Learn English with Songs – Pack up by Eliza Doolittle

Ready to learn some English and put your dancing shoes on? Excellent!

Eliza Doolittle has been on the ABA Blog before, with her song Skinny Genes, remember? And today we will be learning with a different song, called Pack up. It’s about not worrying what people say about you behind your back. Her suggestion is to put all our troubles in a bag and throw it into the sea.

Ok, this is what you have to do to learn English with songs:

1. Read the lyrics
2. Understand the vocabulary
3. SING!

Lyrics

I get tired and upset
And I’m trying to care a little less
When I google I only get depressed
I was taught to dodge those issues
I was told

Don’t worry, there’s no doubt
There’s always something to cry about
When you’re stuck in an angry crowd
They don’t think what they say
Before they open their mouth

You gotta
Pack up your troubles in your old kit bag
And bury them beneath the sea
I don’t care what the people may say
What the people may say about me

Pack up your troubles, get your old kit bag
Don’t worry about the cavalries
I don’t care what the whisperers say
‘Cause they whisper too loud for me

Hot topic
Maybe I should drop it
It’s a touchy subject
And I like to tiptoe ’round
The ship going down

We got no penny, no pound
So if your business is running out
It’s not my business to talk about
They don’t think what to say
Before they open their mouth

You gotta
Pack up your troubles in your old kit bag
And bury them beneath the sea
I don’t care what the people may say
What the people may say about me

Pack up your troubles, get your old kit bag
Don’t worry about the cavalries
I don’t care what the whisperers say
‘Cause they whisper too loud for me

It’s just to test your ability
Let’s count from one to infinity
Don’t rock the boat, gotta let it be
Gotta let it go, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh

Tweet, tweet
Tweet, tweet, tweet, tweet, tweet
Tweet, tweet, tweet
Tweet, tweet, tweet, tweet, tweet

Tweet, tweet, tweet
Tweet, tweet, tweet, tweet, tweet
Tweet, tweet, tweet, tweet

Pack up your troubles in your old kit bag
And bury them beneath the sea
I don’t care what the people may say
What the people may say about me

Pack up your troubles, get your old kit bag
Don’t worry about the cavalries
I don’t care what the whisperers say
‘Cause they whisper too loud for me

Yeah, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh
Yeah, eh, eh, eh
Yeah, eh, eh, eh

Vocabulary

Upset – angry or unhappy.

Dodge – to move quickly to one side in order to avoid being hit by (someone or something).

Issues – something that people are talking about, thinking about, etc. : an important subject or topic.

There’s always something to cry about – there is always something we can get angry at, or sad about.

Stuck – difficult or impossible to move from a position.

Kit bag – gym bag, the bag you carry clothes or tools in.

Bury – to put (a dead person or animal) in a grave.

Cavalries – the part of an army that in the past had soldiers who rode horses and that now has soldiers who ride in vehicles or helicopters.

Whisperers – someone who is whispering. A whisper is a very soft and quiet way of speaking.

Drop it – let it go.

Touchy – likely to cause people to become upset.

Tiptoe – to avoid talking about (something) : to talk about (something) only in an indirect way.

Don’t rock the boat – to cause trouble by changing or trying to change a situation that other people do not want to change.

Music Video

Did you like the song? TWEET IT OUT: Pack up your troubles and bury them in the sea… learning #English with @elizadoolittle and @abaenglish #learnwithsongs