Learn English with English, baby!

Join for FREE!

Social_nav_masthead_logged_in
 
RIP Prince
RIP Prince

Learn English meaning of 'RIP Prince'

Date: Jun 29 2016

Themes: Celebrity, Music, News, Pop Culture

Grammar: Second Conditional

Intro

1. Learn Vocabulary - Learn some new vocabulary before you start the lesson.

Go Super to Listen Go Super!

2. Read and Prepare - Read the introduction and prepare to hear the audio.

Go Super to Listen Go Super!

On April 21, 2016, Prince Rogers Nelson passed away. Prince was a famous American musician, and his death devastated his fans. He made music for forty years, including hit songs like Little Red Corvette, When Doves Cry, and 1999. Many people consider Prince to be one of the greatest guitarists of all time! And Prince’s clothing choices were as funky as his musical style. He often wore platform boots, colorful suits, and unique blouses.

Prince was also famous for his intellectual property fights. A company called Warner Brothers sold Prince’s music until the early 1990s. In the early 1990s, Prince didn’t like the way Warner Brothers handled his songs. He wanted to leave the company and changed his name to a strange symbol to fight Warner Brothers. Years later, Prince wanted to sue YouTube because he didn’t want his music shared there. His fans still love his music, though, and his songs are popular today.

Dominique and Gary are talking about Prince. Listen to today’s English lesson to find out what they think about Prince, and which tune is Dominique’s favorite.

Dialog

1. Listen and Read - Listen to the audio and read the dialog at the same time.

Log in to Listen

2. Study - Read the dialog again to see how the vocab words are used.

Dominique

Dominique

Gary

Gary

Dominique:  I am devastated Prince passed away. Aren’t you sad?

Gary:  I’m sad that he passed away, yeah, but I never really connected with his music.

Dominique:  What do you mean?

Gary:  Well, the music is cool… like Little Corvette, awesome… but if I could name three or five songs by Prince, I’d be pretty surprised.

Dominique:  I feel like I don’t know you right now. Like, who are you? Prince was my everything! He was my first concert.

Gary:  I didn’t know that.

Dominique:  I love him.

Gary:  His funky style was his. He knew what he was doing. It was impressive.

Dominique:  His inspiration was his dad. Did you know that?

Gary:  I didn’t. What did you think of his platform boots?

Dominique:  Loved them.

Gary:  He was an amazing guitarist. Really, really unique. Are you familiar with his intellectual property, and how he handled it?

Dominique:  Didn’t he sue Warner Brothers?

Gary:  He sued people who used five seconds of his music on YouTube.

Dominique:  I mean, it’s his.

Gary:  Yeah, it is. Fair rights, fair use.

Dominique:  You’d probably not like me if I was a pop star because I’d do this same thing. Be like, that’s my music and, you know.

Gary:  Well, do me a favor. Find your favorite Prince tune, pull it up, and let’s just blast it.

Dominique:  Okay. We’ll party like it’s 1999.

Gary:  Game on.

 

Grammar Point

Go Super to learn "Second Conditional" from this lesson Go Super!

Quizzes

Go Super to take Quiz Go Super!

 

Lesson MP3

Go Super to download full lesson MP3 Go Super!

The iTEP® test

  • Schedule an iTEP® test and take the official English Practice Test.

    Take Now >

Discussion

Go Super to Listen Go Super!

Prince passed away a few weeks ago, and Dominique is devastated. She loved Prince’s music, his funky clothing, and even his platform boots. In fact, her very first concert was a Prince concert. She is shocked that Gary doesn’t love the musician as much as she does, so Gary suggests that they blast her favorite Prince tune together.

Gary never really connected with Prince’s music, so he can only name a few songs. Gary was impressed by Prince’s unique style, however, and he agrees that Prince was an amazing guitarist. Both Gary and Dominique think it’s fair to sue people for using intellectual property, like Prince did. Dominique says she would do the same thing!

Are you a Prince fan? What’s your favorite Prince song?

 

Comments

Log in to Comment

NIJ321655

NIJ321655

United States

he was a good singer I hate that he die.


07:58 PM Jul 01 2016 |

marlene86

Ukraine

For those who might want to look into Prince, i’d recommend a top something list of his songs😊 Little red corvette, When doves cry, Purple rain, Musicology, Cream, This could B us, Kiss. And he also wrote Nothing compares 2U though it was performed by Sinead O’Connor. I love his music!

06:42 PM Jun 29 2016 |

s11211s

s11211s

Iran, Islamic Republic Of

I don’t even know most of my mother tongue singers and musicians, how could I know him?


By the way, a few minutes ago I saw a piece of  two of his music on YouTube.


It seems he was an amazing guitarist as Gary said. But I don’t like his style.

03:59 PM Jun 29 2016 |

Likes (6):

See all >

Share this lesson:

  • Share on Facebook
  • Share on Bebo
  • Share on Myspace
  • Share on Twitter
  • Email this to a friend
  • Share on Sina

Post Ebaby! lessons on your blog:

Ebaby! Cast