Tonight’s song comes from a musical about King Arthur: Camelot. The knight Lancelot sings to Queen Guinevere: if ever I left you, when could it be? Not in summer, not in autumn, not in winter, not in spring. Never.
Learn from Songs · Unit 9b: Second conditional · B1–B2
If Ever I Would Leave You
A great song from the musical Camelot, in Aretha Franklin’s early jazz version: the second conditional (If ever I would leave you, it wouldn’t be in summer), it wouldn’t be… / how could I…?, and the four seasons, with Philo, Sophia, Marcos and Demetria.
SOPHIA
DEMETRIA
That’s beautiful. A whole year of reasons.
SOPHIA
Yes. But in the story it is a forbidden love, because she is married to the king, and it brings down Camelot. We’ll listen to the young Aretha Franklin’s version, before she was the Queen of Soul.
PHILO
A beautiful song about a dangerous love. Like many old stories.
Before you listen: the song
New York, 1960 and the early 1960s
Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe wrote My Fair Lady and then Camelot (1960), a musical about King Arthur, Queen Guinevere and the knight Lancelot. Robert Goulet sang “If Ever I Would Leave You” as Lancelot, and it became the most famous song in the show.
Before she became the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin recorded for Columbia Records from 1960 to 1966, singing jazz, ballads and show tunes. Her version of “If Ever I Would Leave You”, on the album Laughing on the Outside, is one of the finest recordings of those years.
In the song, the singer goes through the four seasons. If ever he left, it wouldn’t be in summer, when she is so beautiful; nor in autumn, nor in winter, nor in spring. How could he ever leave?
True love finds a reason to stay in every season.
Listen: the seasons
PHILO
Listen once. Why wouldn’t he leave in each season? What is he saying in the end?
SOPHIA
Listen to how Aretha’s voice grows. Then answer Section A.
🍂 Listen to the song: “If Ever I Would Leave You” (Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe, 1960), sung by Aretha Franklin.Listen to the recording →
📜 Read the words while you listen: “If Ever I Would Leave You”, Aretha Franklin.Read the lyrics →
The second conditional
MARCOS
If ever I left you, it wouldn’t be in summer. If I had wings, I’d fly to you.
SOPHIA
If + past simple, would + infinitive for imaginary situations. The song uses an old-fashioned form, If ever I would leave you; in modern English we say If I ever left you (no would after if).
It wouldn’t be… / How could I…?
DEMETRIA
It wouldn’t be in autumn. How could I leave you? I couldn’t possibly go.
SOPHIA
It wouldn’t be + time / place imagines and rejects possibilities. How could I…? = it’s impossible for me. couldn’t possibly = absolutely not.
The seasons
PHILO
in summer, in the autumn (British) / in the fall (American), in winter, in spring; a summer’s day, autumn leaves, winter snow, spring flowers.
SOPHIA
Seasons take in, with or without the. As adjectives: summer holidays, winter clothes. fall is American English for autumn.
Sophia’s comparison: Jacob’s seven years and Ecclesiastes
PHILO
Jacob served seven years for Rachel, through every summer heat and every winter frost, and they seemed to him only a few days, because he loved her. And Ecclesiastes says: to everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven.
SOPHIA
And Odysseus, on Calypso’s island, was offered eternal youth if he stayed. Every season he sat on the shore looking towards Ithaca. If ever he would leave Penelope, it would not be for a goddess.
Sophia’s summary
| Words and forms | Use | Example |
|---|---|---|
| If + past simple, would… | second conditional | If I left you, it wouldn’t be in summer. |
| If I ever + past | modern word order | If I ever left you… |
| It wouldn’t be… | imagining and rejecting | It wouldn’t be in spring. |
| How could I…? / couldn’t possibly | impossible | How could I leave you? |
| in summer / in (the) autumn / fall | seasons | in the autumn, in the fall |
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. Which musical is the song from?
2. Who sings it in the musical?
3. What is the structure of the song?
4. Who wrote it?
5. When did Aretha record for Columbia?
6. Which album has her version?
B · Grammar and vocabulary
Write the missing word or words.
7. If I ever you, it wouldn’t be in summer. (leave)
8. It be in spring. (would not)
9. How I leave you?
10. If I had wings, I fly to you.
11. American English: in the . (= autumn)
12. I couldn’t go. (absolutely not)
C · Right or wrong?
Is the sentence correct English?
13. “If I would leave you, it wouldn’t be in summer.” (modern English)
14. “How could I forget you?”
15. “We go skiing on winter.”
16. “If I had more time, I’d travel.”
Talk and write
Discussion and writing
Four seasons. Write four lines about why you would never leave your town (or a person, or a pet), one for each season: It wouldn’t be in summer, when…
Discuss. 1. Which season do you love most, and why? 2. Can a beautiful song be about something wrong? 3. Why do some singers become famous only years after they start?
Write (120–150 words). If ever I left… Write a short poem or paragraph using the second conditional, it wouldn’t be…, and the four seasons.
Now play the gamebook: an old scribe, a post in Rome, and four seasons of reasons.Play the gamebook →