Give me an l, give me an o, give me a v, give me an e
May 25, 2017 9:53 PM   Subscribe

I am looking for songs that prominently feature certain English sounds for pronunciation teaching. Can anyone help me find not-too-fast songs containing inital r and l (this is for Japanese learners), f and v and the /ər/ sound (like in burn.)

I need to teach Japanese students to get better at pronuncing certain sounds, namely r and l (think right and light or grass and glass instead of bird and build), f and v and the /ər/ sound (like in burn.)

So far, we have found:
Green, green grass of home (Tom Jones)
Black Velvet (Alannah Myles)
Light my Fire (The Doors)
Ring of Fire (Johnny Cash)

I was wondering whether there aren't songs that are even better. For example, Green green grass of home doesn't have a lot of 'l' sounds in contrast to all the 'r's. Black Velvet has a lot of 'v' sounds, but not enough 'f' in contrast.

Not every song needs to contain all the sounds. We want to focus on pairs every week, so if one song had r vs l and another f versus v, that would be perfect, but I realise most will have a mix of all sounds.

If anyone knows any songs that contain the sounds I am looking for in a prominent way and also aren't too fast (or sappy), I would be really grateful. Thank you!
posted by LoonyLovegood to Grab Bag (25 answers total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
Rawhide seems like it would be great for this!...lots of repeated "R" sounds and a reasonable pace.
posted by Jon Mitchell at 10:08 PM on May 25, 2017


Best answer: Eleanor Rigby
posted by obscure simpsons reference at 10:12 PM on May 25, 2017 [4 favorites]


Let my Love Open the Door - Pete Townshend
Love Rollercoaster - Red Hot Chili Peppers
Lay Down Sally - Eric Clapton
Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic - The Police
posted by BusyBusyBusy at 10:18 PM on May 25, 2017 [2 favorites]


Best answer: Alphaville's Forever Young? 'Do you really want to live forever' over and over in the chorus covers off the r/l and f/v pairs, and close together too.
posted by obiwanwasabi at 10:34 PM on May 25, 2017 [1 favorite]


Row, Row, Row Your Boat, I've Been Working on the Railroad, Red River Valley and other classic campfire songs.

Burning Down the House, by Talking Heads.

Superstitious, by Stevie Wonder.

The Slinky song. (Years ago I actually used this song to try and help a South Korean girlfriend who wanted to work on her English. It may be silly, but it has lots of R's and L's! Plus you can bring a Slinky to class for illustrative purposes.)

When I'm 64, the Beatles. The Beatles in general could be good. Their melodies are familiar internationally, and they're generally upbeat and fun to sing in groups.
posted by Ursula Hitler at 10:37 PM on May 25, 2017


Low Rider by War
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 10:38 PM on May 25, 2017


Love Shack!
posted by obiwanwasabi at 10:41 PM on May 25, 2017




Mary J Blige - Real Love ?

Real love, I’m searching for a real love
Someone to set my heart free
Real love, I’m searching for a real love
I’m out to have a real love
posted by watrlily at 11:43 PM on May 25, 2017


Just want to nth the recommendation above for Forever Young - especially the cover by Youth Group.
posted by invisible ink at 11:55 PM on May 25, 2017


Best answer: Tell Laura I Love Her by Ray Peterson. "Laura" by itself is tricky, and the song has lots of initial Ls and Rs in the lyrics, and is a 1960s ballad.

The jazz standard "Laura" similarly. Even slower.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 12:07 AM on May 26, 2017


Turn Turn Turn


Kid-level songs that fit what you're asking:

Row Row Row Your Boat

London Bridge is Falling Down
posted by erst at 12:18 AM on May 26, 2017


Bridge Over Troubled Water? Not many f/v's, but once you can do 'bridge', 'over', 'trouble' and 'water' in the same sentence smoothly, you've pretty much nailed r/l dipthongs and the 'uhr' sound.
posted by bartleby at 12:27 AM on May 26, 2017 [1 favorite]


Those Were The Days

Those were the days my friend
We thought they'd never end
We'd sing and dance forever and a day
We'd live the life we choose
We'd fight and never lose
For we were young and sure to have our way

posted by rollick at 2:29 AM on May 26, 2017


Response by poster: Thank you!
I just want to clarify that the students I have to teach are not kids, they're university students.
posted by LoonyLovegood at 3:36 AM on May 26, 2017




Best answer: Everybody Hurts by REM
posted by entropone at 5:17 AM on May 26, 2017


Best answer: Killing Me Softly by the Fugees
posted by Drosera at 5:51 AM on May 26, 2017


There's a point in "Got Your Money" by Ol' Dirty Bastard where he sustains the "er" sound in the word "girl" for some time.
posted by kevinbelt at 6:37 AM on May 26, 2017


Rock lobster
posted by MandaSayGrr at 6:43 AM on May 26, 2017


Best answer: River of Love by T Bone Burnett repeats the phrase "river of love" a lot, which gives you r, l, and v. And there are quite a few f's in the lyrics, too. For instance:
We fight through the night for freedom as it fades
Into a jail where we fail every time we make a break
and
But there's a river of fire that burns with no light
The flame is the pain of dreams gone up in smoke
Real Love by Lucinda Williams repeats "It's a real love" many times. The lyrics also include "I found the love I've been looking for" a couple of times for an f/v contrast (but the v isn't all that clear.)

The Long and Winding Road (Beatles) has a lot of r's and l's.

Blackberry Blossom by Michelle Shocked starts out with some lyrics that nicely contrast "bl" and "br":
Can you tell me what happened to the blossom
Blackberry blossom when the summertime came?
The blackberry blossom, oh the last time I saw one
Was down in the bramble where I rambled in the spring
The bramble was wild I was torn by the briars
I couldn't find a video of Shocked singing it, but I found this cover version.

Buddy Holly's Everyday has a lot of v's and f's. (And it's not bad for l/r either, with all the repetitions of "love" and "roller coaster.")
posted by Redstart at 7:17 AM on May 26, 2017


So, you probably can't use the whole song, and it has like 5 or 6 different vocal parts, but The Schuyler Sisters from Hamilton has a bunch of this ("Eliza I'm looking for a mind at work") and ("Look around, look around at how lucky we are to be alive right now"). So you may be able to excerpt the refrain.
posted by Huffy Puffy at 10:19 AM on May 26, 2017


I've used the Cure's Friday I'm in Love with Korean speakers who have similarly non-existent V / F sounds in their native language.
posted by spamandkimchi at 12:28 PM on May 26, 2017


The song How to Spell C-H-I-C-K-E-N has a blues/bluegrass background and a bit of a problematic history, but it's been bowdlerized into a children's song, to the point that even Sharon, Lois, and Bram sang it on The Elephant Show in the 80s, and it features a lot of phonemes.
posted by Queen of Spreadable Fats at 7:59 PM on May 27, 2017


Late to this party, but I have one that appears overlooked, possibly due to its age: L-O-V-E by Nat King Cole.
posted by pmurray63 at 5:54 PM on May 30, 2017


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