Understanding Lyrics

Hi Students!

I was preparing some materials for a listening class this morning and I came across this great site for understanding song lyrics.

It’s called Genius.com.

It is a website where people annotate songs. This means they give you the lyrics of the song with explanations and examples, so you can understand the song better.

One of the difficult things about using music to learn English is understanding the context and all the references to other things within the culture.

On this website, people explain these things and give examples (e.g. photos and other videos) so you can learn not just what the words mean, but also what they refer to and the history behind the song.

You can find help for all types of music genres as well: rap, rock, pop, country, R&B and more!

Check out the annotation for the hit song Uptown Funk.

Go through the lyrics, read the explanations and see if it helps you understand this song better.

Tell me in the comments whether or not you find it helpful!

Thanks!

Lisa

Here is the class that I taught.