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supermarkets So with all these groceries I'm also getting points Learn more at AmericanExpress .com slash us slash explore dash gold Terms and points cap apply Hello, thanks for listening to the learning English conversations podcast this next episode is part of our music series My Song My Home where we
learn language from a different song each week in each episode we visit a different city and meet a new musician it's a great way to practice listening to real English speakers and you'll learn lots of English expressions from the music in the program we hope you enjoy it it's it's got such a musical
history the city obviously you've got the Beatles but there are so many other amazing bands that have come from here that there's so much music coming out of Liverpool.
We're in an old library with wooden shelves full of old books and huge bright windows in the center of Liverpool, a city in the northwest of England.
My name is Grace Chloe.
I am a singer and pianist and songwriter.
Like Grace says, Liverpool is probably most famous for being the home of the rock band The Beatles, who became famous in the 1960s.
But there's a lot more to see.
Welcome to My Song, My Home.
In this podcast, we visit a different place in each episode and meet a musician that lives there.
Today, Grace will explain why she decided to become a musician and tell us about living in Liverpool.
We'll also learn some vocabulary from her music later in the programme.
Find a transcript of this episode to read along on our website bbclearningenglish .com.
Grace has always had an interest in music.
I knew like every word to every song that was on the radio, all the sort of old songs and the new songs I'd always be singing along.
If we went to a restaurant, I'd sit there with my headphones in singing out loud, annoying people at other tables.
Grace has been singing as long as she can remember and she began playing the piano as a child.
I lost my eyesight when I was four and so I had to learn to read braille and stuff like that and it was the mobility teacher so the person that taught me how to use a long cane and stuff they suggested that learning the piano could improve my sense of touch and my strength in my hands and my wrists
and stuff grace is blind and had to learn to read braille this is a system for reading for people without eyesight where small bumps can be read by running your fingers across the page because grace had to learn to use touch for reading braille a teacher suggested learning the piano might help i started
playing it for those reasons but then just as soon as i started I'd absolutely realised how much I absolutely loved it.
Music quickly became a huge part of Grace's life and she began to love performing when she got a chance to sing on stage at a festival.
There was a group there called Rocky Oki and they're basically a live band, karaoke band.
Rocky Oki is a play on the word karaoke, which is where just the music but not the voice of a popular song is played, so that you can sing along yourself.
This version was with a live band, and Grace got picked to sing.
And I just remember the second I opened my mouth, the tent of people just went absolutely crazy.
By the end of the song, everyone was singing, there were people sort of running in from outside.
and when when I finished the the crowd started chanting saying one more song when grace performed the crowd started chanting repeating the same words one more song from that moment grace wanted to be a musician yeah I like it nearly makes me cry talking about it it was just such an incredible feeling
and it was sort of that was the first time I really knew deep down that I would never want to do anything other than music.
So Grace moved to Liverpool to study music at the university and it has quickly become home.
It is the friendliest, scariest, most off -the -wall, lovely, absolutely bananas place in the world.
The people here are the loveliest people you will meet anywhere grace describes liverpool as off the wall or unusual and bananas very silly it's also been a great place for grace to write and perform grace is going to perform her song perplexed have a listen and visit our website to read the lyrics
walking around with my head in the clouds got my feet on the ground And no doubts about you What we've been through We can make it through anything Because I love you But you set your back and I can't quite believe You see lies in your eyes Hidden behind the green And don't understand what's going on Can't
help feeling that something is wrong I'm lost with you babe Don't keep saying we're great It's time we did some Straight up talking And need some understanding Don't know where we're standing Don't know where we're at And I can't get no answers from you No, you know it's true And oh, I adore you And
you say it's you I'm waiting between the substance You've got me perplexed I can't believe I had anxiety That I couldn't love you as much as you love me but three months on didn't seem so long and yet our positions have completely swapped I worshipped the ground you walk on You worshipped the ground
behind me Begging for you at your feet But you're just like the sign I had me down on my knees I'm lost with you babe Can't keep saying we're great It's time we did so Straight up talking I need some understanding Don't know where we're standing don't know where we're at and i can't get no answers from you
no you know it's true and though i adore you and you say it too i'm reading between the subtext got me perplexed the song is called perplexed because grace wanted to include this strange word in a song perplexed means confused because something is too difficult to understand you might be perplexed by a maths
problem for example but in the song grace is perplexed by a relationship with somebody in the song grace uses the phrase worship the ground you walk on it's a common expression in english it means to love or admire someone a lot so much so that the things they've touched like the ground they've walked
on become special in the song grace uses the phrase straight up talking.
Straight in this context means honest or truthful.
Straight up talking means an honest conversation.
You can also be a straight talker, which is someone who tells the truth, even if it's difficult.
One of the lyrics in the song is reading between the subtext.
Now this is a playful take on a common English expression, reading between the lines.
If you read between the lines you try to understand meanings or emotions that are not literally in the words on a page or that someone has said.
This hidden meaning can also be called a subtext so if you were reading between the subtext like Grace does in the song you would be looking for an even more hidden meaning, maybe one that isn't even there.
In the song it's about being confused about a relationship and looking for answers.
Listen to the rest of Grace's song and read along using the lyrics on our website.
Are there any other phrases she uses about being confused or perplexed?
You keep saying I'm worried about nothing, nothing at all I guess I'm deaf when I'm with you, I used to feel safe, now I feel small I'm lost with you babe, can't keep saying to be great I'm lost with you babe, can't keep nothing smiling And then, uh -huh, yeah, we're okay I'm lost with you, babe Gonna keep
saying we're great as done And it's all straight up talking Under some understanding Don't know where we're standing Don't know where we're at And I can't get no answers from you Oh, no, you know it's true And that's all you said to I'm waiting between the subsets Got me perplexed Thanks for listening
to my song, my home
