Table of Contents
Listening Activity
This listening activity is based on the lyrics of the famous song I Can’t Dance by Phil Collins. It is ideal for beginner and intermediate students and includes interesting language points such as expressing ability.
Let’s begin with some information about the song!
I Can’t Dance by Genesis: Song Information
I Can’t Dance is a song by Genesis from the album We Can’t Dance. This page provides information about the song, the official video, and the lyrics.
I Can’t Dance by Phil Collins
Level
Beginner and intermediate students.
Facts about the song
- Song: I Can’t Dance
- Album: We Can”t Dance
- Date of release: 30 December 1991
- Genre: Dance-rock, blues rock
- Length of the song: 4 minutes and 01 seconds.
- Writer: Tony Banks, Phil Collins, Mike Rutherford
- Produced by: Genesis, Nick Davis
Interesting Information About the Song
During one recording session, Mike Rutherford first created the main riff of the song he called “Heavy A Flat,” to which Phil Collins suddenly improvised “I Can’t Dance!” Originally, the band did not think of it as anything more than a joke because the song was too simple, too bluesy, and completely unlike Genesis’ style. Tony Banks said in an interview, “It was one of those bits you thought was going to go nowhere. It sounded fun, but wasn’t really special.”
It was not until Banks added the keyboard sound effects that the song took on a whole different feeling with a slight edge of humor in it, which made the band decide to record it.
The video
I Can’t Dance by Phil Collins: The lyrics
I Can’t Dance by Phil Collins: full lyrics
Language points
The song I Can’t Dance by Phil Collins includes many interesting language points:
Expressions that may be useful to students:
- I can’t dance, I can’t talk.
The only thing about me is the way I walk.
I can’t dance, I can’t sing
I’m just standing here selling everything
I Can’t Dance: Gap Fill Exercise
The following words are used in the lyrics of the song:
burning, sweat, reach, standing, beach, perfect, spill
To enhance your learning of these words, complete the following gap-fill exercise:
Fill in the gaps with the correct words from the box below:
- spilled
- beach
- burning
- sweat
- reach
- standing
- perfect
- The hot sun is ____ my feet as I walk around.
- The heat is making me ____ as I walk.
- I’m just ____ here, observing everything around me.
- I spent all the morning on the ____.
- The dog is barking, but it’s out of ____.
- He accidentally ____ his drink on my shoes.
- Everything looks ____ in this scene.
Source: Wikipedia
