Some of you, and by “some” I mean all, have heard Adele’s latest song “Hello”, a deep, slow and painfully transparent story of a recent relationship that has ended, all being sung over the telephone.
You probably listen to it on replay. You probably know most of the words by heart. Well, today we’re going to take a look at what exactly those powerful vocal chords are saying. Before getting into the details, let’s have a listen first:
The song is evidently about a message being left by Adele to a former lover, as she reflects on the past and wants to meet with this person again after a long time.
So let’s dig into the lyrics, shall we? Fast forward to time 1:32 in the video:
“I was wondering if after all these years you’d like to meet to go over everything“
Here is our first phrasal verb of the song, and just 2 lines in! Go over [something] is a common verb in English, have a look at the following examples and see for yourself:
What does Adele want to go over? It’s difficult to say, but I think we can assume it is the relationship, how and why it ended, and maybe even a plan to get back together. But only she can confirm that, and some sources seem to think differently.
We will go over this verb again later on in the post. For now, let’s move on to our next phrasal verb, which you can jump to 3:05 to listen to.
“But it doesn’t matter, it clearly doesn’t tear you apart.”
The phrasal verb to tear [something] apart can be both negative and positive, but is always used for extreme situations. Have a look at the graphic below for a detailed explanation.
Just like a bad breakup can have terrible consequences, Adele is actually saying it has the opposite effect on this person she is talking to. It clearly doesn’t tear this person apart, but it does tear Adele apart!
Continuing, let’s look at the next part of the song. Skip to the minute mark of 3:34 for our next phrasal verb.
“Did you ever make it out of that town where nothing ever happened?”
Our next phrasal verb in the song is make it out of [somewhere], as you can see in the following graphic.
What does Adele mean when she uses make it out that town? She probably grew up with this person in the same small, boring town. Now, she is speaking to him/her for the first time in many years, so she simply wants to know “did you ever leave that town or are you still there?” Typical chit-chat with old friends.
On to our next phrasal verb of the day. Adele just loves her phrasal verbs! Jump forward to 3:47 in the video, where the song really starts to build.
“It’s no secret that the both of us are running out of time.“
Our next phrasal verb is to run out of [something]. This phrasal verb is used in all sorts of contexts, from counting physical things to the figurative sense. Have a look at the graphic below for some examples on how to use this phrasal verb.
How could Adele, a 27-year old woman, be running out of time? I think we can let our readers try to answer this one. Let us know in the comment section: why is she running out of time?
