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Isn’t it cool: listen to the great songs and learn English at the same time? Therefore, here are some songs that you should listen to and take a note of a couple of useful words or expressions from there. Listen, enjoy and learn!

Song # 1: ‘Bad Luck’ by Social Distortion

In this song, the performer mentions various superstitions. Some of them sound very unusual to us, and some are also in the Ukrainian language. For example, “number thirteen,” “black cat” and “cracked mirror.” Superstition can also be heard in songs such as “Broken Mirror” by Travis, “Superstitious” by Europe, “Superstition” by Stevie Wonder and “Black Cat” by Janet Jackson.

Song # 2: ‘Dust in the Wind’ by Kansas

With this song you can improve your understanding of Present Simple Tense. Let’s remember, it is used to describe habits, unchanging situations, general truths, and fixed arrangements. The Simple Present tense is simple to structure. Just use the base form of the verb (the 3rd person singular takes an -s at the end). The song says that a person has no power over his life or death. Almost all of the lyrics are written in the Simple Present tense. For example, “I close my eyes,” “Don’t hang on,” “It slips away.”

Song # 3: ‘Summer of ’69’ by Bryan Adams

In this song, Bryan Adams sings about what his friends and he did during the youth. Some of the sentences are in the Present Simple (which we have already repeated), but the main text is written in the Past Simple. The Past Simple is a verb tense which is used to show that a completed action took place at a specific time in the past. The simple past is formed using the verb + ed. In addition, there are many verbs with irregular past forms. In a song, an example of using the Past Simple might include phrases like, “I got my first real six-string | Bought it at the five-and-dime,” “We were young and restless,” “Those were the best days of my life.”

Song # 4: ‘Hand in My Pocket’ by Alanis Morissette

There are a lot of adjectives here (up to 26!). And they are constantly encountered: “happy,” “poor,” “kind,” “short,” “healthy.” At the same time, you can also repeat the use of “but” here, for example, in these lines, “I’m free but I’m focused, | I’m green but I’m wise.” There are also songs that have a lot of adjectives, “Stronger” by Kelly Clarkson, “You’re Beautiful” by James Blunt. Also, you can listen to “Everything at Once” by Lenka. This song is great for teaching to use the pattern “as… as.”

Song # 5: ‘Woman’s World’ by Little Mix

A very cool song about how differently society treats men and women. It touches upon the topic of gender relations and gender equality. This is reflected in these words, “She’s overworked and underpaid | Just ’cause the way her body’s made,” and “If you never been told how you gotta be | What you gotta wear, how you gotta speak.” There are also songs on this theme, “Just a Girl” by No Doubt, “Stupid Girls” by Pink, “The Man” by Taylor Swift, “Just a Girl” by Lady Antebellum, “If I Were a Boy” by Beyoncé.