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Hi this is Tutor Nick P and this is Music Lyrics Explained 13. All right.
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Today we're doing, actually an older one by Jimmy Soul and it's actually kind of a
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funny song. It's meant to be humorous. It's meant to be in jest. It's meant to
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be more of a joke. So, and the song is "If you want to be happy.' Okay.
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All right. Just one little note about this. This song hit number one in 1963 and stayed
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there for two weeks. It lasted 14 weeks in the top 100. Okay and all right. Let's
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just get into it, and then you'll you'll see why it's meant to actually be a joke.
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This is what they .... So as usual again I'll read the lyrics and as we come across
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lyrics to be explained, I'll explain them. So let's start. If you want to be
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happy for the rest of your life never make a pretty woman your wife. So for my
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personal point of view, get an ugly girl to marry you.
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All right. So it's meant as a joke. So he's telling you, don't marry a pretty girl.
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Marry an ugly girl. So let's go over this again. If you wanna. Of course if you say
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'wanna' remember this is very informal English. It's not really proper English.
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But wanna means want to. We hear it a lot in regular speech and we definitely hear it a
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lot in songs too. So if you want to be happy for the rest of your life. You know,
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for the rest of your days. While you're alive. Never make a pretty woman your
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wife. So don't marry pretty women. You know find, find ugly women, ugly women are
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better. So from my personal point of view. From my personal point of view. From my
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point of view. Get get an ugly girl to marry you. I have to say I don't know
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if I totally agree with this. I guess the point he's trying to make and there is
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some truth to it. That some pretty girls sometimes do become conceited
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and they do become very demanding. But not all. There's a lot of very pretty
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women that also are very beautiful inside as well. And they make lovely
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wives. And you know I think even in my case I was lucky that
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found a woman that. I think my wife is like this. But anyway. It's still a funny song.
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It's still a humorous song and it's meant as a joke. So I think I'll just
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repeat this first part one more time. Then we'll go right into the second part. If
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you want to be happy for the rest of your life.
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Never make a pretty woman your wife. So from my personal point of view get an
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ugly girl to marry you. A pretty woman makes her husband look small and very
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often causes his downfall. All right. So let's, let's go over that.
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If a pretty woman makes her husband look small, look small here, if you say a
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person is small, it means not very important inferior or lower in quality. It will kind
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of bring you down. That's what, that's basically what he's saying. And causes
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his downfall. Downfall is your failure. I don't know if if the pretty woman is a
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like what we call high-maintenance sometimes. If she's very demanding. If you
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got to work hard or if she's very demanding if she doesn't treat you well
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and God forbid if she cheats on you. That'd be even worse . But that's what we
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mean. It causes his downfall. So I'll go again with the second verse.
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Here a pretty woman makes her husband look small and very often causes his
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downfall. As soon as he marries her then she starts to do the things that will
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break his heart. So basically he's saying that. Yeah as soon as you get married you
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know maybe she'll change. Sometimes in real life this does happen. That people sometimes
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do change right after they get married. That means, that's when it will start. You
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know before you marry. Maybe you won't see this. But after you get married. A
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situation may be very different. Yeah the things will break his heart. Well to
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break his heart. Maybe . maybe she will cheat on him. I don't know who knows what.
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Or make life difficult for him. All right. Let's continue. Let's go on to the next
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verse. But if you make an ugly woman your wife. You'll be happy for the rest of
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your life. An ugly woman cooks her meals on time. She'll always give you
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peace of mind. Yeah so again. You'll be happy with the ugly woman. Maybe an ugly
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woman is more appreciative. Maybe she really tries harder. That, that's kind of
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his point. She'll cook the meals on time. All right. Well I don't know some, some
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feminists might not like that line today. But 1963 I think it was okay. She'll
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always give you peace of mind. All right. This is an important part. If you say
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peace of mind. Someone has peace of mind, he doesn't have to have any serious
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worries problems or difficulties. Maybe if you do have a beautiful wife,
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sometimes you might have to worry you know, that maybe other men might be
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attracted to her or try to tempt her or try to steal her away from you. This
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could cause you problems. It depends on that pretty wife. You know, whether you
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whether you, whether she makes you feel comfortable that you could trust
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her or not. And then of course it all depends on her personality as well. Okay.
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So, so let me just repeat that one again. So but if you make an ugly woman your
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wife, you'll be happy for the rest of your life. An ugly woman cooks
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her meals on time. She'll always give you peace of mind. Okay. And then I think that
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the chorus can goes again you know if you want to be happy for the rest of
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your life , blah, blah, blah. and then we go into the next verse. It says don't let
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your friends say you have no taste. Go ahead and marry her anyway. Well he's
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talking about the ugly woman. Though her face is ugly and her eyes don't match.
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Take it from me. She's a better catch. All right. So don't let your friends say you
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have no taste. Remember if we talk about your taste is
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the type of thing you like. Remember you could have a you could have a certain
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taste in music. Maybe you, maybe you like I don't know, rock music or maybe like
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classical or rap. It doesn't matter. That's your taste. That's the thing that you
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like. So if they say you have no taste. Maybe you have no taste in picking women
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because you picked an ugly woman. So that's what your
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friends might be teasing you about this, and he's saying don't don't let them do
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that. So don't let your friends say you have no taste. Go ahead and marry her
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anyway. So don't let them convince you that you know that you shouldn't marry
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her. Though her face is ugly and her eyes don't match. Well again she's not pretty.
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Her eyes don't match. All right. Well I'm not really sure what's going on there.
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Take it from me she's a better catch. Okay.
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Remember if we say catch. Someone who would be an appropriate husband, wife, or a
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romantic partner. We often say that if somebody thinks that you're lucky that
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you got a good partner, a good girlfriend, boyfriend, husband, wife, etc. Oh he's a good
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catch. They might say yeah. He's a good catch. Don't let go of him or she's a
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good catch. You better hold on to her. So that's
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usually the way we say it. So he says take it from me. Take it from me means
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you know, listen to my opinion. . She's a better catch. and then of course,
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at the end, you know, I think he goes through the chorus again. If you want to
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be happy for the rest of your life and at the very end of the song I guess he's
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saying it like, like, his friends are talking like, say man, hey baby
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saw your wife the other day. Yeah. She's ugly.
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Yeah. She's ugly but she sure can cook. Okay. Good. Yeah. Okay.
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And then basically that's how the song kind of ends. Right at the end there.
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Again it's just meant to be in jest. So it's just meant to be humorous. It's meant to
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be funny. You should go listen to it and check it
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out. It has pretty good beat too. Anyway, if you never heard this song. This is a nice
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introduction to it. I hope you enjoyed it. Thank you. Thank you. For your time. Bye-
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bye.