Tonight’s singer is a young Englishman at the piano. It is the end of the year, and he is making promises: next year everything is going to be different.
Learn from Songs · Unit 4: The future · B1
Next Year Baby
Jamie Cullum’s song of New Year promises: going to for plans and resolutions, will for promises and sudden decisions, going to stop / start + -ing, and time expressions (next year, by the end of…), with Philo, Sophia, Marcos and Demetria.
SOPHIA
MARCOS
Like me! This year I’m going to train every day.
DEMETRIA
You said that last year.
SOPHIA
So does the singer. That is the joke of the song.
Before you listen: the song
London, 2003
Jamie Cullum was born in 1979 and grew up in Wiltshire, in England. He taught himself the piano and played jazz in bars and at parties while he was a student. His mix of old jazz songs, pop songs and his own songs made jazz popular with young people.
“Next Year Baby” is one of his own songs. It closes his album Twentysomething (2003), which became one of the best-selling jazz albums in British history.
In the song, he is going to change his life next year: he lists all the things he is going to do and stop doing. He will be better, he promises. But we suspect he is going to make the same list again next December.
A plan is better than a promise.
Listen: the promises
PHILO
Listen once. What is he going to change next year? Do you think he will do it?
SOPHIA
Listen to the piano too. Then answer Section A.
🎆 Listen to the song: “Next Year Baby” (Jamie Cullum, 2003), sung by Jamie Cullum.Find the recording →
📜 Read the words while you listen: “Next Year Baby”, Jamie Cullum.Read the lyrics →
Going to for plans and resolutions
MARCOS
Next year I’m going to train every day. I’m going to eat less cake. I’m not going to stay up late.
SOPHIA
be going to + infinitive for plans and intentions we have already decided: I’m going to learn Latin next year. A New Year resolution is a going-to plan.
Will for promises and sudden decisions
DEMETRIA
I’ll help you, I promise. The phone’s ringing? I’ll get it!
SOPHIA
will for promises (I’ll call you tomorrow), offers (I’ll carry that), and decisions made at the moment of speaking. won’t for refusals: I won’t eat any more cake!
Stop, start, give up + -ing
PHILO
I’m going to stop eating sweets. I’m going to start running. I’m going to give up watching games all night.
SOPHIA
After stop, start, give up, keep, finish, use -ing: keep trying. Careful: stop to eat means stop (something else) in order to eat!
Next year, by the end of…
MARCOS
Next year. This time next year. By the end of the year, I’ll be the fastest runner in Alexandria.
SOPHIA
next year (no “the”), by = not later than: by June, by the end of the month. in two weeks = two weeks from now.
Sophia’s comparison: tomorrow and the day after
SOPHIA
The poet Hesiod told his lazy brother Perses: do not put off your work until tomorrow and the day after. The man who delays is always wrestling with ruin.
PHILO
And at the New Year, Rosh Hashanah, we hear the shofar and think about how we will change. But the rabbis say: change today. Who knows what tomorrow will bring?
Sophia’s summary
| Words and forms | Use | Example |
|---|---|---|
| be going to + infinitive | plans, resolutions | I’m going to train every day. |
| will / won’t | promises, offers, sudden decisions | I’ll help you. I won’t be late. |
| stop / start / give up + -ing | changing habits | I’m going to stop eating sweets. |
| next year, this time next year | future time | Next year I’m going to travel. |
| by + time | not later than | by the end of the year |
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. When is the singer making his promises?
2. What is the song about?
3. What is the joke of the song?
4. Which instrument does Jamie Cullum play?
5. What was the name of the album?
6. What did his music do for jazz?
B · Grammar and vocabulary
Write the missing word or words.
7. Next year I’m to learn Latin.
8. The phone’s ringing! I get it.
9. I’m going to stop sweets. (eat)
10. I promise I be late again. (not)
11. I’ll finish it the end of the month.
12. Keep ! Don’t give up. (try)
C · Right or wrong?
Is the sentence correct English?
13. “Next year I’m going to start to run.”
14. “I’m going to give up to eat cake.”
15. “I help you, I promise.”
16. “In the next year I travel to Rome.”
Talk and write
Discussion and writing
Resolutions. Write five resolutions for next year with going to, and one promise to your partner with will. Your partner asks: How are you going to do it?
Discuss. 1. Why do most people break their New Year resolutions? 2. What is the best way to keep a promise to yourself? 3. Is it better to make big promises or small plans?
Write (100–120 words). This time next year. Write about the person you are going to be in a year. Use going to, will, stop / start / give up + -ing, and by.
Now play the gamebook: Marcos’s twelve promises, and day three.Play the gamebook →