Sinéad O'Connor, "Reason with Me"

Here's a recent video of Sinéad O'Connor performing this song:

The audio track:



And the words:

Reason With Me, Sinéad O’Connor and Geoff Smith (performed by Sinéad O’Connor)

Hello, you don't know me,
but I stole your laptop
and I took your TV.
I sold your granny's rosary
for 50 p.
And I even pulled a hijack, said I had a hypodermic in me backpack,
but I was only bluffing.

Oh so long I've been a junkie,
I ought to wrap it up and mind my monkeys.
I really want to mend my ways,
I'm gonna call that number one of these days.
It's not too late.

I'm the one who sits in the backroom,
I'm the one who doesn't know how to have fun.
I'm the one to smoke amiss all around me,
'Cause I don't like no one around me.
'Cause if I love someone, I might lose someone
If I love someone, I might lose someone.

Oh so long I've been a junkie,
I ought to wrap it up and mind my monkeys.
I really want to mend my ways,
I'm gonna call that number one of these days.

I'm gonna reach a hand out to you, saying would you pull me up, now could you?
I don't want to waste the life God gave me, and I don't think that it's too late to save me.
It's not too late.

Reason with me, let's reason together
Reason with me, let's reason together...

S201-205 Homework: Essay on the Internet as a source of information

Here's our first essay assignment under the "Letter" section of the unified state exam. Note the "Useful Phrases for Essays" entry on this blog for help and inspiration. We will survey your opinion and those of others in the class when we meet to review this homework.

You should take about forty minutes to do this assignment.

Exercise from Olga Afanasyeva, Virginia Evans, Victoria Kopylova, Practice Exam Papers for the Russian State Exam, 2010 Revised Edition, Moscow: Express Publishing/Prosveshchenie Publishers.

Delta Moon, "Tilt-a-Whirl"

Delta Moon said farewell to their wonderful female singer Gina Leigh a few years ago, so the version of "Tilt-a-Whirl" in the video below is quite different from what I played in class. But the excellent musicianship is still there.

First, the version I played in class:



The words:

Tilt-A-Whirl, Tom Gray, Gina Leigh

Well, when I was young I had a mind to roam,
[The] little old town that I used to call home
Didn't have a whole lot of charm for a girl,
So I took up with a carny on the Tilt-A-Whirl

(chorus) Tilt-A-Whirl Tilt-A-Whirl
It'll wind you up, it'll wear you down,
Turn your world around and round, Tilt-A-Whirl

Well, I fell hard for the carnival life,
Smell of Diesel and the neon lights,
The feel of the sawdust under my feet,
And the carnies barking to a rock and roll beat, Tilt-A-Whirl
(chorus)

Well, he spun me around and he flung me aside,
Turns out I'd gotten taken for a ride,
Then he took up with the vampire girl,
And now she's riding on the Tilt-A-Whirl

(chorus)
(chorus)

(performed by Delta Moon; Gina Leigh, vocal)

The newer version (video):

S201-205 Homework: Letter to Mrs. Sampson

You have 20 minutes to do this task. Please write on a separate piece of paper.

You have received a letter from the mother of an English host family you have just stayed with while doing a summer English course. Mrs. Sampson writes:

... We all really enjoyed having you stay with us. How was your journey back home? Do you feel that you improved your English as much as you had hoped? What did you enjoy most about your stay in England?

As for our latest news, we’ve just bought a puppy....

Write a letter of about 100-140 words. Observe the rules of good letter-writing. Answer Mrs. Sampson’s questions and ask three questions about the new dog.

Bring to class next week. (If you have not written to David about school, don't forget to bring that letter, too!)

Exercise from Olga Afanasyeva, Virginia Evans, Victoria Kopylova, Practice Exam Papers for the Russian State Exam, 2010 Revised Edition, Moscow: Express Publishing/Prosveshchenie Publishers.

---

What are the "rules of good letter-writing"? These rules refer to the format expected in the Unified State Exam:

1. First line, upper right corner: address (city and country are enough).
2. Second line, upper right corner: date (more about this below).
3. Salutation: ("Dear Frank,"; "Dear Mrs. Sampson,"; "My darling wife,"; "Sweetie Pie!").
4. Intro: an expression of thanks for last letter, of regret for taking such a long time to reply; etc. One or two sentences. ("Thanks so much for your wonderful letter! I'm sorry I took so long to answer, but I had to study for two tests.")
5. Body: This is the main part of the letter. Respond to the assignment. Usually this means answering the questions in the letter you have "received" and asking questions as directed by the assignment.
6. Outro: In this last sentence or two, you may ask your correspondent to write again soon or to send you something, or you may explain that you must end the letter now because of another obligation. ("Write again soon--and don't forget to send me pictures from the concert! I have to end my letter here--my mother wants me to help wash the dishes.")
7. Complimentary close: This word or phrase can be formal ("Yours truly,"), less formal ("Sincerely,"), informal "Best regards," or "All the best!"), or even warmer ("Love," or "Hugs and kisses,").
8. Signature.

Dates:
You may use the British convention:

21 September 2011 (note: no comma)
21 Sept. 2011
21st September 2011
21st Sept. 2011

... or the American convention:

September 21, 2011
Sept. 21, 2011

But don't use numbers for the month. 21.09.2011 (European) or 9/21/2011 (American).

Length of letters on the Unified State Exam: 100-140 words. Don't write fewer than 90 words or more than 154!

For a chart showing the placement of various elements of the letter, go back to this post.

Writing letters

This chart from 1september.ru is a helpful summary of the elements of an informal letter:

Group 401V: "The Art of Russia" UPDATED

On Wednesday, September 12, we began watching this documentary from the BBC, and answering the questions below. We finished yesterday (Wednesday 19th). We'll turn to the next in the series on September 26--and I'll also bring a gapfill song.

1. What can the story of Russian art help explain, according to Andrew Graham-Dixon?
2. Which galleries at the State Historical museum are rarely visited?
3. How old is «this wonderful boat»?
4. Why was turning «all of this into one nation» so challenging?
5. If Moscow is the «heart of Russia», what are St Petersburg and Kiev?
6. Christ Pantokrator's «entourage» consists of whom or what?
7. In designing Kiev's first cathedral, what effect were the architects and designers trying to achieve?
8. Why is Mary carrying a handkerchief?
9. What is the «Christian mystery» expressed in the icon of Our Lady of Vladimir?
10. What did the developers of the Cyrillic script add to the Greek alphabet?
11. Why did the Mongols seek to isolate Russia?
12. What was Graham-Dixon's first impression inside Malye Kareli's church?
13. What feature reminds him of a hearth?
14. How do the colors of the St Sergius icons compare with Byzantine icons?
15. What transforms the art during the mass?
16. What is remarkable about Victor Bondarenko?
17. How did the Communists show their respect for the power of the icon?
18. What did Graham-Dixon mean when he said that Ivan IV was «hardly a model Christian»?
19. What was Ivan IV's innovation in the «Church Militant» icon?
20. The artist depicting the Last Judgment in Ivan IV's chapel «really pulled out the stops.» What did Graham-Dixon mean?
21. What example of a lubok turning «the world upside-down» do we see?
22. Peter I «could hardly have chosen a less promising place» for his new capital. What is Graham-Dixon referring to?
23. What are some of the new influences that came to Russia with Peter's acquisition of Rembrandt's «Jonathan and David»? 

School 200-level Homework: Letter to David

Your first homework of the year is a letter:

Please bring your letter with you the next time you come to class. We will read our letters and talk about the rules of letter-writing.

Exercise from Olga Afanasyeva, Virginia Evans, Victoria Kopylova, Practice Exam Papers for the Russian State Exam, 2010 Revised Edition, Moscow: Express Publishing/Prosveshchenie Publishers.  

"Stand By Me": Three versions!

This classic song by Ben E. King, Jerry Leiber, and Mark Stoller, became the anthem of the Playing for Change group. So here's the version that they created, with the help of musicians from nine countries (including Russia). See below for other versions and the words. It has been seen about 60 million times on the Playing for Change Web site, YouTube, Vimeo, Facebook, and Myspace.


Playing For Change: Song Around the World "Stand By Me" from Playing For Change on Vimeo.

Ben E. King's original hit song:


Otis Redding's cover:


The words:

When the night has come
And the land is dark
And the moon is the only light we'll see
No I won't be afraid, no I won't be afraid
Just as long as you stand, stand by me
And darlin', darlin', stand by me, oh now now stand
by me
Stand by me, stand by me
If the sky that we look upon
Should tumble and fall
And the mountains should crumble to the sea
I won't cry, I won't cry, no I won't shed a tear
Just as long as you stand, stand by me
And darlin', darlin', stand by me, oh stand by me
Stand by me, stand by me, stand by me-e, yeah
[instrumental]
Whenever you're in trouble won't you stand by me,
oh now now stand by me
Oh stand by me, stand by me, stand by me
Darlin', darlin', stand by me-e, stand by me
Oh stand by me, stand by me, stand by me

"In a Town This Size"

(link to purchase this MP3 file) (unavailable)

"In a Town This Size," Kieran Kane (performed by Charlie Musselwhite with Kelly Willis)

In a town this size, there’s no place to hide
Everywhere you go, you meet someone you know
You can’t steal a kiss in a place like this
How the rumors would fly in a town this size.

In a smoky bar, in the back seat of a car,
In your own little house, someone’s sure to find you out,
What you do and what you think, what you eat and what you drink,
If you smoke a cigarette, they'll be talking about your breath

In a town this size, there’s no place to hide
Everywhere you go, you meet someone you know
You can’t steal a kiss in a place like this
How the rumors would fly in a town this size.

(Charlie’s harp)

Oh, I had a fight with my girlfriend last night,
Before the moon went down, it was all over town
How I made him cry, how I said goodbye,
If it’s true or not, it don’t count a lot

In a town this size, there’s no place to hide
Everywhere you go, you meet someone you know
You can’t steal a kiss in a place like this
How the rumors would fly in a town this size. In a town this size. In a town this size.

---

If you like Charlie Musselwhite, here's a slow blues.... See if you can follow his words:



The first few lines, to get you started:

Just a feeling, [a] feeling I had on my mind.
Just a feeling, [a] feeling I had on my mind.
[I] Lay down dreaming, woke up this morning screaming and crying.