Aktuelle Hits verstehen: „You and me“ von Milow
Aktuelle Hits zu verstehen ist oft nicht ganz leicht. Gut, wenn ein Engländer erklärt, worum es dabei eigentlich geht. David Fermer erzählt auf englisch diesmal - über „You and me“ von Milow. Fürs Hörverständnis mit Audio.
Belgium is a bilingual country. People there either speak Flemish or French. Many of them speak both. Then there are also Belgians who have learned other languages as well. They are multilingual, like the singer-songwriter Milow. Milow speaks fluent English. He learned the language like everybody else at school, then perfected his English later as an exchange student in California, USA. Now he puts his knowledge of languages to good use and writes songs in English. He does so in a very clever way: simply. For Milow, less is more, and simple is beautiful.
His latest song, “You And Me“, is another example of his intelligent approach to music. We have all heard hundreds of songs in which the singer tells someone how beautiful they are. Take Bruno Mars for example. Songs like “Just the Way You Are“ are hymns to perfection, telling girls and women how important it is to be pretty. Milow thinks differently. He doesn't sing “she's so beautiful and I tell her every day.“ To the contrary, he sings: “I wish you were a little bigger / Not just big, but really fat.“ But why? Because then there would be “doors you would no longer fit through“ and he could be with the person he loves all the time. For the same reason, Milow wishes “that you had feathers“ because then “I'd keep you in a giant cage / All day long I'd sit and watch you / I'd sing for you and that would be okay.“
Milow, whose real name is Jonathan Vandenbroeck, is not only a multilingual musical talent, he also has a very funny sense of humour. To begin a song with the words “I wish you smelled a little funny / Not just funny, really bad“ is very risky. What if people don't understand his sense of humour? But it seems they do. In the age of skinny top models and cosmetic surgery, Milow's very human message in “You And Me“ comes as a breath of fresh air. It's just a shame that Milow isn't smaller. Not just small but really, really short. Then you could put him your pocket and carry him around all day. And whenever you wanted, you could take him out and he could sing to you. Your own personal mini-Milow.
Vokabeln
bilingual = zweisprachig
fluent = fließend
exchange student = Austauschstudent
knowledge = Kenntnisse
to put something to good use = etwas gut verwenden
simple = einfach
approach = Ansatz
to the contrary = im Gegenteil
to fit = passen
feather = Feder
cage = Käfig
risky = riskant
skinny = mager
message = Botschaft
shame = Schade
