MULTIMEDIA-ENGLISH
Stereo Hearts (Paradise Fears)
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Video page URL
https://multimedia-english.com/videos/music/stereo-hearts-paradise-fears-5132
Description

Paradise Fears is an American alternative, pop-rock band from Vermillion, South Dakota. Here they sing a cover of Stereo Hearts, originally by Gym Class Heroes.

Transcript

My heart's a stereo
It beats for you, so listen close
Hear my thoughts in every note
Make me your radio
Turn me up when you feel low
This melody was meant for you
To sing along to my stereo
 
If I was just another dusty record on the shelf
Would you blow me off and play me like everybody else?
If I asked you to scratch my back, could you manage that?
Like read it well, check it Sammy, I can handle that
Furthermore, I apologize for any skippin' tracks
It's just the last girl who played me left a couple cracks
I used to used to used to used to, now I'm over that
'Cause holding grudges over love is ancient artifacts
 
If I could only find a note to make you understand
I'll sing it softly in your ear and grab you by the hand
Keep it stuck inside your head, like your favourite tune
You know my heart's a stereo that only plays for you
 
My heart's a stereo
It beats for you, so listen close
Hear my thoughts in every no-o-o-te
Make me your radio
Turn me up when you feel low
This melody was meant for you
To sing along to my stereo
 
Oh oh, uh, oh. Oh oh, uh, oh. Oh oh, uh, oh
 
If I was an old-school fifty pound boombox
Would you hold me on your shoulder wherever you walk
Would you turn my volume up in front of the cops
And crank it higher everytime they told you to stop
And all I ask is that you don't get mad at me
When you have to purchase mad D batteries
Appreciate every mixtape your friends make
You never know we come and go like on the interstate
 
If I could only find a note to make you understand
I'll sing it softly in your ear and grab you by the hand
Keep me stuck inside your head, like your favourite tune
You know my heart's a stereo that only plays for you
 
My heart's a stereo
It beats for you, so listen close
Hear my thoughts in every no-o-o-te
Make me your radio
Turn me up when you feel low
This melody was meant for you
To sing along to my stereo
 
Oh oh, uh, oh. Oh oh, uh, oh. Oh oh, uh, oh
 
I only pray you'll never leave me behind
Because good music can be so hard to find
I'll take your hand and hold it closer to mine
Our love was dead, but now you're changing my mind
 
My heart's a stereo
It beats for you, so listen close
Hear my thoughts in every no-o-o-te
Make me your radio
Turn me up when you feel low
This melody was meant for you
To sing along to my stereo
 
My heart's a stereo (my heart's a stereo)
My heart's a stereo















Explanations

A STEREO= A portable hi-fi device for playing music, with cassette player and radio (see picture)


LISTEN CLOSE= Listen carefully.

TURN UP= Push the volume higher, louder.

YOU FEEL LOW= You feel sad, you are depressed.

WAS MEANT FOR YOU= Was designed thinking of you, to give it to you.

SING ALONG= Sing at the same time.

DUSTY= Covered with dust (old and out of use)

RECORD= The big vinyl disks used in the past to record music before CDs and Mp3s appeared (see picture)

SHELF= (pl: shelves) A board on the wall or in a cupboard to put things on (see picture)

BLOW ME OFF= Blow over me (remember that I am a record) to take the dust away so you can play me (listen to my music).

SCRATCH= Use your finger nails to rub or scrape (the skin) to relieve itching. If I am a vinyl record and you scratch "my back", you play me (becuase to play a record, a needle must "scratch" the upper surface of it). But the exact phrase he uses here, "scratch my back", is also used in the popular expression "you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours", which means: if you help me, I'll help you.

MANAGE= Handle, be able to do it. Can you manage that? = Can you do it?

FURTHERMORE= And; besides; plus; moreover; and also...

APOLOGIZE= Say I’m sorry.

SKIPPING TRACKS= Tracks on a record or CD are every one of the songs. If you go A, B, C, E, F, you are skipping the letter D. Old vinyl records could be scratched and then, when playing the music, that could cause the needle to skip part of a song.

I’M OVER THAT= Now I don’t think about it anymore, I don’t suffer because of it anymore. For me, that's history.

CAUSE= (coll.) Because.

HOLDING GRUDGES= If you hold grudges, you are resentful, you still remember the wrong they did to you and maybe you want to do them wrong too.

IS ANCIENT ARTIFACTS= Is history (it belongs to the past). An artifact is an object, often used to refer to archeological objects found in excavations.

GRAB YOU BY THE HAND= Take your hand.

STUCK= (stick-stack-stuck) If something is stuck inside your head, it won’t go, you won’t forget it even if you want to, you can't stop thinking of them.

BOOMBOX= A large, powerful portable radio and often CD or cassette player, which got very popular in the 80’s. (see picture)

COPS= (coll.) The police.

CRANK IT= Turn it up (the volume), make it sound louder.

MAD AT (AmE)= Angry with (BrE)

PURCHASE= Buy.

MAD D BATTERIES= A very big size of batteries. (see picture)

APPRECIATE= Value.

MIXTAPE= A collection of songs or tunes by different performers, selected by an individual and recorded on an audio tape, compact disc, etc.

THE INTERSTATE= Very long distance roads crossing several states in the USA.

CHANING MY MIND= Changing my point of view, thinking differently.

Meaning

Said the Gym Class Heroes drummer: "The video basically plays on the idea that we're sort of just being casual, hanging out, being ourselves and our shadows get wild and get loose. It's kind of fun. I've always felt like my shadow has been trying to kill me for 28 years."


McCoy explained the song's meaning to MTV News: "We worked with Benny Blanco on this single, and the chorus kind of jumped out at me, the whole metaphor for your heart being a stereo. Lyrically, I played off that, just imagining my heart being inanimate objects like dusty records and old-school boom boxes and whatnot."