English Phrases: What makes UK Christmas music unique?
Whether you're humming along to Shakin' Stevens or pondering the lyrics of Band Aid, these Christmas classics are brilliant for boosting your English. You'll catch everyday phrases, learn music-related vocabulary, and get a proper taste of British culture – all while enjoying some proper festive tunes. Plus, since these songs pop up everywhere during the holiday season, you'll be ready for a jolly good chat about Christmas music with any English speaker!
If you like this podcast then you will love Course One Activate Your Listening, which includes 5 hours of 'Listen & Learn' material. It's like the podcasts but more in depth. Find out more here: https://adeptenglish.com/language-courses/course-one-activate-your-listening/
The best way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear.
⭐ Will Ferrell as Buddy the Elf
So if you fancy a festive musical journey through Britain's Christmas hits. Join us for the timeless charm of Wham!'s "Last Christmas" the quirky appeal of "Fairytale of New York,". These beloved tunes have some interesting stories behind them! Did you know some of the most popular Christmas songs worldwide were born right here in the UK?
- If you feel we have helped you please consider supporting us https://adeptengli.sh/donate
Follow and subscribe to our English language podcast, wherever you listen or watch your podcasts: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/adeptenglish/
More About This Lesson
This English listening lesson blends festive songs with English listening practice, helping you master vocabulary, phrases, and pronunciation while enjoying holiday classics. Perfect for all levels—beginner, intermediate, and advanced.
A song can transport you back to a moment, a memory, or a feeling.
⭐ Taylor Swift
An interesting English language lesson that will help you:
- Learn vocabulary for Christmas songs and British culture.
- Practise listening comprehension with clear British pronunciation.
- Expand knowledge of British music history and artists.
- Understand terms like 'export', 'royalty', and 'charity'.
- Discover cultural traditions linked to UK Christmas music.
- Hear examples of opinions and critiques in conversational English.
- Pick up useful expressions and phrases naturally.
- Practice spelling and pronunciation of advanced words.
- Improve understanding of puns and wordplay in English.
- Engage with real-life examples of British humour and commentary.
This topic is perfect for English learners because Christmas music is a wonderful gateway to natural English vocabulary and cultural understanding. As you listen to the podcast, you'll pick up common expressions, learn about British music history, and understand how English speakers discuss controversial topics diplomatically. The podcast introduces words like 'royalty,' 'controversy,' and 'patronising' in a natural context, while also teaching you about British culture and how social attitudes have evolved over time.
Plus, since these songs are played worldwide during the holiday season, you'll be better equipped to join conversations about Christmas music with English speakers, whether you celebrate the holiday or not.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
- How can listening to British Christmas songs improve my English? Listening to British Christmas songs helps you master natural pronunciation, rhythm, and intonation. These songs expose you to authentic British accents, everyday vocabulary, and cultural expressions. The repetitive nature of lyrics makes them easier to remember, while the emotional connection to music enhances learning. Plus, you'll learn vocabulary in context through stories and themes that native speakers regularly reference.
- Which British Christmas songs are best for beginners? Start with "Last Christmas" by Wham! and "Merry Christmas Everyone" by Shakin' Stevens - they have clear vocals and simple, repetitive lyrics. "Driving Home for Christmas" by Chris Rea offers straightforward storytelling perfect for intermediate learners. More advanced students can tackle "Fairytale of New York" by The Pogues for its complex vocabulary and cultural references.
- Why are British Christmas songs popular worldwide? British Christmas songs combine catchy melodies with universal themes of love, family, and celebration. Artists like George Michael, Elton John, and Paul McCartney brought British musical style to global audiences. These songs also feature clear British pronunciation, making them valuable for English learners worldwide who want to improve their accent and understanding of British culture.
- How can I practice speaking English using Christmas songs? Start by singing along to build confidence with pronunciation. Then try these exercises: pause the song and repeat phrases, write down new vocabulary, practice telling the story behind the song, or discuss your favourite Christmas songs with other learners. Use songs like "Do They Know It's Christmas?" to practice discussing social issues in English.
- What cultural aspects can I learn from British Christmas music? British Christmas songs teach you about UK traditions, social history, and cultural values. You'll learn about British humour through songs like "Fairytale of New York," understand charity culture through Band Aid's work, and discover how British people celebrate Christmas. The songs also reveal changes in British society over time, helping you understand modern British culture.
Most Unusual Words:
- Export: Something sold to other countries or sent outside your country.
- Royalty: Money paid to artists when their work is used, like a song being played.
- Charity: An organisation or activity that helps people in need.
- Pun: A joke using words with double meanings.
- Famine: A severe lack of food causing people to go hungry.
- Patronising: Acting like you’re better than someone else or treating them like a child.
- Empirical: Based on facts or observations rather than guesses.
- Tropes: Common ideas or themes often repeated in stories or descriptions.
- Endemic: Something common or regularly found in a specific place.
- Retrospect: Looking back on past events or actions to think about them again.
Most Frequently Used Words:
| Word | Count |
|---|---|
| Christmas | 41 |
| There | 12 |
| About | 12 |
| English | 10 |
| Music | 9 |
| Means | 9 |
| Known | 9 |
| Listening | 8 |
| Songs | 8 |
Listen To The Audio Lesson Now
Transcript: English Listening Practice with Iconic Christmas Hits
Celebrate Christmas with bangin’ Christmas songs from the UK!
Hi there and welcome to this podcast from Adept English. By the time you're listening to this, it will be pretty much Christmas. So let's do a Christmas theme for this podcast. I know that there are many of you who belong to different religions, but who perhaps still enjoy some aspects of Christmas. There are also many Christians out there for whom Christmas is really important and there are many people who don't belong to a particular religion, but who still enjoy Christmas. Today's podcast is about Christmas pop music. So you'll learn a lot of English language vocabulary today, but if you like Christmas music like I do, it will be a topic that you enjoy. And hear my opinion on a controversial but very well-known Christmas song that you'll probably know. Lots to enjoy today.
Hello, I’m Hilary, and you’re listening to Adept English. We will help you to speak English fluently. All you have to do is listen. So start listening now and find out how it works.
Give Adept English a boost?
And in the Christmas spirit, why not give a little bit back to Adept English for all of your free English language listening content? Simply by subscribing on platforms like Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you listen, you can help us out. You can also help us by sharing our podcast with other people or by giving us a five-star review. All of this helps Adept English grow. And as I always say, we're a tiny company, just two people, and we don't advertise. People find out about Adept English through 'word of mouth'. So help us grow for free by subscribing, reviewing, or sharing our podcast. We say a big Thankyou to you for doing that. Thank you.
Boost Your Learning With Adept English
Wham! Last Christmas
So for me, one of the important elements of Christmas is the music. If you listen to the radio in the run-up to Christmas in the UK, you will hear a lot of Christmas songs. And there are new Christmas songs coming out each year, but most of what we listen to at Christmas are old songs. And many of them are British. In the UK,Wham! and Last Christmas looks likely to be the most streamed Christmas song for the second year running, despite it being 30 years since it was released. The Christmas chart has changed since it was possible to include what is streamed and what is downloaded. And it means it reflects better what people are listening to at Christmas. And the old ones are the best, it seems. I do love a bit of George Michael, and I loved Wham! when I was younger. If you see photographs of Andrew Ridgeley, you realise what a long time ago it all was! But from Iceland to Lebanon, and in many European countries, Wham! and Last Christmas has been a Christmas number one.
📷
A stylized UK map. Could Band Aid’s lyrics really offend an entire continent?
British music - one of our best exports!
And actually, there are just so many Christmas songs you hear on the radio. I still think that music is one of the UK's greatest exports. That word 'export', E-X-P-O-R-T, means 'what we sell outside of the UK'. You can use the verb 'to export', or use the word 'export' to talk about a product. We 'export' British beef, for instance. But British music is heard all over the world. And music is something that we're quite good at, I think. So the Christmas songs I'm talking about today may be British, but you may well know them.
Shakin’ Stevens Merry Christmas Everyone
Another very popular British Christmas song, Shakin' Steven's Merry Christmas Everyone - I've heard this played so many times recently and Shakin' Stevens, not his real name of course, is from Cardiff, the capital of Wales in the UK. That song was released in 1985, and seems to have grown in popularity since then. I would imagine that for Shakin' Stevens, though he did have many other songs, it will be this one that pays the most royalties. A 'royalty', R-O-Y-A-L-T-Y, means 'the money that an artist or singer gets paid when their music is played'.
Chris Rea Driving Home for Christmas
Another British artist who is probably best known for his Christmas song - what about Chris Rea and Driving Home for Christmas ? That one's pretty well known all over the world, too. Chris Rea wrote the song when he was driving home from London to Middlesbrough in the north east of England. And I associate this song with actually driving home for Christmas, too. I'm from the north west of England, but the motorways are similarly jam-packed with cars before Christmas. This song would be playing on my many long drives up north to see family at Christmas. I do it less now because most of my family live further south or in France now. The other song of Chris Rea's that you might know is The Road to Hell. He was writing there about the M25, the motorway that circles London. It's a massive circle. Please don't be put off if you visit the UK and you have to drive on the M25! It's busy, but it's not that bad, really. The 'road to hell' feels a bit over the top, perhaps. And it makes Chris Rea sound obsessed with driving, which I'm sure he's not. But Driving Home for Christmas has been top of the charts in Slovenia and Croatia and nearly made it in Norway and Austria, too. So it's well known in Europe.
Mariah, Ariana and Brenda!
Obviously, American singers are also in the charts at this time of year. Mariah Carey's All I Want for Christmas is usually towards the top of any chart of music at Christmas, as well as Ariana Grande's Santa Tell Me. I do like that one. I think it really shows off Ariana Grande's lovely voice. And what about Brenda Lee Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree? She must do very well out of that song. It was first recorded in 1958 when Brenda Lee was only 13 years old. She's 80 years old now. Good luck to her, I say! The royalties from this song must have helped Brenda Lee buy her Christmas presents for many years!
Paul McCartney, Elton John and The Pogues with Kirsty MacColl!
But back to UK songs. Paul McCartney's Wonderful Christmas Time is also pretty well known across the world. But of course, he's an ex-Beatle, so his Christmas song will be well known across the world. And it's the same with our own dear old Elton John and Step Into Christmas. Elton John is another of my favourites, so many good songs.
How Greek Myths Shape Brands Like Nike & Pandora
But lesser British singers are also known all around the world for their Christmas music. What about The Pogues and the Fairy Tale of New York? This song was a joint venture between British singer Kirsty MacColl and Shane MacGowan and The Pogues, who were described as an 'Anglo-Irish band' and called themselves 'Celtic Punk', but who were based in London, of course. It's a song about Christmas in New York, but certainly not your typical Christmas song. And perhaps that's why we like it. The characters in the song call each other names and talk about 'the drunk tank'. But this song is loved across the world. Kirsty MacColl was famous for other songs, of course, including the very British There's A Guy Works Down The Chip Shop Swears He's Elvis. Look that one up if you don't know it! But sadly no longer with us. Kirsty MacColl was killed in a boating accident in the year 2000 in Mexico, and she actually saved her son's life as she died. Of the two of them, one would never have imagined that Shane MacGowan would live longer. He's well known for his unfortunate history with drink and drugs. Apparently Shane MacGowan started drinking at aged five, but actually he only died in 2023, aged 65, which is probably down to good medical care. This song, Fairy Tale of New York, is probably less known across the world, but listeners in Sweden, Norway and Japan will certainly know it. Check it out on YouTube. If you haven't heard it before, it's a good one and great English language practice.
Band Aid Do They Know It’s Christmas?
Other Christmas songs from the UK? Well, you can't get very far without hearing Band Aid, Do They Know It's Christmas? This song has been re-released a number of times, but I prefer the original 1984 version. This song was, of course, a charity song - that's C-H-A-R-I-T-Y, organised and put together by Irishman Bob Geldof of the Boomtown Rats. And the video associated with the original song is a 'Who's Who' of British and Irish mid-1980s music and I love the history of it. George Michael, again, features but also Boy George, Sting, Midge Ure, along with Bananarama, Simon Le Bon of Duran Duran and Gary Kemp and Tony Hadley of Spandau Ballet. If you know the songs Gold and True, they're both Spandau Ballet, you've probably heard those. Also, there was Paul Weller of The Jam, I love him. And Francis Rossi and Rick Parfitt of Status Quo, Phil Collins, of course, and Bono of U2. Also, Mark Knopfler of Dire Straits, remember them? I do love 1980s music and that really is a 'Who's Who' of 1980s music, isn't it? There have also been versions released in 1989, 2004 and 2014 and there's also a 2024 release this year called Band Aid 40 to mark the 40th anniversary. And there has been controversy, C-O-N-T-R-O-V-E-R-S-Y. That means 'disagreement' over this release because the song uses Liam Payne's vocals posthumously. That means 'after his death'. The One Direction singer died, sadly, in October this year, falling from a balcony in Argentina.
And the word 'Band Aid', it's the name of a type of plaster. That's a covering that you might put on your finger if you cut it. But the point of the name, it's a pun, P-U-N. That means 'a word with a double meaning'. It's also a music band, B-A-N-D, and aid, A-I-D, or help, or people in Africa. But that name Band Aid was also chosen because it's 'only a sticking plaster', meaning that the song would make things better only in the short term. It wasn't a long-term solution to the problems.
Criticism of ‘Do They Know It’s Christmas’
There have, of course, been lots of criticisms of the lyrics of the Band Aid song. And too right - it addresses Africa as though it's a country rather than a whole continent full of different countries, diverse countries. It's been criticised for having a 'Them And Us' feel. It's full of negative stereotypes and it's patronising. That's P-A-T-R-O-N-I-S-I-N-G. A number of singers have refused to sing on the re-releases of Do They Know It's Christmas? Even the song title, Do They Know It's Christmas? is completely ridiculous. Many of the countries in Africa are Christian countries. And Ethiopia, whose famine motivated the song in the first place, that's 'famine', F-A-M-I-N-E, and means 'severe shortage of food', well, 64% of Ethiopians are Christian. So I'm pretty sure they did know it was Christmas! And the percentage of Christians is very high in many African countries, like Namibia, Rwanda, South Sudan, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. I could go on. The lyrics also portray the entire continent as 'starving'. 'To starve' S-T-A-R-V-E means 'to die through lack of food' and as though it has no rivers, which again, is ridiculous. These lyrics can be criticised in retrospect - that means 'looking back'. And for having what's become known as White Saviour Complex.
Download The Podcast Audio & Transcript
Solve The Maths Problem To Download Podcast & Transcript
‘The two worst songs in history’?
And actually, Bob Geldof admitted in 2010 that he is "responsible for the two worst songs in history"! One being Do They Know It's Christmas?, the other one We Are The World, the US charity song released at the same time. But Bob Geldof said, "It was about raising money for people who were starving. And it was successful in that goal." He said again in 2024, "This little pop song has kept hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of people alive." And here's some more difficult English for you to practise on. Bob Geldof also said, "The alleged colonial tropes of the lyrics were in fact empirical facts. And that hunger remains endemic in Ethiopia, water is scarce, and rain is increasingly unreliable due to climate change." Whatever you think of those lyrics when you come to examine them, this song has done good in the world. And it's still one of the songs of Christmas in many countries today. Anyway, that's my round-up of Christmas music.
Goodbye
Let us know how many of them you know. These songs may be completely familiar to you, or you may not have heard of them at all. Why not spend a happy half hour on YouTube listening to them if you can? As I said, great English language listening practice. Let me also wish you a very happy Christmas. All the best. Enough for now.
Have a lovely day. Speak to you again soon. Goodbye.
Thank you so much for listening. Please help me tell others about this podcast by reviewing or rating it. And, please share it on social media. You can find more listening lessons and a free English course at adeptenglish.com
Links
- Wham! - Last Christmas
- Shakin' Stevens - Merry Christmas Everyone
- Chris Rea - Driving Home For Christmas
- Chris Rea - The Road To Hell 1989 Full Version
- Mariah Carey - All I Want for Christmas Is You
- Ariana Grande - Santa Tell Me
- Brenda Lee - Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree
- Paul McCartney - Wonderful Christmastime
- Elton John - Step Into Christmas
- The Pogues - Fairytale Of New York
- Band Aid - Do They Know its Christmas 1984
- Are Band Aid lyrics controversial?
- Liam Payne’s Vocals Used
- Liam Payne's death
- Premium podcast subscription explained | FAQ
- If you feel we have helped you please consider supporting us https://adeptengli.sh/donate
- More great phrases lessons
- Find us on Spotify
- Read along on YouTube
- Apple Podcasts
- English language courses
- Listen & Learn
- Most Common 500 English Words
- Downloads
