Songs and lyrics: enero 2013

Welcome to my blog

The reason I decided to create this blog is because I want to share some music videos and experiences of my own.
When I was a child, I always listened to music on FM radios and most of the song lyrics were in English, that was reason enough for me to start a course on that languge at the age of ten.
As a result I would become an ELT teacher some years later. From that personal experience, I strongly believe that songs are a powerful source of motivation that could help teachers to keep up the learners´ interests in any language, because everybody enjoys listening to songs for many reasons: A) Most of the themes dealt with in the songs have to do with universal aspects of life such as love, misfortune, breaking up, friendship, etc. B) In case of classroom activities, songs should be meaningful for the students, otherwise they will not feel enthusiatic to work, and learning will not be as effective as planned. C) Songs enable some listening skills and this can help learners to improve their pronunciation skills as they are willing to sound accurate when they sing their favourite ones. There are plenty of more reasons why using songs in the classroom will improve every aspect of the elt class management, but that will be dealt later. Our audience: Teenagers are very difficult to be entertained nowadays because they are highly stimulated with all sorts of technology devices such as cellphones, netbooks, tablets, etc. and those "artifacts" are a strong competence to us (teachers); That is why teaching has become a challenging job, because no fun means no engagement, and then our objectives will not be reached.

miércoles, 9 de enero de 2013

"Nothing compares to you" Sinead O'Connor

"Nothing Compares 2 U" is a song originally written and composed by Prince for one of his side projects, The Family. It was later made famous by Irish recording artist Sinéad O'Connor, who covered the song and released it as the second single from her second studio album, I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got. However, not till O'Connor recorded and produced the version along with Nellee Hooper did it become a worldwide hit in 1990. An iconic music video was shot and received heavy rotation on MTV.

The song became a worldwide hit, topping charts in O'Connor's native Ireland, Australia, Austria, Canada, Germany, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. It also became a top-five single in France and a top-20 in Denmark. The single was certified platinum in Austria and the United Kingdom, and gold in Germany and Sweden.

In the United States it spent four weeks at the top of the Billboard Hot 100; in addition, it was a number-one in Billboard Alternative Songs chart and reached number two on Billboard Adult Contemporary chart. It became the third best-selling single of 1990, the 82nd best-selling single of the 1990s, and was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America in April 1990. The song's popularity sent I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got to the top of the Billboard 200 where it stayed for six consecutive weeks.

"Angels" by Robbie Williams

"Angels" is a song originally part written by uncredited Irish songwriter, Ray Heffernan and covered by Robbie Williams. Williams and Guy Chambers were subsequently credited as "joint co-writers" and the song was released as a single in December 1997. It became the singer's biggest selling single and has been voted the best song of the past 25 years at the Brit Awards. "Angels" was the fourth single from Williams' debut album, "Life Thru a Lens". It has been credited with saving the singer's floundering solo career, and is used to conclude almost all of his concerts. The song was the 38th best selling of 1997 in the UK, and the 26th of 1998. It was the 34th best selling single of the decade. Despite only reaching a peak of No.4, it is Williams' biggest selling UK single and according to Official UK Charts Company figures passed the million sales mark in June 2009, with a combination of both physical and download sales. It has sold 1.11 million copies in the UK as of November 2012. It was released in 1999 in the U.S., after his debut of "Millennium." The U.S. released video has Williams atop a roof, watching the city below

"How can I fall?"

"How Can I Fall?" is the title of a 1988 song by the British pop group Breathe. The song was written by group members David Glasper and Marcus Lillington and appears on their debut album, All That Jazz.

Released as the second single from this album in the US, "How Can I Fall?" peaked at #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in December 1988 and spent 16 weeks in the Top 40.^[1] The song went to #1 on the Billboard adult contemporary chart, Breathe's only single to accomplish this feat.^[2] In their native country, "How Can I Fall?" was the third single from this album, following "Hands to Heaven" and the UK-only release "Jonah"; the song reached a peak position of #48 on the UK Singles Chart.^[3]

"Cool"

"Cool" is a song by American recording artist Gwen Stefani, from her debut solo album, Love. Angel. Music. Baby. (2004). Written byDallas Austin and Stefani, the song was released to mainstream radio in the United States in July 2005 as the album's fourth single. It was written by Austin basing the song on No Doubt's "Simple Kind of Life", but he did not finish it. He then asked for help from Stefani, and they finished the song in fifteen minutes. The single's musical style and production were inspired by pop and New Wavearrangements from the 1980s, and its lyrics chronicle a relationship in which two lovers have separated, but remain "cool" with each other as good friends

"Sacrifice"

"Sacrifice" is a ballad performed by musician Elton John. The lyrics are by Bernie Taupin and the music by Elton John. The song appears on the 1989 album Sleeping with the Past. It was first released in October 1989, then in 1990, and was the second single from the album. It achieved success, particularly in France and the UK. The song was also featured in the UK soundtrack of Disney's 1994 animated classic The Lion King although this song was not written by Tim Rice, who collaborated with Elton John to write the songs of the film.

Songs and lyrics