Sting: How I started writing songs again

Listen to Sting: How I started writing songs again to practice old English sayings, metaphors, contractions, wishes and hypotheses with a British accent. What is the difference between will and would? When you hear the contraction 'd, can you tell if it is would or had? Print the Word document

1.     Write would or had as you listen for the contraction 'd

2.     Find the voices of the father and the son.

3.     How is the relationship? Underline the evidence.

4.     Circle the metaphor for wisdom.

5.     Circle the metaphor for choice.

6.     Circle the old English sayings for poverty.

7.     What do the boots represent?

8.     Who do the tree and sapling represent?

9.     What are the themes?

10.  How do these themes play out in your life, family and society?

Listen for the contractions, prepositional phrases and phrasal verbs. Fill in the blanks:

’ll = will

’d = would

’d = had

‘cause = because

gonna = going to

(in) the hell

end up

put down

try on

up to here

9:09 ♪ You see these work boots in my hands ♪

9:12 ♪ They__________ probably fit you now, my son ♪

9:15 ♪ Take them, they're a gift from me ♪

9:17 ♪ Why don't you __________ them __________ ? ♪

9:20 ♪ It __________ do your old man good to see ♪

9:23 ♪ You walking in these boots one day ♪

9:25 ♪ And take your place among the men ♪

9:28 ♪ Who work upon the slipway ♪

9:31 ♪ These dead man's boots, though they're old and curled ♪

9:34 ♪ When a fellow needs a job and a place in the world ♪

9:37 ♪ And it's time for a man to __________ __________ roots ♪

9:41 ♪ And walk to the river in his old man's boots ♪

9:49 ♪ He said, "I'm dying, son, and asking ♪

9:52 ♪ That you do one final thing for me ♪

9:55 ♪ You're barely but a sapling, and you think that you're a tree ♪

10:00 ♪ If you need a seed to prosper ♪

10:03 ♪ You must first __________ __________ some roots ♪

10:06 ♪ Just one foot then the other in ♪

10:08 ♪ These dead man's boots" ♪

10:11 ♪ These dead man's boots, though they're old and curled ♪

10:14 ♪ When a fellow needs a job and a place in the world ♪

10:17 ♪ And it's time for a man to __________ __________ roots ♪

10:22 ♪ And walk to the river in his old man's boots ♪

10:27 ♪ I said, "Why __________ __________ I do that? ♪

10:30 ♪ Why __________ I agree?" ♪

10:32 ♪ When his hand was all that I__________ received ♪

10:35 ♪ As far as I remember ♪

10:38 ♪ It's not as if he__________ spoiled me with his kindness ♪

10:41 ♪ Up to then, you see ♪

10:43 ♪ I__________  a plan of my own and I__________  quit this place ♪

10:46 ♪ When I came of age September ♪

10:48 ♪ These dead man's boots know their way down the hill ♪

10:52 ♪ They could walk there themselves, and they probably __________ ♪

10:54 ♪ I've plenty of choices, I've plenty other routes ♪

10:59 ♪ And you__________ never see me walking in these dead man's boots ♪

11:05 ♪ What was it made him think ♪

11:07 ♪ I__________ be happy __________ __________ like him ♪

11:10 ♪ When he__________ hardly got two halfpennies left ♪

11:12 ♪ Or a broken pot to piss in? ♪

11:15 ♪ He wanted this same thing for me ♪

11:18 ♪ Was that his final wish? ♪

11:20 ♪ He said, "What __________ are you __________ do?" ♪

11:23 ♪ I said, "Anything but this!" ♪

11:26 ♪ These dead man's boots know their way down the hill ♪

11:29 ♪ They can walk there themselves and they probably __________ ♪

11:32 ♪ But they won't walk with me __________ I'm off the other way ♪

11:35 ♪ I've had it ______________________________, I'm __________ have my say ♪

11:37 ♪ When all you've got left is that cross on the wall ♪

11:40 ♪ I want nothing from you, I want nothing at all ♪

11:43 ♪ Not a pension, nor a pittance, when your whole life is through ♪

11:46 ♪ Get this through your head, I'm nothing like you ♪

11:49 ♪ I'm done with all the arguments, there__________ be no more disputes ♪

11:54 ♪ And you__________ die before you see me in your dead man's boots 

After discussing the father and son dynamic in the song lyrics, my students taught me these Turkish sayings:

• Armut dibine düşer = The pear falls to the ground. / He or she will be like his or her father, mother or friend.
• Hep babasının izinden gider = He or She always follows in his or her father's footsteps.
• Anasına bak, kızını al = Look at the mom and you will get the daughter. / Like mother, like daughter.
• Ben yokum! = I'm off!
• Bıktım ya = I'm fed up. / I've had it.