Rock Your English! (15) - Bloodhound Gang, an ode to lyrical fluff

Buffi Duberman (twitter, Facebook) deelt tips & trucs hoe je je Engelse uitspraak en songteksten verbetert. Zo zette ze Nederlandse songwriters op hun plek, had het over die altijd lastige 'th'-klank, de V en F in I Lof You Fairy Much, blogde over je songteksten (en nogmaals), woorden aan elkaar breien, ambities, gaf je een gratis worksheet, analyseerde met veel succes Ed Sheeran's The A Team, Springsteen's Born In The USA, Ben Folds' Fred Jones Part 2 en vergeleek de teksten van James Blunt met die van Ray LaMontagne. Vooral haar tekstinterpretaties blijken populair, dus vlak voor EHPO's zomerstop doet ze er nog 1, over humor en muziek, misschien wel de lastigste combinatie die er is.

‘The calendar tells me summer is here. Shut The Front Door! It’s July 16, and I wore gloves when I dared to venture out last week. Despite the fact that Mother Nature obviously has her period, I’d like to devote this blog to a celebration of lyrical fluff. In the gleeful, desperately hopeful anticipation of bikinis and Breezers, BBQs and bonfires, I’d like to show how absolutely necessary lyrical fluff is. Because sometimes we don’t want an 8-course dinner, where every single ingredient is artfully weighed, measured, arranged and considered. Sometimes we just want a huge Patatje Oorlog, because nothing else hits the spot. And as one who loses sleep over the clever creation of lyrics, who aches over narrative style versus immediate impact, who pines for visual imagery and stellar storylines, I also happen to be the first in line at the Febo at 3.30 in the morning. Long live grease, salt, mayonnaise!

Hit it.

This is an all time favorite. Yeah, it’s dirty, but all the dirt is so cleverly arranged. Let’s see what happens when we scratch the surface:

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Rock Your English! (14) - Buffi doet het zó (11 regels voor succes én *korting*!)

Buffi Duberman (twitter, Facebook): 'Three years ago, nearly to the day that I launched my book Rock Your English!, I kick it up a notch with Rock Your English @ Home. I spent a year full of inspiration, perspiration, desolation, exhilaration, fascination, and innovation creating this online course. 14 top artists help me out in turning learning English into an educational fiesta. Why? Because I have to. I’m a MILF on a Mission.

The purpose of this column is not to sell you my course (which I will by the end of this blog anyway with a special gesture to thank you for reading it), but to tell you why and how I do it. So many people have asked me how I created this whole Rock Your English! shizzle and Niels said I have to do it in 2.5 pages max. Now THAT’s funny. 12 years ago I had a job that was a 20-minute bike ride from my house. It was safe, predictable, well-paid, at one of the most prestigious language institutes in Europe, and I was experiencing acute soutache (this is not a word; I just made it up, because it’s the only thing I can think of to describe how I was feeling at the time). To make a long story short, one of my students at that time asked me when I was 8 months pregnant to become the teacher on this crazy idea he had for a TV show called Starmaker. I jumped at the chance. ‘Just let me figure out this childbirth thing first.’



And there I was. Pumping breast milk in Lionel Ritchie’s dressing room. Peeing and forgetting to turn off the mic I was wearing constantly. And using my heart and soul and creativity to help this band get better. Bingo. A personal English coach to artists was born. Long story short(ish). Then I met Dennis, Dinand  (Kane) and Edwin Jansen who basically told me to follow my dream. To leave my safety net and dive deep into waters I had only dipped my toe into for a brief moment. I was going to become the First Personal English Coach for Artists in The Netherlands Whatever The Hell That Meant. I left my job. Few people understood. They said I had just had a baby. They said The Hague was really far away – I’d actually have to change trains. They said that no one would understand what I wanted to do. Because it didn’t exist. But it did, in my heart. And that’s all I needed to know.

Edwin gave me some names. I went around Hilversum. Talked to some big boys. Mostly they were too busy. Only once did it really get me down. I had just had a depressing day in Hilversum. Heard lots of coffee-laced no. And one glimmer of hope which came in the package of ‘How much do you cost?’ And the only honest answer I had was ‘How much do you want to pay?’ It was raining. I was carrying heavy bags and had the wrong (read: gorgeous) shoes on. I was tired and having a pity party for myself. I thought maybe I was shooting blanks. Just because it was a huge success in Buffiland, didn’t mean shit to anyone else. Pack it up, and pack it in. I walked past a bank. The walls were glass and I stood there, mesmerized. There were people typing. Looking at screens. Answering phones. Writing stuff. EMPLOYED. I thought ‘Damn, those people are all working. Getting shit done. People call them back. What the fuck is wrong with me?!?’ And then it hit me. Like a goddamn ton of bricks. Nothing. There was nothing wrong with me. These people work in a BANK, for god’s sake. Did I want that? No fucking way. I had already left corporate for a reason. No way back now. Or ever.

Fast forward. Now I’m not living the dream. At all. I’m living my dream. I nurture emerging talent at amazing schools every week, with a dedicated commitment to innovation in education. I coach top artists and know their hearts and souls in a way that no one else ever will. I work in different countries and sample their fine gin after a hard day’s work doing what I love and was born to do. This is what I know in my heart of hearts. I need to share it with you, as readers of this blog:

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Rock Your English! (13) - @BenFolds' 'Fred Jones Part 2'

Wow, heads-up van de Meester zelf:'Thank you @LuckyFonzIII for your stellar reaction to my blogposts on James Blunt's lyrics vs those of Ray LaMontagne. You rule. And you’re absolutely right. Too. It really shows that if 10 people hear a song, 10 stories are born. That’s one of the reasons I started writing this blog. Also big ups to 3FM's Michiel Veenstra who called me to talk about the blog.'

Aan het woord is Buffi Duberman (twitter, Facebook), die haar tips & trucs deelt hoe je je Engelse uitspraak en songteksten verbetert. Zo zette ze Nederlandse songwriters op hun plek, had het over die altijd lastige 'th'-klank, de V en F in I Lof You Fairy Much, blogde over je songteksten (en nogmaals), woorden aan elkaar breien, ambities, gaf je een gratis worksheet en analyseerde met veel succes Ed Sheeran's 'The A Team', de bestgelezen post van dit kwartaal. En vandaag?

Buffi: 'I know that spring is in the air. I feel it from my curls to my heels. And also because Dutch people look at me and say “Spring eens in de air!” and laugh. To be honest, spring kinda scares the shit out of me. I see all the buds and baby flowers and newborn leaves growing, and I seriously fear for their lives. Because they might be budding in my garden, and my heart is filled with dread because there’s an excellent chance that I will kill them. Like 100%. Gardening frightens the hell out of me and I just wish things would either just stay alive or dead forever. Pick one and stick to it. None of this rebirthing crap.

Ok, enough with my phobia already. To give the dark days the final farewell that they so deserve, I’d like to honor one of my favorite lyricists – the fabulous Ben Folds, who wrote the masterpiece Fred Jones Part 2. If you’ve never heard of this gem, this means that I have never taught you, coached you, worked with you, talked to you, or lived with you (there’s about 12 of you left).



Off we go. Ready? We are drawn in, enticingly, by the melancholic rapture of the piano, and then we hear Ben’s unique voice calling to us, his voice respectfully heavy with the words:

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Rock Your English! (12c) - Lucky Fonz' kijk op James Blunts 'You're Beautiful'

Buffi Duberman (@rockyourenglish op twitter, ook te vinden op Facebook): 'Niels, this is brilliant and it's EXACTLY what I was hoping would happen: a real dialogue on lyrical interpretation. It just shows that if you hold that lyrical prism up to the light, you never know how many rainbows you can catch. I'm thrilled that Otto took the time to write this, and delighted with his analysis.'

Lucky Fonz III (want hij is Otto) reageert op Buffi's veelgelezen vergelijking tussen James Blunts tekst en die van Ray LaMontagne. En hij verschilt flink van mening met haar:

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Rock Your English! (12b) - James Blunt vs. Ray LaMontagne

Zo eindigde Buffi Duberman (@rockyourenglish // @Facebook) haar column over James Blunts 'You're Beautiful' vanmorgen: 'Bring me Ray. My Ray of light.'Buffi: 'Ray la Montagne, that is. When one of my favorite Rockacademie students gave me a CD a zillion years ago of a guy I had never heard of, he said ‘just listen’. I respect T’s opinion immensely and so I decided to listen on the way home from the Rock that day. After about 2 minutes of hearing the opening track Trouble, I had to pull over to the side of the road. I was having an epiphany, and you know what they say - ‘Don’t have an epiphany and drive!’. So I pulled over, let the goose bumps rise and the tears fall, and decided I really needed to get to know this Ray character. I won’t tell you much about his background but it’s heartbreaking. Growing up with different siblings from different fathers, being raised by a single mother, sleeping in people’s garages, constantly two steps away from being homeless. His own father was a musician, and abusive, and he hated him and music growing up. He moved to the mountains of Maine and lived in a wooden shack he made himself. Hermitacious. Worked nights in a shoe factory and one day heard Stephen Stills’ Treetop Flyer – rumor has it he quit his job that day and bought a guitar. He had to gather up all his courage to do his first open mic show, where he played alone with his back to the audience. Long story about how he met the brilliant producer and percussionist Ethan Johns (thanks to Willie Nelson) and the rest is history, or at least a significant part of mine. Narrow Escape is not his most famous by any means, but to me it’s a lyrical gem. Off we go:

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Rock Your English! (12a) - James Blunt vs. Ray LaMontagne

Buffi Duberman (@rockyourenglish op twitter, ook op Facebook): 'Thank you all for the reactions to my last column about Bruce, once again they were overwhelming – seems like I hit a nerve. I guess I'll just keep on hitting until you tell me to stop.

In this column I’d like to analyze and compare the lyrics of two songs. I have chosen them for a specific reason – they both deal with a moment of impact in the past, using a narrative style, and they, to me, represent the extreme outer ends of the spectrum when it comes to the art of lyrical craftwork. One song you’ve probably never heard before, and it’s from an artist you may never have heard of either. The other song you probably know by heart. And that breaks mine. Let’s start with the bad news first. Better to rip off that band-aid fast and just get it over with. James Blunt with You’re Beautiful:

My life is brilliant.
(pause)
My life is brilliant.
My love is pure.

Ok. How nice for you, that your life is brilliant. But hey, we got it the first time. No need to repeat that. And your love is pure? Nice to know. As opposed to Dirty Love, Zappa style? Now we’re talking lyrics: ‘I’ll ignore your cheap aroma/and your little-bo-peep diploma, I’ll just put you in a coma/with some dirty love’.

I saw an angel.
Of that I'm sure.

And you saw an angel. We have no reason to doubt this. But thanks for telling us that you were sure about it anyway. God bless the Obvious Rhyme and Easy Way Out.

She smiled at me on the subway.
She was with another man.
But I won't lose no sleep on that,
'Cause I've got a plan.

She smiled at you on the subway. Hey, you’re British. Why the word ‘subway’? So no tube or underground, then? Were you in New York or something? Just curious. And she was with someone else. Bummer. But hey, you seem to be taking it pretty well, Mr. James. Because you tell us you’ve got a plan. Excellent. Can’t wait to hear more about that.

Chorus:

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Rock Your English! (11) - Waarom de tekst van Bruce Springsteen's 'Born In The USA ' briljant is

Buffi Duberman's vorige blogpost over de briljantie van Ed Sheeran's tekst voor 'The A Team' was een absolute Hit alhier. Zonder twijfel de bestgelezen post van dit kwartaal (dank je, Michiel!) en aanleiding om een fikse stapel blogtips te delen. Van wat Buffi tot haar grote genoegen meemaakte, kunnen namelijk meer mensen profiteren. Je vindt Buffi als @rockyourenglish op twitter en op Facebook. Eerder zette ze Nederlandse songwriters op hun plek, had het over de 'th'-klank, de V en F in I Lof You Fairy Much, je songteksten (en nogmaals), ambities, breien en gaf je een gratis worksheet. Vandaag doet ze een bewezen succes dunnetjes over (blogtip!) met een analyse van Bruce Springsteen's 'Born In The USA':WAVE IT?! BURN IT!
Buffi: 'I was at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and if you’ve never been there – GO. It’s in Ohio. Well worth the schlep. Huge place, full of magic, learned a lot. For example, that Les Paul, the man behind the guitars, actually invented the neck-worn harmonica holder. At the age of 10. After he had been playing the guitar for 2 years. They had it in a display case. It was made out of a coat hanger. When I was 10, I was using a coat hanger too. For lots of things. Like hitting my brother.

On the top floor of this gorgeous building, there was an extensive Bruce Springsteen exhibition celebrating his life and his work (which are one and the same, if you ask me). I was like a kid in a candy store; gazing at everything reverently in super slo mo. I’ve admired the Boss lyrically for ages. I stood, mesmerized, watching an interview with him (I mean a DVD. He wasn’t there in person, because if he was I would have grabbed the first pair of stonewashed jeans I could find, cut off all my hair lickety-split, and yelled ‘I’m Courtney Cox 2.0 – let’s dance!’).

One thing he said in that interview really hit home. I remember writing it down to share with my students in songwriting class. Since I’ve somehow expertly managed to lose that piece of paper, I’ll have to paraphrase. The Boss said that he started writing lyrics on the first page of a notebook. And what you finally hear is the 200th page. He goes through an entire notebook per song – revising, reviewing, rationing subtracting, shaping, scraping, sharpening, slanting, filling, filing, until he’s satisfied. Until the song is satisfied. What you hear on the radio is page 200, not page 1. People tend to forget that. A LOT. Let this column serve as a gentle reminder.

I want to dissect one of his greatest- the brilliant ‘Born in the USA’ for 2 reasons:

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Rock Your English! (10) - Waarom de tekst van @EdSheeran's 'The A Team' briljant is

[English below; Startpunt EHPO HIER; wekelijkse nieuwsbrief HIER; lijst handige blogtips n.a.v. deze populaire post HIER].

Buffi Duberman (@rockyourenglish, ook te vinden op Facebook) deelt haar tips & trucs hoe je je Engelse uitspraak en songteksten verbetert. Eerder zette ze Nederlandse songwriters op hun plek, had het over die altijd lastige 'th'-klank, de V en F in I Lof You Fairy Much, blogde over je songteksten (en nogmaals), ambities, breien (ja, ja...) en gaf je een gratis worksheet. Niet eerder analyseerde ze een bekende hit om te laten zien wat ze nu precies bedoelt. Vandaag doet ze dat aan de hand van Ed Sheeran's The A Team, de populairste track op de Nederlandse radio op dit moment:'I know this song has peaked. I wanted to deal with this lyrically ages ago, but death and surgery kind of got in the way. As a word nerd, someone who lives and dies daily by the sword of the word, this song really struck me as extremely well crafted lyrically, and I devoted a lesson to it recently in Rotterdam. Afterwards, the students told me that although they had known this song for months already, they had a new and deeper appreciation of this song after the lesson. I hope after reading, that you will, too. Indulge me. And remember, I’m a freak.

White lips, pale face
Breathing in snowflakes
Burnt lungs, sour taste
Light's gone, day's end
Struggling to pay rent
Long nights, strange men

Opening verse – what I like so much about this is that it works on different levels. First words – ‘white lips, pale face’. What do you think about when you hear those words? A ghost? A corpse? Someone scared? Someone cold? Someone very ill? This first line sets the tone eerily for what’s to come. Check the second line – ‘breathing in snowflakes’ works literally – she could be out there in the cold, but it could also be drug related – snorting coke or meth. I love how the 1st, 3rd, 4th and 6th lines in this verse are all 1 syllable adjectives and 1 syllable nouns. Go back and check (adjectives – white, pale, burnt, sour, etc. and nouns – lips, facer, lungs, taste, etc.). He could have said something like ‘bitter taste’, for example, but that would have killed it, rhythm-wise. These 4 lines sound like gentle, ominous pitter-patter – creating a delicate rhythm that establishes a lyrical pattern for this very powerful opening verse. The remaining 2nd and 5th lines start with ‘breathing’ and ‘struggling’- using a 2 beat gerund (the ING form of the verb, used as the subject of the sentence) to strengthen the visual imagery. And he says everything in the last four words – ‘long nights, strange men’. Aha. Now we know. Crack Whore. When I heard this first verse, I heard a 6 line movie.

And they say
She's in the Class A Team
Stuck in her daydream
Been this way since 18
But lately her face seems
Slowly sinking, wasting
Crumbling like pastries

God I love this chorus. Ok. ‘They say’ she’s on the ‘Class A Team’ - just because people say it doesn’t mean that she is (see Adele – from ‘Rumour Has It’). Who is ‘they’? Her Johns? Her friends? Her (former) teachers? Does the A Team refer to her A-levels at school? Maybe she is/was a brilliant student? Or an A-level escort? This could refer to a lot of things, and we have no direct answers. I don’t know exactly where I am, but I’m enjoying the (scary) view. She’s ‘stuck in her daydream’ – most of us have daydreams in order to escape – thinking of better places and times. Her daydream is something, someplace that she can’t shake. She has no escape, and nowhere to go. And her face – ‘sinking, wasting, crumbling like pastries.’ I LOVE that he says ‘pastries’ here. He could have easily said countless other things, and I have to say it’s not often that a woman’s face is compared to a croissant or a brioche, but my god does it work well here. Such a delicate delicacy. And now the best part. Go back to the chorus and check the words again – say these out loud – say, a, daydream, 18, way, lately, wasting, pastries. What do they ALL have in common? The A sound. And what is this song called? The A Team! I commend him on choosing his words to reflect and strengthen the A sound in the chorus. It’s very well crafted, not only for the meaning, but also for the sound. TEAM ED.

And they scream
The worst things in life come free to us
Cos we're just under the upperhand
And go mad for a couple of grams
And she don't want to go outside tonight
And in a pipe she flies to the Motherland
Or sells love to another man
It's too cold outside
For angels to fly
Angels to fly

And we go on.

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Rock Your English! (9) - nu met *GRATIS* worksheet!

Buffi Duberman (@rockyourenglish, Facebook) deelt tips & trucs hoe je je Engelse uitspraak en songteksten verbetert. Ze zette Nederlandse songwriters op hun plek, had het over die altijd lastige 'th'-klank, hoe moe ze wordt van I Lof You Fairy Much, blogde over je songteksten, nog een keer, ambities en breien. Vandaag een kadootje: een gratis worksheet. Buffi legt uit wat je ermee kunt doen:

'Recently, I was asked by Muzikantendag Belgium to join their speed-dating panel. And hey, when a man calls me and I hear a musky Flemish voice and the word ‘dating’ I say YES before he’s even finished his sentence. Muzikantendag in Belgium is different than Muzikantendag in the Netherlands. Here, it’s held several times a year, in different parts of the country. In Belgium, Muzikantendag is held once every 2 years, and it’s The Place To Be. The AB in Brussels is filled to the rafters with everything from demonstrations of the newest Maschine to panels, debates, showcases, and more. This was not the first time (and hopefully not my last!) where songwriters and artists came to me with their lyrics and the antfucking commenced. I sparred with them on their vocabulary, style, tone, and grammar. Not to mention their pronunciation. True story: a guy comes up to me there and says ‘Hallo mevrouw, ik kom uit Mechelen. Ik wil graag klinken alsof ik uit de Dirty South kom. Ik hoorde dat ik bij u moest zijn.’ [Click to enlarge:]What struck when I was screening lyrics that day was the tone of a lot of their vocabulary. So... bland. So… predictable. So… vanilla. So…. um… Yvon Jaspers. I’m sure she’s a wondrously lovely person, but when I watch her, my eyes just kind of glaze over and then I start hearing myself breathe. Her presentation style, to me, is like watching paint dry. Beige paint. When I go through lyrics, I really want to be moved by someone’s words. Deeply touched. Affected, somehow. I want to FEEL what you are saying to me in your song. Don’t just tell me. SHOW me.

Recently I was working with someone who had always had songs written for her, and now she was trying to write her own. Excellent. However, when I asked her why she chose a particular word, she said ‘het bekt gewoon zo lekker’. I asked her if she actually knew what the word meant, as it really stuck out and confused me in her verse. Computer said…. no. Unfortunately, peanut butter. That was our last session.

In Brussels people came to me with lyrics like this:

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Rock Your English! (8) - Knitting [over breien ja!]

Buffi Duberman (@rockyourenglish, Facebook) deelt tips & trucs hoe je je Engelse uitspraak en songteksten verbetert. Eerder zette ze Nederlandse songwriters op hun plek, had het over die altijd lastige 'th'-klank, hoe moe ze wordt van I Lof You Fairy Much, blogde over je songteksten, nog een keer en over ambities. De complete serie klik je aan en stuur je door met de tag rock your english. Vandaag: over breien.

'Today on Twitter I got a message saying that I should contact an artist who is on the 3VOOR12 Luisterpaal because it’s ‘een draak van een plaat’. I had a listen and I have to say, yes, the pronunciation leaves quite a lot to be desired. I won’t contact the artist, I have never gone up to anyone and said ‘Hey, your pronunciation is unclear – you mix up British and American accents, you overemphasize the T-sound at the end of the words, you confuse your F- and V-sounds, and don’t even get me started on your confusion with the blown and buzzed forms of the TH.’ (Actually, I lied. I have done this quite a lot in Buffiland, where I spend a lot of time, but I have never ever done it in real life). I feel that people know where to find me by now if they want honest feedback on their pronunciation and lyrics. If someone is satisfied with what they’re doing, that’s fine with me. That says something about their goals and ambitions. Maybe they are fully aware of all the things I’m saying with my MILF NINJA telepathie [sorry?!], and yet this is exactly the way they want to sound. That’s also groovy. However, after doing workshops in the past 3 weeks in Sittard, Zwolle, Nijmegen, Antwerp, Hasselt and Brussels, it’s become apparent that people are really not always aware of their pronunciation. In previous columns, I’ve already covered a bit on the TH and the difference between F and V. Let’s talk about a couple of other things in this one.
How about the ending of words? I’m a real fan of ‘knitting’. No, not the type where you sit in a rocking chair and make ugly scarves for people who love you enough to be seen in public with them on - I mean taking the ending of one word and having it flow naturally into the next word. Many times Dutch sounds very ‘staccato’ to me, and quite fragmented. The endings of words (‘lach’ for example) make it hard to connect it to the beginning of the next word (at least for me, as we never covered this in the inburgeringscursus that I never took). Let’s get practical:

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Rock Your English! (7) - How to make your lyrics not suck

Buffi Duberman (@rockyourenglish, Facebook) deelt tips & trucs hoe je je Engelse uitspraak en songteksten verbetert. Eerder zette ze Nederlandse songwriters op hun plek, had het over die altijd lastige 'th'-klank, hoe moe ze wordt van I Lof You Fairy Much, blogde over je songteksten en ambities. De complete serie klik je aan en stuur je door met de tag rock your english. Vandaag: meer teksten en 5 heel concrete tips.

‘3 a.m., in the morning’
‘Please explain me again’
‘Looking forward to see your face again’
‘You make my skin crawl’

I give these lyrical excerpts a 10. A perfect 10. Because that is exactly the number of toes that curl when I hear these songs. They are all taken from Dutch artists; some more established than others, and it’s painfully obvious that they never had these lyrics screened by a native speaker. It doesn’t matter who wrote these songs, and it doesn’t matter who sang them. What matters is the fact that these songs are out there, done and dusted, and that the artist was completely satisfied with these lyrics.

This concerns me. Deeply. We all know that it’s human nature to remember the mistakes (Hello, Idols auditions, ‘Strong in my pants with his finger…’!) better than the good stuff. If you listen to these songs, it’s clear that there was a great deal of effort put into the song – into the music, the production, the arrangement, the melody, the harmony, the structure, the mixing, the mastering…. The lyrics? Not so much.

Please, don’t let your lyrics suck. Don’t let your lyrics grow up to be baddies. Every word has value, but it doesn’t mean that all of them belong in your song. Believe me. When you write a song, you’re sitting somewhere comfy, wearing your “troosttrui” (yes, I made that up), with your favorite coffee cup, and your Cheshire cat, Mr. Glitter, snuggled serenely on the sofa. You’re in your element, in your songwriter’s bubble - that’s where you belong; that’s where all the magic takes place. However, there is no guarantee that your message comes across in the way that you intended. My job as a coach is to poke a little hole in that bubble, and to let a little light in.

You can do a lot on your own, even without a coach. Here’s some tips:

• Make sure that you have grammatical symmetry in your lyrics. Say what, mama? This means that you don’t jump from one tense to another in the same phrase or verse without justification. For example, ‘I am walking down the street and I will miss you’ doesn’t make sense. You’re combining 2 different tenses here (am walking/will miss), and we’re confused as to why. How about ‘I am walking down the street and I’m missing you’. Here the tense is reinforced, which paints a clearer picture in the listener’s mind. The storyline is not fragmented, the visual imagery is stronger – everybody wins!
• Come up with a strong opening verse. If you’ve lost me in the first verse, you’ll have to work very hard to get me back. Chances are I’ve already moved on to another song, or another artist. God Bless Shuffle.
• Don’t be redundant. Please don’t tell me you’re crying sad tears. Or that the water is wet. Or that 3 a.m. is in the morning. Been there, done that, worn the T-shirt.
• Don’t be afraid to take risks with descriptive language. Use thesaurus.com as a tool to help you expand your vocabulary. Try to describe using all of your senses – how does it feel/taste/smell/etc? Don’t just focus on the visual. Also remember, describing what something is, is also describing what it is NOT. Flip it over, look at what’s on the other side. You and your listeners might be in for a real treat.
• Check your prepositions. My god, if I see another album with ‘We like to thank the people in the making off this album’ I will actually start slicing off my own toes in order to stop them from ever curling again. (There are 2 mistakes here…can you find them? I’m not telling you what they are. So sue me.)

That’s enough for now. I wish you well in Songwritersland. May you live long and prosper. And may your ants be well-fucked.

Wit lof,
Buffi

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Rock Your English! (6) - Use it or lose it!

Buffi Duberman (@rockyourenglish, Facebook) deelt tips & trucs hoe je je Engelse uitspraak en songteksten kunt verbeteren. Eerder introduceerde ze deze serie, zette Nederlandse songwriters op hun plek, had het over die altijd lastige 'th'-klank, hoe zat ze I Lof You Fairy Much is en over je songteksten. Vandaag over ambities.

'Last Saturday I was at MCN in Amsterdam to do my shizzle. Kunstbende had asked me to do a Rock Your English! workshop for all their winners. I was very happy to do so, as I’m always excited to work with new talent. I got there and heard the ever-lovely Robbert Tilli ask the group, about 20 strong, ‘How many of you want to make it big?’ I had just arrived, still had my coat on, and was curious to see how many people would own their ambition. Two hands went up. Thank god they were from 2 different people, and not one person raising 2 hands. I couldn’t stand it. I wasn’t supposed to speak. I was all the way in the back. Still had my coat on. Just got in. It wasn’t my turn.I spoke: ‘Say what?!? Only 2 of you want to make it big? I thought you were winners. I thought you had talent. Where the HELL is your ambition? If you don’t have any, please don’t stay for my workshop. Oh, and by the way, my name is Buffi.’ Robbert had already warned them about me, apparently (‘See? I told you about the curls and the flower. Now you know about the rest.’) If Robbert had asked that question at SXSW in Austin or CMJ in New York, I am quite sure that all hands would be up. And maybe even a ‘Woot!’ or two would be heard. And that got me thinking… Why is it hard for some people to own up to their ambition? Is ambition a bad thing - something that should be hidden, not discussed, not acknowledged? I’m a real American, and where I’m from, if you’re average, you’re nothing. Competition is fierce, and there are hundreds of people clamoring to get what you want. So step aside if you’re not going to go for it completely. Get your friggin’ head OUT of the cornfield, buster, or else no one will notice you. The risk, of course, is that it will get cut off, but that’s part of the game. Better to be an easy target than not to be in the game at all.'

In onvervalst Hollandsch, Buffi: word!

Volgende keer: How to make your lyrics not suck.

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Rock Your English! (5) - over je ei kwijt kunnen in je songteksten

Buffi Duberman (@rockyourenglish, ook op Facebook) deelt tips & trucs hoe je je Engelse uitspraak en songteksten kunt verbeteren. Eerder introduceerde ze zichzelf en deze serie, zette Nederlandse songwriters op hun plek, had het over die altijd lastige 'th'-klank en dat ze I Lof You Fairy Much spuugzat is. Vandaag gaat het over eieren.

Buffi: 'If you want to lose your egg, go throw it somewhere else. However, if you want to create an omelette, I’m listening.

Recently, some emerging artists asked me to give them feedback on their new songs. I love doing this; my ears are always hungry for something innovative and interesting, or a twist on tradition. However, one thing became clear to me as I listened to the songs: these people needed to learn the difference between vomit and lyrics. This is a process; it takes time to learn. However, in the interest of life being way too short already, let me speed it the hell up.

Just because you got dumped does not automatically lead to good lyrics. If you’re depressed, get help. Don’t think that you can just scribble down all your anger and sadness and that it automatically becomes a song. Listeners who are moved by lyrics these days don’t need to hear vomit. We are interested in a story, preferably with a storyline. Take your anger and throw it in our face, but get yourself out of your songwriter’s bubble to see how it really comes across to your listeners. A good coach pokes a little hole in that writer’s bubble, and lets a little light and fresh air in. That’s what giving feedback means to me.' Geheel mee eens (en dat wordt mij ook niet altijd in dank afgenomen...).'When I sit with my students (I teach at 3 colleges a week and give Master Classes in Holland, Belgium and Germany) or emerging artists, it’s surprising to see how they react to their own lyrics. When I point out that they’ve written the same word 3 times in one verse, for example, I’m always surprised that for many, they only see it then for the first time.

A good songwriter is open to feedback, and thinks critically about their craft. They take all parts of their craft seriously, and realize that lyrics should not be an afterthought. If you want to ‘lose your egg’, as you say in Dutch (in English we say ‘to get something off our chest’), then try to create an omelette with it. Choose all your ingredients selectively. Weigh them carefully. Mix them in the way you feel best, and stir with love and undivided attention. Then, when you’ve finally finished…. Take a deep breath and serve it up for someone else. They might think it needs more salt, or less cheese. And it’s their absolute right to say so. Part of sharing your craft, whether it be creating in the kitchen or writing at the kitchen table, is being open to feedback from people you value; and having the confidence to tweak your favorite recipe. If you don’t, you might just end up with egg on your face.'

Ach, het wordt bijna vervelend: wie niet kan delen kan ook niet vermenigvuldigen. Opnieuw dank, Buffi.

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Rock Your English! (4) - I Lof You Fairy Much

'If I hear this again, I’m going to scream', says Buffi Duberman, schrijfster van Rock Your English!, deel I, II en III in deze serie. 'Well, maybe not scream, as I do yoga and always (ahem) feel perfectly balanced, centered and focused, but there’s a good chance that my chakras might get pissed off.

I cannot begin to explain how important pre-studio coaching is for your pronunciation, singers. Oh, and producers. And, well, the whole damn band, while we’re at it. Some people tell me that they’re not interested in improving their English, as they’re ‘just a drummer’ or ‘just a bass player’. Well, peeps, I’ve got news for you. You live in a small country. It’s about the size of Indiana, I’ve been told. I come from a country with 50 Indianas. If you are good at what you do, and you want to be recognized for your talent, there’s actually a chance that someone outside of Holland might want to hear you play. And get to know you via your site or forum or whatever. If you are not able to communicate naturally and confidently with them, then you’re kind of screwed when it comes to really getting your ideas across when you put down that guitar or the sticks. I’m always interested in the person behind the musician: can you express yourself in words as well as in music?If you don’t warm up your pronunciation and go into a studio ‘cold’, there’s a good chance we’ll be able to hear it. Just like when you speak English on vacation, when people tell me ‘na een paar dagen ging het vanzelf, en ik kon al dromen in het engels…’, you should be warmed up before you go into the studio. You don’t have the luxury of warming up while you are in the studio, as it’s too time-consuming (read $$$). You should be ready to sing, to nail your pronunciation, before you walk in. There’s lots of ways to warm up before you get to the studio. Get feedback from a native speaker: are you mixing up UK and US pronunciation (do you even know the difference?)? Set your alarm radio to the BBC, you’ll hear English from the second you awake. Keep English magazines and books in your rehearsal room and studio, to read (out loud!) during down time. Get to know your lyrics, read them through as text, sing them acapella and don’t worry so much about your voice, but concentrate on the sounds you are making. If you concentrate too much on your pronunciation while you are recording, you will sound quite robot-like, as if you’re trying to sing while balancing a book on your head. No emotion whatsoever. And make sure you know the difference between ‘f’ and ‘v’ in English! The ‘V’ is a lot stronger than in Dutch. How do you make it? Put your finger over your bottom lip. (See picture) Say these words: FAST/VAST, FAIRY/VERY, FAT/VAT, FAN/VAN. If you do this correctly, your bottom lip should vibrate with all the V words. Try it. You’ll like it. And I’ll like listening to you a lot more!'

Dankjewel, Buffi!

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Rock Your English! (3) - How to Master the Most Difficult Sound in English and Become a Better Kisser

Na deel 1, deel 2 nu deel 3 van Buffi Duberman: 'I get asked all the time where Dutchies have the biggest problem when it comes to pronunciation. That, my darlings, is the TH-sound… Or lack of it. If I had a dollar for every time I hear ‘I tink of you’, ‘come wit me’, ‘let’s eat somefing’ or ‘my brudder’ then I would be living on my own private island off the coast of Eindhoven by now. However, because I am on a one-woman mission to Rock everyone’s English, I’d really like to tackle this with you today.

To make the TH sound correctly, you need to stick out your tongue like a snake. It’s like a baby who can’t say ‘S’; that baby says ‘TH’:Now you try. Try this in front of the mirror, or practice with someone you know well (or would like to know better ;-) If you can see your tongue, then you are doing it right. If you spit on your coach while doing this, then you are perfect and she will love you forever. Spit rules!

Moving on: did you know that there’s actually 2 different forms of the TH-sound? One is ‘blown’, the other is ‘buzzed’. First let’s see what the difference is. Put your hands on the glands under your jaw, as in the picture shown:
Say these words, and try to s-t-r-e-t-c-h out the TH-sound for as long as you can:

WITH/BOTH/PATH/SOMETHING/EVERYTHING/NOTHING

If you did it right, then you should feel no vibrations in the glands under your jawline. These words are all ‘blown’ – all the action happens in your mouth, with your tongue between your teeth. Now try these words, again stretching the TH-sound for as long as you can:

THESE/THOSE/EITHER/BROTHER/MOTHER

If you did it correctly, you should have felt some vibration in that area. That’s why these words are called ‘buzzed’. Now you’re going to ask me how you can tell the difference when you see a word with TH in it – blown or buzzed? There are no set rules for this, unfortunately, but by listening carefully to how native speakers say it (or using the audio fragment on dictionary.com), you should be able to master it soon. Practice every day – I know many people who have a list of TH-words hanging in their bathroom, and practice before/after brushing their teeth (no joke – it works!).

Now, for our Grand Finale, say this a thousand times fast: ‘Thank you for thinking that Thursday was my birthday, I certainly thought I was thirty!’ Rocking Your English means having a great tongue and using it well. Your listeners will love you more, and your lovers will too!'

Genoeg huiswerk dus. Buffi is ook aanwezig op de Muzikantendag, zaterdag 16 april in het Conservatorium van Utrecht (op de Mariaplaats). Ik kom ook, om 14u en 15u.

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Rock Your English! (2) - op je plek gezet!

Eergisteren introduceerde ik coach Buffi Duberman (@rockyourenglish, website, Facebook) en haar Top 10 meestgemaakte fouten in Engelse songteksten en grammatica. Die pakt ze 1-voor-1 aan op EHPO, in voertaal Engels uiteraard. Maar eerst brengt ze Nederlandse muzikanten en tekstschrijvers wat realiteitszin bij, om daarna af te sluiten met een paar uiterst nuttige oefeningen.

'My English is pretty good. I love South Park.'
Buffi: 'People in Holland usually think their English is OK. They don’t need the subtitles for movies, they can watch Family Guy and laugh at the right moment, and carry on a basic conversation, all in English. All good. Good enough for general shizzle, but what about when it really comes to active, spontaneous, and natural communication? Can you use all the words that you know? And use them naturally, spontaneously, and accurately? That, my friends, is the fi-dolla question.

People tend to forget that there are 2 types of ‘knowing’: active and passive. The passive knowledge of Dutch people is strong. This means they can understand most of what they read or hear. Their ears are very well informed. However, when it comes to active (especially spontaneous!) use, people often fall short. Speaking and writing skills are usually at a much lower level than listening and reading skills. Your mouth knows a lot less than your ears. I want to help people bridge a gap between their passive and their active knowledge of English. How do you do that? Lots of different ways.'

Tip 1
'Take a newspaper, magazine or website article that you like (if you like the subject, it’s more interesting to learn from it), and copy or scan it. Use Tipp-Ex (lekker old skool!) to cover, or delete all the verbs (werkwoorden). Leave it for a day. The next day, see how many verbs you can put back. And watch the endings of the verbs – was it ‘has worked’ or ‘has been working’? This exercise is more than just a memory game; it’s actually a concentrated way to focus on specific words, see how they are used, and activate them, instead of just scanning them to get general information from them. If you do this 3 times a week I promise it will make a big difference in your active vocabulary use.

Tip 2
Take that same article and choose 5 words from every paragraph. Find out what they mean by looking at the context. Still stumped? Try dictionary.com (don’t forget the audio fragment on that site. Listen and repeat! Work that mouth!). Your brain remembers words in clusters better than separately, so for every word you learn, find a word that means the same. Look up the synonym on thesaurus.com. Then find the antonym – the opposite of this word, also on that same site. Write your own sentences with these words in it (3 in total, one for each word). Now you have 2 extra words for every new word, and it takes no extra effort: 3 halen, 1 betalen (qua brain cells…)!'Tip 3
'Now, how do you organize all these new words? Easy. Go get a tiny address book. The one that’s about the size of an iPhone, no bigger than that. This will now be your own private dictionary. All the new words you’re learning can be organized any way you like. Put all the new ‘music’ words under M, or do it word by word - whatever works for you. What’s important is that you put down the 2 extra words for every word you want to remember. Think of them as a cluster. ABC: A=B, A≠C. And don’t forget to put these new words into sentences of your own. Throw this little dictionary into your guitar - or laptop case, take it with you wherever you go, keep using it and referring to it, and before you know it, your vocabulary will be growing and flowing!'

Prachtige concrete tips, Buffi. Dank daarvoor. Volgende keer: 'The Most Difficult Sound in English and Why Mastering it Will Make You a Better Kisser'. Ik kijk er naar uit!

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Rock Your English! - een introductie (1)

Buffi Duberman (@rockyourenglish, ook op Facebook) mag het in het Engels zeggen, want dat wordt de voertaal in deze serie: 'I started Creative Communication Consultants over 15 years ago and specialize in co-writing, lyrics screening, pre-studio coaching, in–studio pronunciation monitoring, media and interview training, and the editing/translating/writing of bios, press releases and websites. My clients are the best of the best in the Dutch music scene: Caro Emerald, Within Temptation, Racoon, Wouter Hamel, a balladeer, Charlie Dée and many others. My book Rock Your English! is the fun(ky) way to improve your English grammar by focusing on song lyrics, songwriting and pop quizzes instead of the usual boring exercises.' En dat is precies wat Buffi in deze serie gaat doen: tips & trucs delen hoe je je Engelse uitspraak en songteksten kunt verbeteren. Nuttig, lijkt me.



Ik vroeg Buffi om haar Top 10 meestgemaakte fouten door Nederlandse muzikanten. Ze antwoordde:

1. De uitspraak van 'Th': 'Did you know that we actually have 2 different th-sounds in English? One is ‘blown’ and the other one is ‘buzzed’.'
2. Het verschil tussen de ‘f’ en de ‘v’: 'The ‘v’ is much harder in English than in Dutch. I should hear a difference between ‘fairy’ and ‘very’ and I usually don’t.'
3. Woorden die eindigen op ‘d’ en ‘t’: 'Most people overpronounce this – and if you do, it’s like listening to a high hat after every word. The poor producer, who probably isn’t really concentrating on the pronunciation, has to cut it off every time. Spare him/her and do it yourself.'
4. 'People also love to overpronounce the ‘o’ sound in ‘to’. You need to make it sound more like a ‘te’-sound to make it flow better.'
5. 'And speaking of flow: if you are too concentrated on your pronunciation while recording, then you will sound like a computer. The vibe/emotion will be gone. So work on your pronunciation before you step one foot into that studio. It makes a huge difference.'
6. Net zoals je band uitgebreid soundcheckt om top te klinken, zou je dat ook moeten doen als je in het Engels gaat zingen. Buffi: 'I can hear in a second if someone was speaking Dutch just before they started singing. Read your lyrics out loud several times, read articles, etc.'
7. Ze vervolgt: 'Today on Twitter an artist asked ‘Does anyone know a native speaker who can screen a lyric – soon’, because they were about to record it. This is something you should think about WAY before you go into that studio! It happens all the time – people are in the middle of doing vocals and they decide ‘maybe a little check by a native wouldn’t hurt’ but then that ‘a little check’ reveals a few things that have to be changed, and this starts a domino-day type of effect which may end up affecting the music. And then you’re basically kind of screwed...'
8. Buffi's doel met mediatraining: 'How to swing your standard answers a million different ways so that you never get bored, even after 9 interviews a day.' Daar heeft Caro vast lol van gehad...
9. En over het verschil tussen Engels Engels en Amerikaans Engels: 'Everything has to match: spelling, grammar and pronunciation. Otherwise you will not come across as consistent or credible.'
10. En tot slot: Engelse grammatica in het algemeen. 'Rock your English!' dus.

Buffi zal haar hele Top 10 doornemen op EHPO, te beginnen komende woensdag. Morgen om 11u Perfect Bankhangen, een persoonlijke selectie van DJ-held Nuno dos Santos.

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