Tonight’s singer has a huge voice and a huge beard, and his song stayed in the American charts longer than any song in history.
Learn from Songs · Unit 1: Present time · B1
Lose Control
One of the most successful songs of recent years: feelings in the present simple and continuous (I lose control / I’m losing my mind), state verbs that change meaning (I think / I’m thinking, I feel / I’m feeling), and have got (something’s got a hold of me), with Philo, Sophia, Marcos and Demetria.
SOPHIA
MARCOS
Longer than any song? What’s it about?
SOPHIA
About losing control: what happens to him when the person he loves is not next to him.
PHILO
So it’s a love song.
SOPHIA
Yes, but a love song that sounds almost like an illness. Listen to how he describes his feelings, right now, at this moment.
DEMETRIA
Present tense, then.
Before you listen: the song
Palm Springs, California, 2023
Teddy Swims is an American singer from Georgia who first became known for covers of other people’s songs on YouTube. He wrote “Lose Control” with other songwriters during a few days of writing in Palm Springs, and it was on his first big album, I’ve Tried Everything But Therapy (Part 1), in 2023.
The song grew slowly. It reached number one in America in 2024, was the top song of the year there, and then stayed in the charts for so long that it broke the record as the longest-charting song in the history of the Billboard Hot 100. In Britain it reached number two.
Teddy Swims has said that he wrote it while he was coming out of a bad relationship. In the song, something has got hold of him. When the person he loves isn’t next to him, he loses control. He is losing himself, he doesn’t know who he is any more, and he needs her to feel all right.
What do you need, to feel like yourself?
Listen: losing control
PHILO
Listen once. What happens to him when she isn’t there? How does he feel now?
SOPHIA
Then answer Section A. Listen to his voice: it starts soft and ends in a shout.
🌀 Listen to the song: “Lose Control” (Teddy Swims and others, 2023), sung by Teddy Swims.Find the recording →
📜 Read the words while you listen: “Lose Control”, Teddy Swims.Read the lyrics →
Present simple and continuous for feelings
MARCOS
He loses control every time she leaves. Right now, he’s losing his mind.
SOPHIA
Present simple for what always happens: When she goes, I lose control. Present continuous for what is happening now or changing: I’m losing my mind. Things are getting worse.
State verbs
DEMETRIA
He needs her. He doesn’t know himself. NOT “he is needing”.
SOPHIA
Verbs for states, not actions, are usually simple: know, need, want, like, love, hate, believe, understand, belong. We say I know, not I’m knowing.
Verbs that change meaning
PHILO
I think it’s a great song (opinion). I’m thinking about her (action). I feel it’s wrong (opinion). I’m feeling terrible (now).
SOPHIA
Some verbs can be both: think, feel, have, see, look. I have a car (possession) / I’m having lunch (action). I see what you mean / I’m seeing the doctor tomorrow.
Have got
MARCOS
Something’s got a hold of me. (= something has a hold of me)
SOPHIA
have got = have, for possession and states, very common in British English: I’ve got a cold. She’s got blue eyes. Negative: I haven’t got time.
Sophia’s comparison: Sappho and the Song of Songs
SOPHIA
Six hundred years ago, the poet Sappho of Lesbos described love like a fever: her tongue breaks, a fire runs under her skin, she can’t see or hear, she is shaking.
PHILO
And in the Song of Songs, the bride says she is sick with love, and that love is as strong as death.
DEMETRIA
So people have been losing control for a very long time.
Sophia’s summary
| Words and forms | Use | Example |
|---|---|---|
| present simple | what always happens | When she goes, I lose control. |
| present continuous | now, and changing situations | I’m losing my mind. |
| know, need, want, believe | state verbs: usually simple | I need you. I don’t know. |
| think / feel / have | state or action: meaning changes | I think so. / I’m thinking about you. |
| have got | possession and states | Something’s got a hold of me. |
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 happens when she isn’t next to him?
2. How does he feel about himself?
3. What does he need?
4. Where did Teddy Swims first become known?
5. What record did the song break?
6. What did he say inspired it?
B · Grammar and vocabulary
Write the missing word or words.
7. When she goes, I control. (lose)
8. Right now, I’m my mind. (lose)
9. He her. (need, state verb)
10. I’m about you all the time. (think)
11. I it’s a great song. (think)
12. Something’s a hold of me.
C · Right or wrong?
Is the sentence correct English?
13. “I’m knowing the answer.”
14. “I’m thinking about my holidays.”
15. “She is needing help.”
16. “I’ve got a headache.”
Talk and write
Discussion and writing
Right now / usually. Tell a partner how you usually feel on Monday mornings, and how you are feeling right now. Use one state verb and one verb that can change meaning.
Discuss. 1. Is “losing control” always a bad thing in love? 2. Why do you think this song stayed in the charts for so long? 3. Can music help people through bad times?
Write (100–120 words). A song for a feeling. Describe a song you listen to when you feel a strong emotion. What happens to you when you hear it? How are you feeling right now?
Now play the gamebook: the hippodrome, and a horse that panics without its friend.Play the gamebook →