MULTIMEDIA-ENGLISH
Shape of You (Ed Sheeran)
click image to open video page
4:23
Video page URL
https://multimedia-english.com/videos/music/shape-of-you-ed-sheeran-6687
Description

A great hit by Ed Sheeran. It peaked at number-one on the singles charts of 30 different countries, including the US Billboard Hot 100, as well as the UK, Australian and Canadian singles charts. It stayed at number one for 14 non-consecutive weeks on the UK Singles Chart,and 12 non-consecutive weeks on the Billboard Hot 100.

Transcript

The club isn't the best place to find a lover
So the bar is where I go
Me and my friends at the table doing shots
Drinking fast and then we talk slow
Come over and start up a conversation with just me
And trust me I'll give it a chance now
Take my hand, stop, put Van the Man on the jukebox
And then we start to dance, and now I'm singing like


Girl, you know I want your love
Your love was handmade for somebody like me
Come on now, follow my lead
I may be crazy, don't mind me
Say, boy, let's not talk too much
Grab on my waist and put that body on me
Come on now, follow my lead
Come, come on now, follow my lead


I'm in love with the shape of you
We push and pull like a magnet do
Although my heart is falling too
I'm in love with your body
And last night you were in my room
And now my bedsheets smell like you
Every day discovering something brand new
I'm in love with your body
Oh - I - oh - I - oh - I - oh - I
I'm in love with your body
Oh - I - oh - I - oh - I - oh - I
I'm in love with your body
Oh - I - oh - I - oh - I - oh - I
I'm in love with your body


Every day discovering something brand new
I'm in love with the shape of you


One week in we let the story begin
We're going out on our first date
You and me are thrifty, so go all you can eat
Fill up your bag and I fill up a plate
We talk for hours and hours about the sweet and the sour
And how your family is doing okay
Leave and get in a taxi, then kiss in the backseat
Tell the driver make the radio play, and I'm singing like


Girl, you know I want your love
Your love was handmade for somebody like me
Come on now, follow my lead
I may be crazy, don't mind me
Say, boy, let's not talk too much
Grab on my waist and put that body on me
Come on now, follow my lead
Come, come on now, follow my lead


I'm in love with the shape of you
We push and pull like a magnet do
Although my heart is falling too
I'm in love with your body
And last night you were in my room
And now my bedsheets smell like you
Every day discovering something brand new
I'm in love with your body
Oh - I - oh - I - oh - I - oh - I
I'm in love with your body
Oh - I - oh - I - oh - I - oh - I
I'm in love with your body
Oh - I - oh - I - oh - I - oh - I
I'm in love with your body


Every day discovering something brand new
I'm in love with the shape of you


Come on, be my baby, come on
Come on, be my baby, come on
Come on, be my baby, come on
Come on, be my baby, come on


Come on, be my baby, come on
Come on, be my baby, come on
Come on, be my baby, come on
Come on, be my baby, come on


I'm in love with the shape of you
We push and pull like a magnet do
Although my heart is falling too
I'm in love with your body
Last night you were in my room
And now my bedsheets smell like you
Every day discovering something brand new
I'm in love with your body
Come on, be my baby, come on
Come on, be my baby, come on
     I'm in love with your body
Come on, be my baby, come on
Come on, be my baby, come on
     I'm in love with your body
Come on, be my baby, come on
Come on, be my baby, come on
     I'm in love with your body


Every day discovering something brand new
I'm in love with the shape of you























Explanations

THE CLUB= A club, or a night club is a night bar, half-way between a bar and a disco, where people don't go for a drink and a relaxing chat, since music is usually too loud for that. There is also a dance floor and many of them even play live music.


DOING SHOTS= Drinking shots. A shot is a very small glass of a usually strong alcoholic drink.


I'LL GIVE IT A CHANCE= I will try.


VAN THE MAN= A nickname for Irish singer and song writer Van Morrison


JUKEBOX= A music-playing device, usually coin-operated, quite popular in bars in the central years of the 20th century. Customers could pick a song, type the matching code and the machine would play that record for the whole bar (see picture).


I'M SINGING LIKE...= This colloquial use of LIKE is very common to introduce something that somebody says, for example: yea, I looked at him and he was like "hey, what are you looking at?", and I was like "I'm looking at your face, man, don't you recognize me?", and he went like "oh man, it's you, Mike, it's been ages!".


HANDMADE= Made by hand (as opposed to manufactured items). Manufactured things are all the same, but handmade things are special because not two things can be the same.


FOLLOW MY LEAD= Let me guide you; do as I do.


DON'T MIND ME= Don't worry about me (if I'm acting a bit crazy it's ok, don't worry).


GRAB= Take, hold.


THE SHAPE OF YOU= Your shape. "Shape" is the form or silhouette of something, in the case, the form of your body.


MAGNET= A special metal that attracts iron (see picture).


FALLING= Falling in love.


BEDSHEETS= Sheets of my bed (see picture)


BRAND NEW= Emphatic form of "new" (= totally new).


ONE WEEK IN= After one week.


THRIFTY= Economical, not spending much / Also: thriving, growing vigorously.


THE SWEET AND THE SOUR= If you talk about the sweet and the sour (two opposite words, one pleasant and the other one not), you talk about all sorts of things.


 

Meaning

Ed Sheeran penned this dancey song with Snow Patrol's Johnny McDaid and pop producer Steve Mac. He sings about falling in love with a girl that he meets at a bar.

I'm in love with the shape of you
We push and pull like a magnet do
Although my heart is falling too
I'm in love with your body

Magnets attract and they have frequently been used in by a songwriter to illustrate something (usually a person or a groove) that is so desirable, it pulls them toward that person or thing. In this instance the metaphor is used to describe Sheeran and his attraction for the girl he met at the bar.

It's all about physical attraction, so he's not in love with her, he's in love with her body, but he feels he's also beginning to fall in love, so physical attraction is probably leading to something more.


Although my heart is falling too
I'm in love with your body


The song was originally written at a writing camp with Rihanna in mind, but when Sheeran and the other songwriters included a reference to Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison, they decided not to send the song to the Caribbean star. Sheeran recalled on BBC Radio 1's Breakfast Show: "I started writing lyrics like 'putting Van the Man on the juke box' and thought 'she’s not really going to sing that.' We decided halfway through that this would work for me.”