Trespassing Album Track #9. Broken English

Adam Lambert - Broken English

Uploaded by byroncookemusic on Feb 13, 2012

Adam Lambert on the new song "Broken English":

"It's talking about communication and how sometimes language isn't the only way we communicate. People rely so heavily on words sometimes, and it's talking about the hidden meanings of things and the communication that can occur outside of spoken words--body language, eye contact, and how much beauty and magic there can be in that."


music.yahoo.com/blogs/reality-rocks/adam-lambert-discusses-shady-side-straight-jackets-nastiness-233906106.html

Adam starts talking about "Broken English" at 1:48 (ish)

BROKEN ENGLISH

Tower of Babel has fallen down again
information disarray
I dunno who I should believe in
everybody’s an authority
fragments don’t count
they always end up fallin’ through the cracks
don’t think out loud
cause once it’s out your mouth, can’t take it back

Can’t say all the little things
that I wanna tell you right now
I know you won’t understand
but I gotta tell you somehow

And on and on and on I go
connect the neck to what’s below I know
now your body language is broken
Bro ken Eng a lish

Lost inside communication breakdown
better just read my lips
coming in clearer when we get down
iceberg just the tip
my words get lost
can you read the look that’s on my face?
wires get crossed
in communion with the human race

Can’t say all the little things
that I wanna tell you right now
I know you won’t understand
but I gotta tell you somehow

And on and on and on I go
Connect the neck to what’s below I know
now your body language is broken
Bro ken Eng a lish

Can’t say all the little things
that I wanna tell you right now
I know you won’t understand
but I gotta tell you somehow

And on and on and on I go
Connect the neck to what’s below I know
now your body language is broken
Bro ken Eng a lish

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



Beautiful lyrics, but there's no need to dissect them: not because they lack beauty, or meaning, or significance.... but because what the song tries to convey is that sometimes they're unnecessary, or even redundant... When you know and feel and love, when everything and everyone around you is just a blurry image, when you don't care if the whole world collapses as long as you are together, words are secondary.

Broken English is NOT about communication breakdown , although it does appear to be that on the surface. For me, it's a sexy as hell and magical as a fairytale story about alternative ways in which lovers can connect and since it's very personal, I'll personalize it bluntly: it's a song about Adam and Sauli. Not any two lovers, it's about the two of them specifically.


From the start, the song sucks me in into its atmosphere: dreamy, surreal, strange, echoey realm of their lovers' bubble: it's as if I'm seeing them and feeling them connect. There's this overwhelming impression, achieved by the sum of Adam's ethereal voice, and electronic sounds so strangely and unusually warm, speaking volumes of the beginning of their relationship when satellite love was all they had..., and words, words, which, although sometimes just fragments falling through the cracks, add a lot to this beautiful sum.

When the bridge of the song hits, when Adam's voice starts to crawl over my skin making it tingle, I can see images of them, looking at each other, floating through the cosmos starlit, glittery blackness, connected.

If I wanted to see, I'd see that. But I don't, I just want to let the song make me feel great. This song makes me feel great.

What a karma, for Adam to fall in love with someone who, by default ( being from another country), takes away one of his strongest seduction weapons, I think: his eloquence and wit, his formidable command of language ... Of course, being presented with a challenge, things only get more interesting and exciting for Adam: it's not like he has problems to pull out other weapons from his love arsenal;)

The look. The smile. The lollipop:))) All that came before the words for them. The connection was there instantly. And it's not like the language of love is all that complicated.

Even when there's this vibe in the song about the feelings so deep and subtle that he needs words to convey them and he knows how, but the lover can not understand them, there's not a hint of the frustration which could normally ensue. No... They just look into each other more, and make love more, and fall for each other more... It's a beautiful thing.

If I knew how, I'd make a video for this song. It would contain images from his favourite movie, Velvet Goldmine, when Jonathan Rhys Meyers and Ewan Mcgregor ride on some amusement park thingy, laughing, looking at each other, connecting, love and happiness written all over their beautiful faces. It's a wordless scene, accompanied by Lou Reed's breathtaking "Satellite of Love". How appropriate.

The Sound Bath: Adam Lambert’s Trespassing: the vocal review

Posted on July 12, 2012 by soundbath



Broken English is another of my favourite songs from this album.

The song contains so much imagery in the lyrics and complexity in the music arrangements and rhythms, much of the music reflecting the ‘broken-ness’ of the lyrics and therefore it’s a surprising song on many levels. And talk about fusing genres within one song – here even some bluesy-jazz flavour is evident in some of the vocal lines, whilst the music is anything but blues or jazz.

Again in this song, Adam created some astonishing harmonies, in particular the lower harmony line which is spectacular and adds depth to the overall feel of the song – a veritable waterfall of sound for the ears. And just when you think there are no more surprises, Adam gives us one of the most stunning coloratura runs (riffs) accompanied by a kind of military drum beat. I feel I have to revert here to the classical term for a riff, because his voice is so beautiful and ethereal – this coloratura run sounds like a fervent yearning from his soul and easily rivals the beauty of operatic coloratura runs – a surprisingly sophisticated element to find in a pop song.

The music, and especially the ending of the song, is unexpectedly in keeping with the ‘broken-ness’ of the lyrics.

This is what Adam tweeted about Broken English:” I’m trying to read u.. It’s confusing but soooo mysteriously sexy. Maybe words aren’t the key. Communication through touch.”

This song is intriguing on so many levels that I feel compelled to create another Sound Bath programme just about Broken English.


Read more: soundbath.wordpress.com/2012/07/12/adam-lamberts-trespassing-the-vocal-review/