Watch on: YouTube  Dailymotion  优酷

 

 

  

Hi, I’m Sarah, welcome to The Daily English Show.

 

Today we’re studying the song Blank Space by Taylor Swift. This song was released in
November last year. In the song Taylor Swift is making fun of the reputation that she
has in the media.

 

Her reputation in the media is that she dates a lot of guys, but only for a short time
because she’s so emotional and needy and then she gets her heart broken and she writes
songs about it for revenge.

 

So she’s mocking this reputation in the song.

 

For example she says:

 

When I first heard this line – got a long list of ex-lovers – I thought it was
something about Starbucks lovers. Something like: Got to love those Starbucks
lovers. And I was picturing a couple in Starbucks falling in love over coffee.

 

And from comments I’ve read online it seems like a lot of people thought it was
“Starbucks lovers” at first. But no, it’s: Got a long list of ex-lovers.

 

Another line in the song is:

 

 

To go down in flames is an idiom which means to fail spectacularly.

 

So if you broke up with your boyfriend and you had a calm discussion and you said,
“Hey, this isn’t working out, let’s break up.” Then that wouldn’t be going down in
flames.

 

But if you had a huge fight, cut up his clothes and then smashed up his car with a golf
club … you could say the relationship went down in flames.

 

Kia ora in Stick News today a jury has ordered the Blurred Lines songwriters to pay 7.3
million dollars to the family of Marvin Gaye.

 

In 2013 a song called Blurred Lines was released. It was produced by Pharrell Williams
and performed by Pharrell, Robin Thicke and TI.
Blurred Lines was huge success
worldwide and is one of the best-selling singles of all time.
Blurred Lines sounds
similar to the 1977 song Got to Give it Up by Marvin Gaye.
Marvin died in 1984.
Recently his children sued Pharrell and Robin Thicke for copyright infringement.
In
court Pharrell agreed the songs had a likeness but said he was channelling a late-70s
feeling – and it wasn’t plagiarism.
Robin Thicke said he was high during the
songwriting process and that Pharrell wrote most of the song.
On Tuesday a jury
ordered Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams to pay $7.3 million to the family of Marvin
Gaye for copyright infringement.
After the verdict Marvin Gaye’s daughter told
reporters she felt free from the chains of Pharrell and Robin Thicke.

 

And that was Stick News for Friday the 13th of March.
Kia ora.

 

 

HEY HEY HEY
meow

 

I thought your computer had parental controls?
It does, but this is on
YouTube.
What rhymes with hug me?

 

It does have a similar groove.
Yeah, but all music is influenced by other music.

 

I’m an excellent lawyer. I can get you millions. I know you want it.
HEY HEY HEY.

 

Because I’m happy …

 

Wasn’t me!

 

Robin Thicke is such a tool. Let’s go with guilty.
OK. I hate that misogynistic
song.

 

I’m so happy and rich right now that it’s hard to form coherent sentences.
Hey, you
can’t say “happy” – that’s Pharrell’s word!

 

Today’s word is reckless.

 

Reckless means: without thought or care for consequences of an action.

 

In today’s song, Taylor Swift sings:

 

Cause we’re young and we’re reckless
We’ll take this way too far

 

She means that because they’re young and they don’t think deeply about their
actions, they won’t be careful enough in their relationship.

 

These words have a similar meaning to reckless: rash, careless, thoughtless,
impulsive, hasty.

 

A pony walks into a bar and orders a drink.

“One martini, please.”

 

The bartender says: “What was that?”

 

The pony tries to order again

“MARTINI!”

 

but the bartender still can’t catch what the pony is saying.

“Sorry, what did you say?”

 

Finally the pony says: “I’m sorry, I’m a little hoarse.”

 

Bob: What does “new money” mean?

 

Sarah: From the song? New money, suit & tie I can read you like a magazine.

 

Bob: Yeah,

what’s she talking about?

 

Sarah: Well “new money” means that you got rich recently, by yourself, as opposed to
“old money” which means that you come from a rich family. Or a family that’s been
wealthy going back several generations.

 

Bob: So she thinks the guy is “new money”?

 

Sarah: Yeah. And I think the point is that, if you use phrases like “new money” and you
judge people based on their clothes then it means you’re kind of shallow and
materialistic. So she’s making fun of the media image of her that her relationships are
shallow and based on appearances.

 

And that was The Daily English Show.
If you don’t understand today’s joke, please go
to the script page for today’s show and click on the “I don’t get it” picture under the
joke. And that will take you to a page explaining the joke.

See you tomorrow. Bye!

 

 

today’s news
Blurred Lines – Wikipedia
Got to Give It Up – Wikipedia
Reddit
thread

 

Taylor Swift – Blank Space on Genius.com

 

track: If The Blues Were Some Other Color by: The James Quintet licence: CC-SA BY 3.0

 

Photos
Starbucks sign by Marco Paköeningrat licence: CC BY-SA
2.0
coffee heart by Ian Ransley licence: CC BY 2.0

 

 

Published: Friday 13 March 2015