MULTIMEDIA-ENGLISH
Dark Horse (Katy Perry)
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3:44
Video page URL
https://multimedia-english.com/videos/music/dark-horse-katy-perry-5091
Description

Go back 5,000 years to ancient Egypt with Katy Perry and her last hit. Awesome video too.

Transcript

Oh, no.

Yeah
Ya'll know what it is
Katy Perry
Juicy J, aha.
Let's rage

I knew you were
You were gonna come to me
And here you are
But you better choose carefully
‘Cause I, I’m capable of anything
Of anything and everything

Make me your Aphrodite
Make me your one and only
But don’t make me your enemy, your enemy, your enemy

So you wanna play with magic
Boy, you should know what you're falling for
Baby do you dare to do this?
Cause I’m coming at you like a dark horse
Are you ready for, ready for
A perfect storm, perfect storm
Cause once you’re mine, once you’re mine
There’s no going back

Mark my words
This love will make you levitate
Like a bird
Like a bird without a cage
But down to earth
If you choose to walk away, don’t walk away

It’s in the palm of your hand now baby
It’s a yes or no, no maybe
So just be sure before you give it all to me
All to me, give it all to me

So you wanna play with magic
Boy, you should know what you're falling for
Baby do you dare to do this?
Cause I’m coming at you like a dark horse
Are you ready for, ready for
A perfect storm, perfect storm
Cause once you’re mine, once you’re mine (love trippin')
There’s no going back

Uh
She’s a beast
I call her Karma (come back)
She eats your heart out
Like Jeffrey Dahmer (woo)
Be careful
Try not to lead her on
Shorty’s heart is on steroids
Cause her love is so strong
You may fall in love
When you meet her
If you get the chance you better keep her
She's sweet as pie but if you break her heart
She'll turn cold as a freezer
That fairy tale ending with a knight in shining armor
She can be my Sleeping Beauty
I’m gon’ put her in a coma
Woo!
Damn I think I love her
Shorty so bad, I’m sprung and I don’t care
She ride me like a roller coaster
Turned the bedroom into a fair (a fair!)
Her love is like a drug
I was tryna hit it and quit it
But lil' mama's so dope
I messed around and got addicted

So you wanna play with magic
Boy, you should know what you're falling for (you should know)
Baby do you dare to do this?
Cause I’m coming at you like a dark horse (like a dark horse)
Are you ready for, ready for (ready for)
A perfect storm, perfect storm (a perfect storm)
Cause once you’re mine, once you’re mine (mine)
There’s no going back

Explanations

YA’LL= (coll. Southern AmE) You all = You guys = Plural form of YOU.

JUICY J.= The name of the rapper singing the rapping lines.

RAGE= (slang) To party extremely hard.

GONNA= (coll.) Going to.


YOU BETTER= (coll.) You had better (+ infinitive without to), you should.

I’M CAPABLE OF = I’m able of = I can do...

APHRODITE= /æfrədaɪt/ The Greek goddess of love (called “Venus” by the Romans)

YOUR ONE AND ONLY= (emphatic) Your only one.

WANNA= (coll.) Want to.

FALLING FOR= Falling in love with (start to love intensely somebody)

DARE= If you dare to do something, you are brave enough to do it, you have the necessary courage.

CAUSE= (coll.) Because.

DARK HORSE= Somebody with unexpected abilities and totally unpredictable.

A PERFECT STORM= A terrible storm with an extreme intensity.

ONCE= When.

THERE’S NO GOING BACK= You can’t change it to its original state, it’s impossible to reverse or change the situation.

MARK MY WORDS= (coll.) Pay attention to what I’m going to say and remember my words in the future.

LEVITATE= Lift from the air and stay floating. Metaphorically we can also use “levitate” to express a state of ecstasy, of intense happiness.

CAGE= A box made of bars to keep an animal inside, for birds, zoo animals, etc. (see picture)

WALK AWAY= Leave me, go away.

IT’S IN THE PALM OF YOUR HAND= It’s written, it’s your destiny.
Fortune-tellers (people who “can” predict your future) often read your destiny in the lines of the palm of your hand.

A BEAST= A wild animal.

KARMA= In Buddhism and Hinduism, your karma is a law that predicts that all the good and bad you make in this world will come back to you, in this life or in future lives. You can't escape karma.


JEFFREY DAHMER= A famous serial killer who also practised cannibalism (eating other people)

SHORTY= (AmE slang, also spelled: shawty) Baby.
A shorty is a hot girl, one who is very attractive.

STEROIDS= A hormone which is responsible for the growth of muscles and strength.
If you “are on steroids” you are consuming steroids to increase your muscles.

CHANCE= Opportunity.

SHE’S SWEET AS A PIE= She’s sweet, she’s a very nice person, adorable.

FREEZER= A compartment in your refrigerator where food gets frozen (temperatures are below zero there)

FAIRY TALE= A traditional tale (Little Red Riding Hood, The Sleeping Beauty, Puss in Boots, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Tom Thumb, Hansel and Gretel, etc.). Fairy tales always have a very happy ending.

KNIGHT= /naɪt/ In medieval times, a knight was a lone warrior of noble birth (see picture)
A KNIGHT IN SHINING ARMOUR= (AmE spelling: armor) The perfect man for you, Mr Right.
(see picture of an armour)

SLEEPING BEAUTY= The main character of a fairy tale. She was a princess who fell under the spell of an envious witch who made her fall asleep for 100 hundred years. Only when a prince found her and kissed her she could wake up and they fell in love, got married and lived happily ever after.

I’M GON’= (coll.) I’m going to.

COMA= /kəʊmə/ A medical condition in which a person is still alive but not conscious. If you are in a coma you feel nothing, think nothing and remember nothing, like you are dead, but your body is still alive (some people wake up after days or years, some never do and then they die).

DAMN= An expression usually expressing bother or that things are like this even if you find it shocking or inconvenient. Also, it can be used simply for emphasis. Not really a rude word, but not right for children to use.

SO BAD= I love her so bad = I love her very much.

SPRUNG= (spring-sprang-sprung) If you are sprung, you are extremely attracted to a person, often confusing obsession with love.

ROLLER COAESTER= A fun-fair attraction similar to a train going up and down (see picture)


TURN... INTO= Change into, transform.

FAIR= A fun-fair (BrE), an amusement park (AmE) (like Disneyland) (see picture)

TRYNA= (coll.) Trying to.

HIT IT AND QUIT IT= When a man has sex with a woman and leaves her afterwards, with no intention of commitment or seeing her again. A one-night stand.

LIL’= (coll.) Little.

MAMA= A hot girl.

DOPE= Drug. "She is so dope" = She's a very strong drug.
Lil’ mama so dope= My baby was like a drug to me.

MESSED AROUND= To mess around with somebody is to spend time with them, with no particular purpose. Also to have sex with them when you shouldn’t (for example because they are married to another person)

Meaning

Katy has her sights set on a guy, and she won't take no for an answer. The song finds Perry playing seductress and putting a potential lover under her spell. She described the lyrics to MTV News as "kind of witchy and dark, as if I was a witch warning this man not to fall in love with me, and if you do know I'm going to be your last." Perry went on to describe the tune as having a "witchy, spell-y kind of black magic-y idea."


The term "Dark Horse" is used to describe a person whose abilities or possible course of action are unknown, or to a somebody who reveals unsuspected talent. The earliest-known use of the phrase was in novelist and future Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli's 1831 novel The Young Duke: A Moral Tale Through Gay. He described a horse race where, "a dark horse, which had never been thought of... rushed past the grandstand in sweeping triumph."


Perry revealed at a special album release party with iHeartRadio that the song was inspired by the 1996 movie The Craft, which is, "about warning a guy that if you're going to fall in love with me, make sure you're sure because if not, it's gonna be your last." The singer added that it reminded her of the moment she heard the Teenage Dream single "E.T.".