Tonight’s song is sung by someone who loves a person who doesn’t even notice them. I’ve tried everything, he sings. What can I do to get next to you? He means: to get close to you, to be noticed.
Learn from Songs · Unit 8: Modals · B1
I Wanna Get Next to You
Rose Royce’s soul ballad about a love that isn’t noticed: can and could in questions (What can I do?), have to, the informal wanna, gonna and gotta (and when not to write them), and honest ways to show someone you care, with Philo, Sophia, Marcos and Demetria.
SOPHIA
MARCOS
Ah. I know that feeling.
SOPHIA
Many people do. It comes from the film Car Wash, and it was written by the same man who wrote “Papa Was a Rollin’ Stone”. Listen to how the singer asks question after question.
PHILO
And how he says “wanna” instead of “want to”.
Before you listen: the song
Los Angeles, 1976
Rose Royce was a soul and funk band from Los Angeles. They were put together by the great Motown producer Norman Whitfield, who had written “Papa Was a Rollin’ Stone” for the Temptations, to record the music for the film Car Wash (1976), a comedy about one day in the life of the workers at a car wash.
The soundtrack became a hit album. “I Wanna Get Next to You”, a slow, gentle ballad, reached the American top ten in 1977. Rose Royce went on to record “Wishing on a Star” and “Love Don’t Live Here Anymore”.
In the song, the singer has tried everything to get the attention of the one he loves. He asks what he can do, what he has to do, and he wants to get next to her: to be close to her, and to be noticed.
The best way to be noticed is to be honest and kind.
Listen: the questions
PHILO
Listen once. What has the singer tried? What does he ask? What does “get next to you” mean?
SOPHIA
Count the questions. Then answer Section A.
💌 Listen to the song: “I Wanna Get Next to You” (Norman Whitfield, 1976), by Rose Royce.Find the video →
📜 Read the words while you listen: “I Wanna Get Next to You”, Rose Royce.Read the lyrics →
Can and could in questions
MARCOS
What can I do? What could I say? Can you hear me?
SOPHIA
Question word + can / could + subject + verb: What can I do? could is more tentative or polite: Could I talk to you for a minute?
Have to
DEMETRIA
What do I have to do? I don’t have to be rich. I had to try.
SOPHIA
have to = necessity: I have to go. Questions and negatives use do: Do I have to? You don’t have to = it isn’t necessary. Past: had to.
Wanna, gonna, gotta
PHILO
I wanna (want to) get next to you. I’m gonna (going to) tell her. I’ve gotta (got to) try.
SOPHIA
In fast, informal speech and in songs, want to → wanna, going to → gonna, got to → gotta. Understand them when you listen, but in your writing, especially in exams, always write the full forms.
Sophia’s comparison: Echo, and the Song of Songs
SOPHIA
The nymph Echo loved the beautiful Narcissus, but he never noticed her: he only looked at his own reflection. She faded away until only her voice was left, repeating the last words of others.
PHILO
And the Song of Songs says: “I sought him whom my soul loves; I sought him, but I found him not.” Longing to be noticed is as old as poetry. The answer is not tricks, but patience and honesty.
Sophia’s summary
| Words and forms | Use | Example |
|---|---|---|
| What can / could + subject + verb? | asking about possibilities | What can I do? |
| have to / don’t have to / had to | necessity | What do I have to do? |
| wanna / gonna / gotta | informal speech (write in full!) | I want to = I wanna |
| get next to someone | get close to, be noticed by | I want to get next to you. |
| I’ve tried everything | present perfect | I’ve tried everything. |
Practice
Listen to the song for Section A, then do the rest. Press “Check my answers” at the end. You can try again as many times as you like.
A · Listen: the song
Listen to the song and choose the best answer.
1. What has the singer tried?
2. What does “get next to you” mean?
3. Which film is the song from?
4. Who wrote it?
5. What is “wanna”?
6. Which other song did the writer write?
B · Grammar and vocabulary
Write the missing word or words.
7. What I do? (possibility)
8. What do I have do?
9. I to get next to you. (informal: wanna = …)
10. I’m to tell her. (gonna = …)
11. You don’t to be rich.
12. I’ve tried . (all things)
C · Right or wrong?
Is the sentence correct English?
13. “What I can do?”
14. “Do I have to go?”
15. “I wanna to go home.” (in an exam essay)
16. “Could I talk to you for a minute?”
Talk and write
Discussion and writing
Wanna, gonna, gotta. Your partner reads informal sentences aloud; you write them in full.
Discuss. 1. What are good ways to show someone you like them? 2. Why are songs full of wanna and gonna? 3. Is it better to tell someone how you feel, or to wait?
Write (80–100 words). Getting noticed. Write advice for a shy friend. Use What can / could…?, have to / don’t have to, and full forms (no wanna!).
Now play the gamebook: a shy lamplighter, a baker’s daughter, and a lamp left burning.Play the gamebook →