Improve your listening and writing skills by filling in the blanks in the song lyrics. These activities are designed for Beginners and Intermediates to learn new vocabulary related to a specific topic in a quick and fun way.
Productivity Special! Studies show that music makes people more productive in the workplace. In this period we’re proposing songs that incredibly successful people use to train their brain. We’ve selected the top songs that people like Elon Musk, Bill Gates, Barack and Michelle Obama, Steve Jobs and Stephen Hawkings have in their playlists. We began this series with Rain on Me and Moondance, and we continue today with Highway 61 Revisited by Bob Dylan. Stay tuned for more!
Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, author, and visual artist. He is considered to be one of the greatest songwriters of all time and has been a major figure in popular culture for more than 50 years. In 2016 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature “for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition.”
The song Highway 61 Revisited is named after the road that led from Dylan’s native Minnesota to the musical capital of New Orleans. The song has five verses and each one describes someone with a peculiar problem that is finally resolved on Highway 61. The mini stories are subtle criticisms of traditions, society and political crises at the time (1965). They are worth explaining:
Verse 1 refers to the Bible’s Book of Genesis, when God commands Abraham to kill one of his sons. In the 2nd, the protagonist is a poor fellow who is beyond the help of the welfare authorities. Mack the Finger and Louis the King in verse 3 allude to businessmen and mobsters who sell useless things to consumers. Verse 4 refers to Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night and the comical confusion of identities and sexes in the play. The last verse speaks of a bored gambler “trying to create our next world war” in reference to the Cuban Missile Crisis. When Dylan wrote this song in 1965, just three years before the world had come to the brink of war.
Exercise
Fill in the missing words ⇩: bleachers – bloody – blue – bored -done – gun – Highway – mother – promoter – quick – son – they – things – think – white
This activity is case sensitive so make sure to use capital letters when needed.
Grammar – Irregular Verbs 
See more
Irregular Verbs
- In English, there are two types of verbs: regular and irregular. Regular verbs are those that form the past simple and participle by adding -ed at the end.
- IRREGULAR VERBS have many different forms. Sometimes it takes some time to remember them all, so here are some patterns that might help you remember them. Note that the following examples follow this order: infinitive-past simple-participle.
- Group 1: All 3 forms of the verbs are identical. For example:
- – cost – cost – cost
- – let – let – let
- – put – put – put
- Group 2: The 2nd and 3rd forms of the verb are the same. For example:
- – say – said – said
- – teach – taught – taught
- – tell – told – told
- – understand – understood – understood
- – have – had – had
- Group 3: All 3 forms of the verbs are different. For example:
- – drive – drove – driven
- – write – wrote – written
- – break – broke – broken
- – speak – spoke – spoken
- Finally, here’s a list of the most common verbs in English that you should remember:
- – say – said – said
- – make – made – made
- – go – went – gone
- – take – took – taken
- – come – came – come
- – see – saw – seen
- – know – knew – known
- – give – gave – given
- – think – thought – thought
- – get – got – got (gotten in American English)
Don’t miss our latest song lyric activities. By creating a habit step-by-step, you will be able to shape your learning path while doing activities you love.
Which song would you like to practise with next?
Thanks Sunny!
You’re welcome Jaiber! 🙂
This evening I have had the pleasure to sing this song in a live. Unfortunately, this time, the audience didn’t share it but what it counts is that I enjoied it. Thank you so much Sonny . Always grateful for your great job.