Song: This is Me
Artist: Keala Settle
Year: 2017
Album: The Greatest Showman, Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
Language Feature: Schwa in unstressed syllables
Episode Description
We hope your new year is off to a good start. If your new year’s resolution is to improve your English language ability, and you want some inspiration, we encourage you to take a listen to this episode.
Most people worry about what others think sometimes, and in this episode, we are using the hit song, “This is Me,” from the 2017 film, “The Greatest Showman,” to talk about accepting yourself and having a positive attitude.
The language focus of this song is the pronunciation of the schwa sound in unstressed syllables. The schwa sound is part of what gives English the rhythm and sound that it has. This song will help you sing your way to natural-sounding English!
Episode Transcript
<Intro>
H: Hi! I’m Heather.
E: And I’m Ece, and we’re the cohosts of the podcast, “English as a Singing Language.”
H: This podcast is for those of you who love music and love learning English.
E: Or love teaching English.
H: Right. We love using a variety of English songs to learn useful vocabulary, helpful grammar and accurate pronunciation.
E: And speaking of pronunciation, this episode focuses on pronunciation, right?
H: Yes! In this episode, we’re going to talk about the schwa pronunciation in unstressed syllables.
E: The what in the what?
H: You know, how we say “uh-nough,” as in, “I don’t have enough time to finish it,” instead of “ee-nough,”? That’s because the stress in that word is on the second syllable.
E: That sounds very in-te-res-ting. Or, should I say, “IN truh sting”
H: It is! And there is also some very useful vocabulary in the song in this episode.
E: Sounds great. I can’t wait.
H: Me neither. Let’s get started.
<end intro>
H: <humming This is Me> Hi Ece! What are you doing here in the library? I thought you would be at home already!
E: You know how I started a graduate degree program last year?
H: Yes! That’s so exciting!
E: It is exciting, and I am learning so much, but…
H: But what? That sounds wonderful!
E: It is. I am really enjoying all my classes and everything; it’s just that I don’t know the other classmates very well, and a lot of them are much younger than I am. I am just afraid I’ll say the wrong thing and they’ll think I’m weird or something.
H: I feel that way sometimes. I think everybody does. We feel like we can’t just be ourselves because of what other people might think. Maybe you should hear the song I was just listening to.
E: It sounded very familiar. What is it?
H: It is the 2017 song, “This is Me,” sung by Keala Settle.
E: Oh! It’s one of the songs from the original movie soundtrack of the film, “The Greatest Showman,” right?
H: Yes. It’s a movie about P. T. Barnum, the creator of the Barnum and Bailey Circus.
E: I saw that movie, and I really liked it.
H: And one of the main characters in the film, P. T. Barnum’s wife, Charity Barnum, gives some very good advice. She said, “You don’t need everyone to love you, just a few good people.”
E: I like that! It is very good advice.
H: In addition to being a very inspirational song, “This is Me,” also has some great examples of a language feature that we haven’t talked about yet in the podcast.
E: I think I heard an example just now! When you said, “inspirational,” you didn’t say, “inspIrational,” you said, “inspuhrational.”
H: Exactly! This is an example of a reduced schwa vowel in an unstressed syllable.
E: A “schwa” is the “uh” sound, right?
H: Yes a “schwa” makes the sound “uh,” and in English, there is also one syllable in each word that receives the main stress. This syllable is longer, louder, and higher than the other syllables in the word.
E: And the unstressed syllable is often pronounced as a schwa, or an “uh” sound.
H: That’s right. So, in the beginning of the song she sings, “I am not a stranger to the dark "Hide away," they say, "'Cause we don't want your broken parts."
E: I heard a good example in the word, “broken.” She doesn’t sing “broken,” but “brokuhn.”
H: Yep. And she continues, “I've learned to be ashamed of all my scars. "Run away," they say, "No one'll love you as you are."
E: I hear it in, “ashamed.” It’s not, “ashamed,” but “uhshamed.”
H: Uh-huh. This first part of the song is about how she feels like she has to hide who she is. She isn’t good enough for people to love her.
E: But then the refrain goes, “But I won't let them break me down to dust. I know that there's a place for us. For we are glorious.”
H: I heard it in the word “glorious.” It’s not glorious, but gloriuhs. And, what does “glorious,” mean, Ece?
E: “Glorious” comes from the noun, “glory,” meaning that you have done something really remarkable and amazing. “Glorious” means that you should receive admiration for how beautiful and outstanding you are.
H: We can use it for people, but can we use it for things, too? For example, if I go to the beach, and the weather is really spectacular, could I say, “The weather is glorious today.”
E: Yes. And then I would know that it was sunny and warm and beautiful.
H: That sounds great, but anyway, back to the song. She sings, “When the sharpest words wanna cut me down, I'm gonna send a flood, gonna drown 'em out.”
E: Hmmm… sometimes people use sharp words if they are angry or frustrated.
H: Occasionally, I use sharp words with my students if they don’t follow instructions.
E: Really? I don’t believe that!
H: Only occasionally. She has good advice in the second part of that line. She’s going to send a flood, which has a schwa pronunciation, “fluhd,” which is a huge amount of water.
E: These are all good examples of figurative language. The words are sharp, and can cut her, but then she is going to send a flood of water and drown the words out. Then, they can’t hurt her anymore.
H: Yes. “Drown out” is a good phrasal verb. If there is something you don’t want to hear, you can try to drown it out.
E: Like when I’m on the bus and someone is listening to very loud music or talking on their phone…
H: …you can put on your headphones and listen to music to drown them out.
E: Exactly. That happens all the time.
H: Let’s talk about these lines, “And I'm marching on to the beat I drum. I'm not scared to be seen. I make no apologies."
E: There’s an expression in English, “to march to the beat of your own drum,” which is similar to these lyrics.
H: Yes. If you “march to the beat of your own drum,” it means you do what you want and you don’t pay attention to what other people think about you or say about you.
E: So, when she says, “I'm marching on to the beat I drum,” she means that she doesn’t care what other people think she should do. She’s following her own ideas.
H: Exactly. And in the word, “apologies,” we hear the reduced schwa. It’s, “apoluhgies,” and not “apologies.”
E: Cool.
H: The next lyrics are, “Another round of bullets hits my skin. Well, fire away because today I won’t let the shame sink in.”
E: So, she’s not talking about actual bullets, right? And I notice that it’s “bullut” and not “bullet.”
H: Right. She’s still talking about the mean things people say sometimes. This time she’s comparing their words to bullets.
E: When she says, “fire away,” it means, “go ahead and shoot me with your mean words; you won’t hurt me.” She won’t feel the shame or the pain.
H: Yes. And she goes on to sing, “We are bursting through the barricades and reaching for the sun.”
E: I heard the reduced schwa in “barruhcade.” And what is a barricade, Heather?
H: A barricade is something that people build or put up across a road or an entrance to keep someone or something bad from reaching them.
E: So, in this case, there are people trying to keep them out or make them feel like they can’t join them, but they are “bursting through the barricades.”
H: They are “reaching for the sun,” and nobody can stop them.
E: The next line, “We are warriors. Yeah, that’s what we’ve become.” A “warrior” is somebody who fights.
H: Yes, as in, “somebody who goes to war.” And did you notice the “buhcome” instead of, “become”?
E: I did. The reduced schwa sound is in so many words.
H: It is. Most longer words have an unstressed schwa sound in them.
E: I think we’re down to the most powerful words in the whole song.
H: I think we are. She sings, “I am brave. I am bruised. I am who I’m meant to be. This is me.”
E: It sounds like maybe some of those sharp words or those “bullets” have hit her if she is “bruised.”
H: Yes. If you hit your body against something, it will leave a purple mark called a “bruise,” but she is brave and she is marching to the beat of her own drum, and this is who she is meant to be.
E: I think we’re ready to sing!
H: I think so, too.
E: There is a link to the official movie soundtrack version of Keala Settle singing, “This is Me” in the episode notes.
H: Make sure that you sing out loud and pay attention to those reduced schwa sounds.
E + H: We are brave. We are bruised. We are who we’re meant to be. This is us!!
<outro>
H: So Ece, how are you feeling about your classes after listening to, “This is Me”?
E: I feel a lot better about my classes now. I’m not worried about what other people might think about me. I’m who I’m meant to be. I’m marching to the beat of my own drum. This is me.
H: And you are great just the way you are!
E: I’m really glad we talked about this song.
H: Me too. All we have to do now is remind our listeners to like and subscribe to the podcast.
E: That way they will know as soon as a new episode is released.
H: And our episodes are now available to listen to on YouTube.
E: That’s right. And I’m busy adding all our previous episodes to our YouTube channel, so soon all your favorites will be on YouTube.
H: Make sure to tell your friends and family about the podcast, too.
E: And you can also to go to the Singing Languages website to access extra content like episode transcripts.
H: Right! You can always get in touch with us on the website or via email. Our email address is: singinglanguages@gmail.com.
E: Definitely. We love hearing from you! And finally, you can follow English as a Singing Language on Instagram @singinglanguages to find out about upcoming episodes, what we’ve been up to in the recording studio and lots more.
H: We hope you’ve enjoyed this episode, and until next time, have fun and…
H + E: …just keep singing.
Official YouTube Video
Complete Lyrics
I am not a stranger to the dark
"Hide away, " they say
"'Cause we don't want your broken parts"
I've learned to be ashamed of all my scars
"Run away, " they say
"No one'll love you as you are"
But I won't let them break me down to dust
I know that there's a place for us
For we are glorious
When the sharpest words wanna cut me down
I'm gonna send a flood, gonna drown 'em out
I am brave, I am bruised
I am who I'm meant to be, this is me
Look out 'cause here I come
And I'm marching on to the beat I drum
I'm not scared to be seen
I make no apologies, this is me
Oh-oh-oh-oh
Oh-oh-oh-oh
Oh-oh-oh-oh
Oh-oh-oh-oh
Oh-oh-oh, oh-oh-oh, oh-oh-oh, oh, oh
Another round of bullets hits my skin
Well, fire away 'cause today, I won't let the shame sink in
We are bursting through the barricades and
Reaching for the sun (we are warriors)
Yeah, that's what we've become (yeah, that's what we've become)
I won't let them break me down to dust
I know that there's a place for us
For we are glorious
When the sharpest words wanna cut me down
I'm gonna send a flood, gonna drown 'em out
I am brave, I am bruised
I am who I'm meant to be, this is me
Look out 'cause here I come
And I'm marching on to the beat I drum
I'm not scared to be seen
I make no apologies, this is me
Oh-oh-oh-oh
Oh-oh-oh-oh
Oh-oh-oh-oh
Oh-oh-oh-oh
Oh-oh-oh, oh-oh-oh, oh-oh-oh, oh, oh
This is me
and I know that I deserve your love
(Oh-oh-oh-oh) there's nothing I'm not worthy of
(Oh-oh-oh, oh-oh-oh, oh-oh-oh, oh, oh)
When the sharpest words wanna cut me down
I'm gonna send a flood, gonna drown 'em out
This is brave, this is bruised
This is who I'm meant to be, this is me
Look out 'cause here I come (look out 'cause here I come)
And I'm marching on to the beat I drum (marching on, marching, marching on)
I'm not scared to be seen
I make no apologies, this is me
Whenever the words wanna cut me down (oh-oh-oh-oh)
I'll send a flood to drown 'em out (oh, oh-oh, oh-oh)
I'm gonna send a flood (oh-oh-oh-oh)
Gonna drown them 'em out (oh-oh-oh, oh-oh-oh, oh-oh-oh, oh, oh)
Oh
This is me
Songwriters: Benj Pasek / Justin Paul
This Is Me lyrics © Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd., Walt Disney Music Company