Song: I Knew You Were Trouble Artist: Taylor Swift Year: 2012 Album: Red Language Feature: Verb Tenses
Episode Description
Sometimes, something good can come from a broken heart, and in this case, it’s improved English ability! But seriously, we couldn’t think of a better song than Taylor Swift’s 2012 pop song, “I knew you were trouble,” from her album, Red, for our first episode.
In this song, there are a wide variety of verb tenses, from the past, to the present, to the future. After you listen to the episode, make sure to listen to the song and sing along.
Episode Transcript
H: Hi! I’m Heather.
E: And I’m Ece and we are the hosts of the podcast, “English as a Singing Language.” H: In each episode of the podcast, we will look at a specific language feature in a song. We will talk about pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary across a wide variety of music types from different time periods. E: That’s right. We’re both ESL teachers and over the years we have had a great time using music with our students to make learning English interesting and fun. H: I feel like “singing” English is sometimes easier than speaking it, don’t you? E: I sure do. And learning English in a song is much more memorable than learning it from a textbook. H: I totally agree! Well, are you ready for our very first episode? E: I am! Let’s get started! H: (Humming T Swift “I knew you were trouble”) E: Hey Heather! What are you doing? What song is that? H: It’s a Taylor Swift song. I have had it stuck in my head all day today. It’s called I Knew You Were Trouble. E: Oh, I like that song, too! I think this would be the perfect song for the first episode. So, what do we know about this song, Heather? H: Well, it was recorded by the world-famous, multi-platinum recording artist, Taylor Swift on her 2012 album, Red. Taylor Swift has recorded many different types of music and she is known for singing songs that talk about her personal life. E: I think this song is a great example of that. H: Me too. After she recorded the song “I Knew You Were Trouble” in 2012, in an interview, Taylor Swift said, quote "It's a song about being frustrated with yourself because here you are heartbroken and you knew when you first saw this person, you saw all these red flags and you went for it anyway. So, shame on me." E: Hmmmm….a “red flag” meaning something that represents danger or identifies a problem. So, she knew that the person she wrote the song about wasn’t going to be a positive influence in her life, he was going to be “trouble,” but she got involved with him anyway…interesting. H: It is. AND it’s a great example of a case where we use two past tense verbs to indicate that two events happened right after each other. “I knew you were trouble when you walked in.” E: So, he walked in first, and then she knew immediately that he was trouble. Just like I can say, Heather, I saw that you were ready to sing as soon as you arrived today. H: That’s true! I was! And like many of her songs, this one tells a story. It starts out talking about the past, when she first met this guy. E: Uh-huh, so most of the verbs in that part of the song are going to be in simple past tense. There are examples of regular past tense verbs with -ed endings like, “walked” and “liked.” H: And others are irregular past tense verbs like, “found,” “fell,” “took” and “flew.” E: It sounds like she had a bad experience with this person then. So, what happened next in the song? H: Well, I think she was pretty upset. She sings, “Now I’m lying on the cold hard ground.” E: Oh wow. That doesn’t sound good! But, I do like her use of the present progressive tense, “I’m lying on” to show that the action is happening right now. H: And she also sings, “He’s the reason why you’re drowning.” E: She feels like she’s trying to swim and she’s about to go under water. Oh, that’s bad. H: Things were terrible with this guy, and now she is feeling sad, but what about the future? E: She sings, “He’ll never see you cry.” And, “A new notch in your belt is all I’ll ever be.” She’s using “will” for a definite future event. H: Huh. That’s interesting. What does that phrase mean, “A new notch in your belt”? E: Think about a belt, like the one you are wearing right now. H: Ok, I’m wearing my favorite purple belt today - and by the way, great use of the present progressive Ece, “you are wearing,” E: A notch in a belt is one of the spaces that you use to adjust its size. Since there are a long line of notches on a belt, it kind of means that she was just one in a long line of many romantic partners. And maybe it means that he never loved her. H: Or anyone. E: Or anything. H: That doesn’t sound very good for Taylor Swift. E: No, it doesn’t. But this song is great for us to use to practice our verb tenses. H: Absolutely! I think we’re ready to take a listen to the song and pay attention to the verbs. E: Let’s do it. If you want to do the listening activity, you can find it in the episode description. Listen for the verbs and think carefully about whether Taylor Swift is singing about the past, the present or the future! H: I know she had a negative experience with this guy, but I hope she will meet somebody someday and maybe write a song called, “I knew you were amazing when you walked in.” E: That sounds fantastic. Ok Listeners! Don’t forget to sing the song out loud while you listen! You can find a link to Taylor Swift’s 2012 smash hit, “I Knew You Were Trouble” in the Episode Description.
H: Thanks so much for joining us for our first episode. Make sure to follow so you’ll know when episode 2 drops. E: Let us know what you think! You can email us suggestions for songs for a future episode at singinglanguages@gmail.com. Until then….Have fun and [together] just keep singing. H: [together] just keep singing!
Official YouTube Video
Activity
Once upon a time A few mistakes ago I was in your sights You ________ me alone You found me, you found me, you found me I guess you didn't care And I guess I ________ that And when I ________ hard You _________ a step back Without me, without me, without me And _________ long gone When he's next to me And I ____________ The blame _________ on me Refrain: 'Cause I ___________ you were trouble when you ___________ in So shame on me now ___________ me to places _____________________ 'Til you put me down, oh (repeat) Now ________________ on the cold hard ground Oh, oh, Trouble, trouble, trouble Oh, oh, Trouble, trouble, trouble No apologies ___________ never see you cry Pretend he doesn't know That he's the reason why You're drowning, you're drowning, you're drowning And I ____________ you moved on From whispers on the street A new notch in your belt Is all ___________ ever be And now I see, now I see, now I see He _______ long gone When he met me And I realize The joke is on me, hey Refrain And the saddest fear Comes ______________ in That you never loved me Or her Or anyone Or anything Yeah
Song Lyrics
Once upon a time A few mistakes ago I was in your sights You got me alone You found me, you found me, you found me I guess you didn't care And I guess I liked that And when I fell hard You took a step back Without me, without me, without me And he's long gone When he's next to me And I realize The blame is on me 'Cause I knew you were trouble when you walked in So shame on me now Flew me to places I'd never been 'Til you put me down, oh I knew you were trouble when you walked in So, shame on me now Flew me to places I'd never been Now I'm lyin' on the cold hard ground Oh, oh, Trouble, trouble, trouble Oh, oh, Trouble, trouble, trouble No apologies He'll never see you cry Pretend he doesn't know That he's the reason why You're drowning, you're drowning, you're drowning And I heard you moved on From whispers on the street A new notch in your belt Is all I'll ever be And now I see Now I see Now I see He was long gone When he met me And I realize The joke is on me, hey I knew you were trouble when you walked in, oh-ooh So shame on me now Flew me to places I'd never been Till you put me down, oh I knew you were trouble when you walked in So shame on me now Flew me to places I'd never been, yeah Now I'm lyin' on the cold hard ground Oh, oh (yeah) Trouble, trouble, trouble Oh, oh Trouble, trouble, trouble And the saddest fear Comes creepin' in That you never loved me Or her Or anyone Or anything Yeah I knew you were trouble when you walked in So shame on me now Flew me to places I'd never been (never been) Till you put me down, oh I knew you were trouble when you walked in (knew it right there, knew it right there) So shame on me now Flew me to places I'd never been (Uuh) now I'm lyin' on the cold hard ground Oh, oh Trouble, trouble, trouble, oh Oh, oh Trouble, trouble, trouble I knew you were trouble when you walked in Trouble, trouble, trouble I knew you were trouble when you walked in Trouble, trouble, trouble
Songwriters: Johan Karl Schuster / Martin Max Sandberg / Taylor Alison Swift I Knew You Were Trouble. lyrics © Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd., Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Universal Music Publishing Group
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