“If you’ve ever found yourself tapping your feet to the beat of “Every Breath You Take” by the English rock band The Police, at some point you may have considered it to be one of the most romantic songs that you have ever heard; in reality, as it has been publicly admitted by Sting, the song’s author and lead vocalist of the band, the tune is actually about an obsessive love that borders on craziness…”
It’s a very peculiar thing and one that never seems to happen with other languages such as Italian, French, Russian, Chinese, Spanish and many others. The power of music in English is such that it gets people who can’t speak or understand the language to, not only like and enjoy songs that are written and sung in English, but also to sing those songs out loud even if they don’t know what the actual lyrics are expressing.
Going all the way back to the 1940’s with Frank Sinatra, passing through the 50’s with Elvis Presley and the 60’s with The Beatles, riding along the 80’s with Madonna & Michael Jackson, up until now with Katy Perry and Ed Sheeran, music has always been a catalyst for people who want to know what the songs are saying. What do all the aforementioned artists have in common? All of them have recorded their music in the English language, thus allowing them to become known world-wide, which is something that no other language would have led them to do. English has played the role of prime motivator, as millions listen to their favorite songs on YouTube while the subtitles or captions option is activated. Sure, it may have a lot to do with the melody of the songs, but finding out what the singers are actually talking about ends up becoming an obsession for some.
Ultimately, the actual words of the songs become the focal point for the listeners, since those express the thoughts and feelings of the person who wrote it. If you’ve ever found yourself tapping your feet to the beat of “Every Breath You Take” by the English rock band The Police, at some point you may have considered it to be one of the most romantic songs that you have ever heard; in reality, as it has been publicly admitted by Sting, the song’s author and lead vocalist of the band, the tune is actually about an obsessive love that borders on craziness, since the words suggest that the man singing sees the other person as his exclusive possession when he says: “Oh, can’t you see, you belong to me,” and even hints at being a stalker during the song’s chorus line: “Every breath you take, every move you make, I’ll be watching you”.
In the end, even though there have been translations from English to Spanish of great classic songs, even going to the extent of translating the songs’ titles, the feeling and true inspiration of the artists could never be captured when sung in a different language, as every single word was written to fit with the musical melody. This has prompted millions of people over the years to want to learn how to speak English in order to know what those beautiful songs that they love are saying.
In KOE, there are 2 musical workshops that allow the monitors to share their experiences and musical tastes in English with the users. KOE Tunes is the name of the online workshop that focuses on the participants’ listening skills, asking them to interpret the words and the meaning of the songs, while at the same time trying to write down the correct lyrics and understanding the meaning of new words that can be found in the songs.
We welcome you to join us at KOE so that, through the beautiful power of music in English, you can expand your horizons and enjoy the messages that some of the greatest songwriters in history have left for us.
Alfredo E. Clark.