Here’s my list of 10 best British songs when learning English (for beginners, intermediate & advanced learners). Songs are both an easy and enjoyable way to come to terms with the basic rudiments of the English language, as you can learn the words and sing along to the tunes. Music has always been a highly effective way to learn a language, and pop music has many lyrics that are pretty basic and easy to learn, even for beginners. “She loves you yeah yeah yeah” springs to mind. Below, I list two other songs by The Beatles in their equally early days before their lyrics wandered off into psychedelic obscurity. British music especially offers you a rich variety of vocabulary, pronunciation styles as well as cultural references with which to improve your English skills.
Beginner Level
(which uses simple vocabulary, clear pronunciation, slower speech and a degree of basic grammar)
1) “Hello, Goodbye” – The Beatles
This classic 1967 Beatles song, written by Paul McCartney, is perfect for beginners. It is very repetitive in its structure and contains very simple vocabulary… with lyrics such as these:
“You say, “Yes”, I say, “No”
You say, “Stop” and I say, “Go, go, go” Oh no
You say, “Goodbye” and I say, “Hello, hello, hello”
I don’t know why you say, “Goodbye”, I say, “Hello, hello, hello”
This will help you to reinforce your basic conversational English.
2) “Another Love” – Tom Odell
This is a song about someone who would like to fall in love again, but who has been so deeply hurt in previous relationships that he has no more love to give anymore.
“All my tears have been used up on another love. Another love.”
It is relevant to English learners because it has a very simple sentence structure and contains spoken-style English. This will prove useful to you for daily conversations.
3) “Yellow Submarine” – The Beatles
This is another Beatles classic. It was written in 1966 at the outset of Psychedelic Rock and was drummer Ringo Starr’s vocal spot on the album. It’s a song that tells a simple, imaginative story and uses easy words and a slow tempo. The chorus is catchy and repetitive. This makes it perfect for building your listening confidence.
Intermediate Level
(which is set at a moderate pace with idioms and a richer, more diverse vocabulary)
4) “Wonderwall” – Oasis
This Britpop anthem was composed by the English rock band in 1995. It has a very clear vocal style and it introduces slang (e.g. “You’re gonna be the one…”) and everyday vocabulary that intermediate learners can begin to understand. For instance the word “wonderwall’ means “the person you constantly find yourself thinking about”. The grammar is admittedly casual, but it is nonetheless authentic and thus it mirrors real-life English usage.
5) “Back to Black” – Amy Winehouse
This is a highly soulful track that was composed in 2006. It offers poetic language as well as slightly more advanced sentence structures. However it is still slow enough for learners to follow. Amy Winehouse’s distinct London accent and her jazz influence make the song unique both in its tone and its rhythm. In it are metaphors such as “we only said goodbye with words”.
6) “Someone You Loved” – Lewis Capaldi
Lewis Capaldi’s song, released in 2018, is emotionally charged with its heartbreak theme that was critically judged as “raw and real”. He sings it with his strong Scottish accent and thus gives learners an exposure to a specific form of regional British English. The lyrics are relatively slow but they’re easy to follow and also include expressive emotional vocabulary. There are phrasal verbs such as “let my guard down.”
Advanced Level
(which delivers faster, more complex sentence structures as well as regional accents and niche vocabulary)
7) “Life on Mars?” – David Bowie
For advanced learners, Bowie’s lyrics, from this 1971 song, provide a treasure trove of metaphors, cultural references and abstract ideas. For instance it starts with the lines:
“It’s a God awful small affair
To the girl with the mousey hair,
But her mummy is yelling, ‘No!’
And her daddy has told her to go.”
The song is surreal, so learners must work harder to interpret its meanings. It’s an excellent challenge for both comprehension and inference. It contains some figurative language, poetic devices as well as complex sentence structures.
8) “Common People” – Pulp
This Britpop hit, composed in 1995 and sung by Jarvis Cocker in his distinct Sheffield accent, is a social commentary on both British class and privilege. It’s fast-paced but uses highly expressive and visual language, giving learners an insight into British culture and speech patterns. It also has a degree of irony, some class-based idioms, slang (such as: “she told me that her dad was loaded”), as well as some storytelling in song.
9) “Street Spirit (Fade Out)” – Radiohead
While sombre in tone, this 1995 song features poetic and philosophical language. It’s suitable for learners who want to expand their emotional and introspective vocabulary and some of the language is symbolic. It’s quite abstract in sentiment. For instance, the song starts with the following verse:
“Rows of houses all bearing down on me
I can feel their blue hands touching me
All these things into position
All these things we’ll one day swallow whole”
10) “Little Lion Man” – Mumford & Sons
This folk-rock track from 2009 mixes Old English themes with modern phrasing. The song includes contractions, colloquial speech and some emotional storytelling. The lyrics are fast and layered. Here’s a verse taken from the middle of the song:
“Your grace is wasted in your face
Your boldness stands alone among the wreck
Now learn from your mother or else
Spend your days biting your own neck.”
So it definitely provides a challenge for learners as they try to listen between the lines and interpret their meaning.
I hope you enjoyed this list of top ten British songs to help beginner, intermediate & advanced students learn English. Listening to music in English is a great way to learn the English language. It is one of the tasks that Break Into English teachers assign for homework to help their students improve in between lessons by enriching their vocabulary, mastering basic and more complex grammatical concepts, and discovering colloquial speech.
This article was written by BIE’s blog contributor Adam Jacot de Boinod.
