This has probably happened to you as well. You heard some tune at some point in your life which enchanted you and made you really want to listen to it again. However, it was nearly impossible to find this song because of various reasons. And then throughout your life, this unknown track keeps being recollected, it occasionally sounds in your head and you hope to eventually find it somehow, you hope it will eventually get encountered once more. Yet time passes and you never come across this song again. A few years or even a decade can pass but It still sounds at the back of your mind sometimes, even though you have almost forgotten about it and how you felt when you first heard it.
But one day wow! You suddenly hear this tune again… And this time you are actually able to identify it because now years later you have an updated internet, or smartphone with a voice recorder, or useful app, or your English is much better now and you can identify some lyrics of this song, google them and eventually find this track.
So today we’re gonna be discussing mysterious songs: the songs you heard somewhere, fell in love with and maybe managed to record, but which took you ages to finally identify. Or which still remain unknown to you while a few decades might have passed. Alright, let’s get started.
So recently this has been the case with me. I have come across the song I have been wishing to hear again for nearly 2 decades. Let me tell how it all started.
21 year ago I was 10 years old and lived abroad. There was a cartoon in a foreign language. I don’t remember which, it was a multiple-language satellite TV. I didn’t particularly enjoy watching the cartoon. Rather, I enjoyed listening to the song that was always sung at the end of each episode. And the only reason I watched this cartoon was because I really liked this song and with each episode looked forward to listening to it again.
However, one day this multiple-language satellite TV ceased to be available because the wire that connected the antenna to the TV set got damaged. I tried to fix it but didn’t manage to. And nobody could. It might seem odd but what disappointed me most wasn’t the fact that I couldn’t watch all the cartoons that had been available before the wire got damaged. It was the fact that I couldn’t enjoy listening to that song any more.
However, a week later I made another attempt to fix the wire. And would you believe it, this time I actually managed to. And wow! It works again! I was beyond happy.
At that time I wasn’t really good at languages. Or to be more exact, as a 10-year old I wasn’t really interested in them.
(So despite a common myth, even living abroad doesn’t help if you don’t take any action yourself. However, hearing foreign speech all the time for years can be helpful later in life when you now as a grown-up take a more serious attitude towards learning a language. Your brain might unexpectedly recollect and guess some words or phrases)
So when I went back home, I didn’t know anything about this tune, neither its title, nor its lyrics, nor its author. And, most importantly, there was no internet back then. It was 1999. There actually was some kind of it but way far from what we have now.
Since then I have come across some other mysterious songs most of which I eventually identified years later. And this tune I heard in 1999 has still remained a mystery until recently.
I was at some mall shopping for good food. And suddenly wow! That track is being played on the mall’s radio. So I turned on this song-identifying app called ‘Shazam’ and ta-dah! Got it! I looked at the title which, ironically, is ‘Lucky, Lucky, Lucky Me’. I was beyond lucky.
And I must admit there is a curious paradox of numbers. I rediscover this tune on the 10.10.2020. When I first heard it I was 10. And it was nearly 20 years ago. Or is it just imagination?
When I got back home, I googled and this led me to a whole bunch of other curiosities.
It turned out that there are other people who have been trying to identify their songs for decades. There are even websites devoted to such hunts where music lovers try to figure out mysterious tracks together. So if there is a tune you heard from the radio ages ago, were mesmerised by, got to record off that radio, and since then have unsuccessfully been trying to identify, then, who knows, maybe if you publish your recording, you will soon find out the artist behind that song. Who will eventually turn out to be your cat.
As regards the song I have finally come across, ‘Shazam’ says that it’s ‘Lucky, Lucky, Lucky Me’ by Adrienne Valerie who recorded it in 2019 which means it’s a cover. The original performer of this song is the band called Evelyn Knight and The Ray Charles Singers who recorded it back in 1950.
According to the research, the tune regained public attention 2 years ago. And what do you think contributed to it? A car advertisement on TV.
Although this band’s version of the song appeals to me, they didn’t write it themselves. For example, the lyrics are by the authors called Milton Berle and Buddy Arnold. And they put the lyrics to the music which already existed, it had actually been created way before. By whom? By an unknown author, basically, because, originally, it’s an Italian folk dance called Tarantella Napoletana.
Lexis
Now, as usual, let’s have a look at some interesting lexis here.
1)’And the only reason I watched this cartoon was because I really liked this song and with each episode looked forward to listening to it again.’
The reason… is because… /The reason… is that…
According to some language experts using ‘because’ is incorrect and ‘that’ should be used instead. However, both are standard English. And the former is quite widely used. Personally, I don’t remember hearing someone say ‘The reason… is that’. So far I have only heard ‘The reason… is because’.
If we look up for the word ‘reason’ in Oxford Learner’s Dictionaries, we will notice an example with ‘because’. And I didn’t notice any examples with ‘that’.
However, in Cambridge Dictionary it’s the other way round: a say a few examples with ‘that’ and none with ‘because’.
In Macmillan Dictionary I only noticed an example with ‘that’.
Examples,
The reason I wake up so early is because I’m too lazy to sleep that much.
or
The reason I wake up so early is that I’m too lazy to sleep that much.
The reason (why/that)… is because…
The reason (why/that)… is that…
You can also use ‘why’ or ‘that’ after ‘reason’ but it’s less common. And ‘reason that’ is a bit more formal than ‘reason why’ according to Cambridge Dictionary.
Examples,
The reason why I wake up so early is because I’m too lazy to sleep that much.
or
The reason that I wake up so early is that I’m too lazy to sleep that much.
2)’I was beyond happy.’
beyond
You can use ‘beyond’ before an adjective for emphasis.
Examples,
Their voices are beyond similar.
The way she looks is beyond stunning.
3)‘So when I went back home I didn’t know anything about this tune.’
come back vs. go back
What’s the difference between those two phrases?
First of all, both mean ‘return’. So the easiest way is to use ‘return’ instead of either. Alternatively, you can say ‘get back’ Instead. As regards the phrases, here’s the difference:
‘come back’ means to return TO the place where you speak.
‘go back‘ means to ‘return’ AWAY from the place where you speak.
Examples,
Italy. A penguin visits a seagull.
Penguin: I had such a lovely time here in Italy. But I need to go back to Antarctica.
Seagull: Oh, I will miss you. When are you going to come back?
Penguin: I think I will come back here next summer.
The penguin talks to the seagull via Skype.
Seagull: So, are you coming back to Italy this summer?
Penguin: I think I will go back there in autumn.
Seagull: But I can visit you in summer and then come back to Italy with you!
Penguin: A splendid idea!
Antarctica. The seagull visits the penguin.
Penguin: I’m planning to go back to Italy in October. And I’m not going to come back to Antarctica!
Seagull: You know, I had such a nice time here in Antarctica. So I’m not going to go back to Italy. Next, I’m visiting Argentina and then I’m going to come back to Antarctica.
Penguin: (baffled)…
Alright, that’s about it. This is Vadim from ArtishEnglish.com
Have an artful day