Learn English with Songs: “Helplessness Blues”

Hi there!

Do you know Fleet Foxes? They’re an amazing band from Seatle. The following song is about finding yourself in society.

1. Read the lyrics
2. Understand the vocabulary
3. Sing along!

Lyrics

I was raised up believing I was somehow unique
Like a snowflake distinct among snowflakes, unique in each way you can see
And now after some thinking, I’d say I’d rather be
A functioning cog in some great machinery serving something beyond me

But I don’t, I don’t know what that will be
I’ll get back to you someday soon you will see

What’s my name, what’s my station, oh, just tell me what I should do
I don’t need to be kind to the armies of night that would do such injustice to you
Or bow down and be grateful and say “sure, take all that you see”
To the men who move only in dimly-lit halls and determine my future for me

And I don’t, I don’t know who to believe
I’ll get back to you someday soon you will see

If I know only one thing, it’s that everything that I see
Of the world outside is so inconceivable often I barely can speak
Yeah I’m tongue-tied and dizzy and I can’t keep it to myself
What good is it to sing helplessness blues, why should I wait for anyone else?

And I know, I know you will keep me on the shelf
I’ll come back to you someday soon myself

If I had an orchard, I’d work till I’m raw
If I had an orchard, I’d work till I’m sore
And you would wait tables and soon run the store

Gold hair in the sunlight, my light in the dawn
If I had an orchard, I’d work till I’m sore
If I had an orchard, I’d work till I’m sore
Someday I’ll be like the man on the screen

Vocabulary

Somehow – in a way that is not known or certain.

Snowflake – a small, soft piece of frozen water that falls from the sky as snow : a flake of snow.

Cog – someone or something that is thought of as being like a part of a machine. A cog is any one of the small parts that stick out on the outer edge of a wheel or gear and that allow it to turn along with another wheel or gear.

Beyond – on or to the farther part or side.

Dimly-lit – not very bright or well lit.

Inconceivable – impossible to imagine or believe : not conceivable.

Orchard – a place where people grow fruit trees.

Raw – very sore : damaged and painful from harsh conditions, rubbing, etc.

Sore – feeling or affected by pain.

On the screen – the art or profession of acting in movies.

Video

What did you think? Did you like them? What’s your favourite band?