All fired up

Linkin Park burn their bridges

In their latest single, "Burning in the Skies," Linkin Park use images of fire and destruction as a metaphor for the end of a relationship. They did their best to weather the hard times, but they finally realise that the relationships isn't going to work out.

This week's Karaoke Korner takes a look at some vocabulary words used in the lyrics.

EXERCISES

Let's look at some vocabulary words used in the lyrics. All you have to do is match each verb with the correct definition from the choices that follow.

VERBS

DEFINITIONS

1. deserve

a. to be right that somebody should have something because of the way they have behaved

2. rise

b. to say that you are sorry for doing something wrong

3. apologise

c. to begin to exist and gradually develop into a particular shape

4. form

d. to increase in amount, power or number

 

"Burning in the Skies"
By Linkin Park

I used the dead wood to make the fire rise
The blood of innocence burning in the skies
I filled my cup with the rising of the sea
And poured it out in an ocean of debris

(Chorus)

I'm swimming in the smoke
Of bridges I have burned
So don't apologise
I'm losing what I don't deserve
What I don't deserve

We held our breath when the clouds began to form
But you were lost in the beating of the storm
But in the end we were made to be apart
Like separate chambers of the human heart

(Chorus)

It's in the blackened bones
Of bridges I have burned
So don't apologise
I'm losing what I don't deserve
What I don't deserve

The blame is mine alone
For bridges I have burned

ABOUT LINKIN PARK

Name: Linkin Park
Nationality: American
Style: Rock, pop
Label: Warner Bros., Machine Shop
Album: A Thousand Suns (2010), Minutes to Midnight (2007), Meteora (2003), Hybrid Theory (2000)

In brief: Linkin Park formed in California in 1996. The band rose to fame after the release of their debut album, Hybrid Theory, in 2000. The album eventually sold more than 10 million copies in the US. Linkin Park went on to achieve international success over the following decade and have so far sold more than 50 million albums worldwide. They have also won two Grammy Awards. With their latest album, A Thousand Suns, Linkin Park have expanded their sound to include soft pop tracks like their latest hit, "Burning in the Skies." The album reached No. 1 on the Billboard 200 Album chart and has been another international success for the band.

If you like Linkin Park, check out: U2, Deftones and Limp Bizkit.

Website: www.linkinpark.com

Vocabulary

  • dead wood (n): people or things that have become useless or unnecessary in an organisation

    innocence (n): lack of knowledge and experience of the world, especially of evil or unpleasant things

    debris (n): pieces of wood, metal, brick, etc. that are left after something has been destroyed

    chamber (n): an enclosed space in the body

    blacken (v): to make something black, for example by burning, smoke, etc.

    metaphor (n): a word or phrase used in an imaginative way to describe something else, to show that the two things have similar qualities

    weather (v): to come safely through a difficult period or experience

    Idiom

    burn your bridges: to do something that makes it impossible to return to the previous situation later