybody knows Its a lengthy song, but for the sheer beauty of its words and phrasing, the opening lines are a highlight:

Everybody knows that the dice are loaded
Everybody rolls with their fingers crossed
Everybody knows that the war is over
Everybody knows that the good guys lost

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