English, baby!

Beth Orton

Date: May 27 2002

Intro

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2. Read and Prepare - Read the introduction and prepare to hear the audio.

I’m a lucky man. In the past two days, I’ve been to two amazing concerts. Last night I went to see Cornershop, an eclectic band from England, and the night before that I saw Beth Orton, who has one of the most beautiful voices in the world. The two concerts were so good and the two bands are so talented that I could probably write 10 lessons about them, but I’m only going to write two. This week I’m going to tell you about Beth Orton. Next week I’ll tell you more about Cornershop.
Beth Orton isn’t a pop star diva like Mariah Carey or Janet Jackson. She doesn’t have the looks of Britney Spears or Fiona Apple. And she’s not a teen superstar like Michelle Branch or Christina Aguilera. What she is, is one of the most talented female singer-songwriters alive today.
Read on to learn more about Beth.

Dialog

1. Listen and Read - Listen to the audio and read the dialog at the same time.

2. Study - Read the dialog again to see how the vocab words are used.

I was a Beth Orton fan before I went to her concert. After her concert, I’m absolutely in love with her music. Every song was good. Her band performed flawlessly. And her voice is almost magical. It sounds so good in concert that sometimes I almost couldn’t believe it was real.
But it was. And what made the show so great was that Beth was real too. She doesn’t try to be something she’s not. She’s a geeky girl who can’t stop daydreaming. She’s wholesome, cute and romantic. She wants to find love and she wants love to find her.
Check out some of the lyrics to “Sweetest Decline:”
So, anyway,
There I was,
Just sitting on your porch
Drinking in the sweetest decline.
The sweetest decline.
Sober mind
What’s the use in regrets
They’re just things we haven’t done yet.
What are regrets?
They’re just lessons we haven’t learned yet.
Another day draws away,
And my heart sinks with the sun.
It’s like catching snow on my tongue.
It’s like catching snow on my tongue.
As you can see, her lyrics are somewhat dream-like. They can be hard to understand if you try to take them literally. Rather, you have to think of them as poetry.

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Discussion

If you haven’t got the idea yet – I really like Beth Orton. If I could, I’d see her in concert again and again. Unfortunately, that’s not possible. So, I have to settle for listening to her CD’s. She has two: 1999’s Central Reservation and 1996’s Trailer Park. I recommend them both!
Have you heard Beth Orton’s music? Do you like it? Do you like to see music live in concert? Come to the Music Mix message board and let us know!
Rock on,
Migs