By Pavel Rynt and James Branam
In 1996, I was approached by Pavel Rynt, the owner of the Easy English language school for who I had done some summer teaching, and was asked if I was interested in working on a project called Easy English with Beautiful Music. Pavel knew that I was a singer/musician, and that I played a lot of popular songs. I agreed to work with him.
The idea behind the book was to learn English from English songs. Fourteen songs were chosen for the project (including two of my own). Here’s how it worked: The song’s lyric would are listed first followed by a version a song in which the listener fills in missing words. Then came a translation of the song into Czech, followed by an explanation of the grammar in the song and exercises.
Due to licensing issues, the songs had to be re-recorded in a studio, so we rented time at Studio Sokit, a small studio not far from where I lived. The next two weeks were quite an experience.
Since Pavel was paying for the studio time, he stood constantly behind the sound engineer, glancing nervously at his watch. Studio time meant money…lots of it. I played all of the instruments and sang all of the vocals except on two songs. A student of mine, Martin Hrubý was asked to play guitar on Tears in Heaven (this track was not used in the final version) and Pavel Krumphanzl played bass on Return to Sender.
Twenty-eight hours the recording was finished. The sessions were rushed, and some of the songs reflect this. Still, 28 hours to record 14 songs, when most profession group spend more than 28 hours on one song.
The book was quite a success. I performed a lot of concerts at Pavel’s summer language school in support of the book. I also spent a lot of Saturdays driving around the Czech Republic (and Slovakia), selling the book to bookstores.
Track List:
1. Tears In Heaven (Eric Clapton)
2. Losing My Religion (R.E.M – Berry, Buck, Mills, Stipe)
3. Some Things (James Branam)
4. I Want To Break Free (Queen – John Deacon)
5. America (Simon & Garfunkel – Paul Simon)
6. Return To Sender (Elvis Presley – Blackwell/Scott)
7. Yesterday (Beatles – John Lennon/Paul McCartney)
8. Too Much Love Will Kill You (Queen – Brian May)
9. Married To The Road (James Branam)
10. Love Is All Around (Wet Wet Wet – Reg Presley)
11. Friday I’m In Love (Cure – Smith, Gallup, Williams, Bamonte, Thompson)
12. Everybody Hurts (R.E.M. – Berry, Buck, Mills, Stipe)
13. Post War Dream (Pink Floyd – Roger Waters)
- 14.Imagine (John Lennon)
Authors: James Branam, Pavel Rynt
Publisher: Easy English
ISBN: None
Pages: 88
Year of publication: 1996