OK, since several students have asked me about listening to music, I wondered if I could put together a series of songs that I could use. Songs can be a great way to be introduced to common phrases that do not make literal sense. They can also be helpful in introducing cultural differences, especially when it comes to gender roles. So I went through my collection on my computer looking for decent songs. Here’s the trick, not only to they have to be easy enough to understand, they couldn’t have any swearing or explicit content. Ok, that eliminates a lot of my collection right of the bat… Then there is the problem of dealing with haramm things, this means that there can’t be:
1) Any references to sex at all, explicit or no. If it was obscure enough that even the teachers wouldn’t understand it might be ok…
2) Any references to drug use. If a song was only about the negative consequences it might be ok…
3) Any references to dating or being in a serious relationship outside of marriage.
4) Any bad things said about God or religion.
5) Any overt mentioning of Jesus as God or a savior. This means pretty much any reference to Jesus…
I skimmed through all 15,768 songs on my hard drive and I came up with a list 18 songs long. Here it is:
A Matter of Trust by Billy Joel
Act Naturally by the Beatles
I’ve Just Seen a Face by the Beatles
Yesterday by the Beatles
Stand by your Man by Tammy Wynette
Mr. Pitiful by Otis Redding
We’re not Going to Take it by Twisted Sister
She’s Always a Woman to Me by Billy Joel
Sparrow by Simon and Garfunkel
Three Little Birds by Bob Marley
Thought I knew you by Matthew Sweet
Message in a Bottle by the Police
It’s not for me to Understand by Willie Nelson
Crazy and I Fall to Pieces by Patsy Cline
Spirits in the Material World by the Police
America the Beautiful/This Land is your Land by the Limelighters
Irish Blood, English Heart by Morrissy
I thought about adding “Sound of Da Police” by KRS one, but I thought that he might be a little tough for them to understand. I’m sure that I’ve forgotten a bunch of songs, but it is actually more difficult than you might think to find songs like this. Inevitably, when I found a song without swearing, it was too “opaque” for nonnative speakers. I can rationalize the love/ex-love songs with the idea that it was occuring inside of a marriage. Marriage problems are certainly a common enough thing here for them to identify with them. Similarly, songs about loneliness, longing, and regret are fair game as long as there aren’t any sexual overtones to them. Does anyone out there have any other suggestions?
2 replies on “A music challange”
I’m impressed with your list because it isn’t easy coming up with songs meeting all your criteria. My suggestion, if you don’t feel ridiculous doing it, is children’s songs. They are great for language learners for the same reasons they are good for children-easy to understand, repetitive, and have simple, innocent lyrics.
I thought about children’s songs but I ruled against them on two points. First, they tend to drive me nuts, and second, I don’t have any (see reason #!). All of the students seem to be old enough that the children’s songs might not interest them. Plus, many of them are interested in popular music. I know, these aren’t exactly setting the charts on fire, and they’re not overly recent, but at least they fit the criteria…
Isaac