Tag: music

The Treasure That Is the NYPL

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The Rose Reading Room, photo by Max Touhey

Field trip!

We encourage you to visit and get to know the New York Public Library. There is so much to learn, and the library is the place to do exactly that!

Nearest to University Settlement is the Seward Park Library. This building opened in 1909 and is at the eastern edge of Seward Park.

Seward Park Library

192 East Broadway

NYC, NY 10002

https://maps.app.goo.gl/DcPUYMmihfPkb6P26

Did you know?

— The New York Public Library features more than 6 million items in its circulating collections. You can find everything from books, e-books, and audiobooks to music and movies.

— The Library has a free e-reader app, SimplyE, that you can download and then read e-books on your mobile device.

— Explore local museums & attractions with Culture Pass! If you have a library card from the Brooklyn Public Library, Queens Public Library, or New York Public Library (serving the Bronx, Manhattan, and Staten Island), you can reserve free passes to 100+ cultural institutions across NYC.

— You can print documents at the Library from your mobile device. Black and white printing is available for 20 cents per page.

— NYPL offers free internet access. With your library card, you can reserve a computer to use at almost any location.

— NYPL is better than Google! Ask questions and chat with the expert staff in real time, Monday through Friday, 10 AM to 6 PM. https://www.nypl.org/get-help/contact-us/chat

— In the summer months, many NYPL locations are official “Cooling Centers.” Some of these are even pet-friendly!

— Many locations have free yoga (in Spanish), film screenings, as well as sewing and craft groups.

Get your library card now!

If you’re 13 years old or older and live, work, or attend school in New York State, you can apply for a free library card right now using this online card application—then visit your nearest NYPL location to receive your physical NYPL card. A physical library card is your key to checking out physical books and materials, signing up for Culture Pass, and more.

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Rain or Shine Revisited

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Feel the 80’s vibes! Here’s a song using our latest idiom of the week – the lyrics are both in the video and below:

Rain or Shine

by Five Star

You’re my knight in shining armour
Chase the devil and the dragons away
From manana to manana
Do I am love you, yes I do do
Storm or sun
You’re the only one and this is how I feel

Rain or shine, you’ll always be
One in a million, my fantasy come true
Rain or shine, it’s you and me
Cut me a heart on a tree and say, it’s for ever not a year and a day

Robin Hood and Major Tom
All the super heroes rolled into one
Kiss away my sad and lonelies
Do I am love you, yes I do do
Silk and steel
That’s the way you feel, and how I love you now

Rain or shine, you’ll always be
One in a million, my fantasy come true
Rain or shine, it’s you and me
Cut me a heart on a tree and say, it’s for ever, not a year and a day
How I love you still

How I love you now
How I love you now
Rain or shine, you’ll always be
One in a million, my fantasy come true
Rain or shine, it’s you and me
Cut me a heart on a tree and say from me to you

Rain
Shine
Rain
Shine
Rain or shine, you’ll always be
One in a million, my fantasy come true
Rain or shine, it’s you and me

Rain or shine
Fantasy comes true
Rain or shine
Rain or shine
Fantasy comes true

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Summertime Blues

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Here’s a classic old song for you about summertime with some good examples of informal English in it. Here is a key to some of these words along with the song’s lyrics:

raise a fuss, raise a holler = cause trouble, yell loudly, make noise

gonna = going to

“No dice” = “No chance,” “It’s useless”

ain’t = isn’t, aren’t

gotta = got to, have to, must

’cause = because

“You didn’t work a lick” = “You didn’t do any work”

“Summertime Blues”

by Eddie Cochran

Well I’m a gonna raise a fuss, I’m gonna raise a holler
About working all summer just to try and earn a dollar
Every time I call my baby to try to get a date
My boss says, “No dice, son, you gotta work late.”
Sometimes I wonder what I’m gonna do
But there ain’t no cure for the summertime blues

Well, my mom and papa told me, “Son, you gotta make some money
If you want to use the car to go riding next Sunday”
Well, I didn’t go to work, told the boss I was sick
“Now you can’t use the car ’cause you didn’t work a lick”
Sometimes I wonder what I’m gonna do
‘Cause there ain’t no cure for the summertime blues

I’m gonna take two weeks, gonna have a fun vacation
I’m gonna take my problem to the United Nations
Well, I called my Congressman and he said quote
“I’d like to help you son, but you’re too young to vote”
Sometimes I wonder what I’m gonna do
But there ain’t no cure for the summertime blues

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April Showers Bring May Flowers

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There’s a saying in English “April showers bring May flowers,” which means that although you might not like all the rain we get in April, it will help all the beautiful flowers grow in May. Which is kind of another way to say that sometimes you first have to experience something unpleasant in order to to experience joy later on. Here’s an old song using this phrase along with the lyrics – enjoy!

“April Showers”

Written by Louis Silvers and B. G. De Sylva

Performed by Judy Garland

When April showers may come your way
They bring the flowers that bloom in May
So when it’s raining, have no regrets
Because it isn’t raining rain, you know, it’s raining violets

And when you see clouds upon the hill
You’ll know they’ll bring crowds of daffodils
So just keep looking for a blue bird and listening for his song
Whenever April showers come along

And when you see clouds upon the hill
You’ll know they’ll bring crowds of daffodils
So just keep looking for a blue bird and listening for his song
Whenever April showers come along

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Summer’s Almost Gone Revisited

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Here’s a little song to help you mark the end of summer, along with the lyrics…

Summer’s Almost Gone

By The Doors

Summer’s almost gone
Summer’s almost gone
Almost gone
Yeah, it’s almost gone
Where will we be
When the summer’s gone?

Morning found us calmly unaware
Noon burn gold into our hair
At night we swim the laughing sea
When summer’s gone
Where will we be?
Where will we be?
Where will we be?

Morning found us calmly unaware
Noon burn gold into our hair
At night we swim the laughing sea
When summer’s gone
Where will we be?

Summer’s almost gone
Summer’s almost gone
We had some good times
But they’re gone
The winter’s coming on
Summer’s almost gone

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At the Drop of a Hat Revisited

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Here’s a song using our latest Idiom of the Week – the lyrics are below:

“Bob Dylan’s Dream”

Bob Dylan

While riding on a train goin’ west

I fell asleep for to take my rest

I dreamed a dream that made me sad

Concerning myself and the first few friends I had

 

With half-damp eyes I stared to the room

Where my friends and I’d spent many an afternoon

Where we together weathered many a storm

Laughin’ and singin’ till the early hours of the morn

 

By the old wooden stove where our hats was hung

Our words were told, our songs were sung

Where we longed for nothin’ and were satisfied

Jokin’ and talkin’ about the world outside

 

With hungry hearts through the heat and cold

We never much thought we could get very old

We thought we could sit forever in fun

But our chances really was a million to one

 

As easy it was to tell black from white

It was all that easy to tell wrong from right

And our choices they was few so the thought never hit

That the one road we traveled would ever shatter and split

 

How many a year has passed and gone?

Many a gamble has been lost and won

And many a road taken by many a first friend

And each one I’ve never seen again

 

I wish, I wish, I wish in vain

That we could sit simply in that room again

Ten thousand dollars at the drop of a hat

I’d give it all gladly if our lives could be like that

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Hit the Hay Again

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Here’s a song featuring our latest Idiom of the Week:

Hit the Hay

NRBQ

Hit the hay

I’ve been working all day

Hit the hay

What do you say?

Hit the hay, hit the hay

 

Oh, I’m tired

Let me tell you, Jack

I’m so tired

Oh, my aching back

 

Let’s hit the hay

I’ve been working all day

Hit the hay

What do you say?

Hit the hay, hit the hay

 

Oh, I’m tired

Boys, I’m really beat

I’m so tired

Oh, my aching feet

 

Let’s hit the hay

I’ve been working all day

Hit the hay

I earned my pay

Hit the hay, hit the hay

Hit the hay, hit the hay…

 

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