Suspicious minds - Elvis Presley (by Mark James)

go on, walk out

Today's post is a homage to the great Elvis Presley - high time that a blog calling itself Rock and Roll phrasal verbs honoured the King. Suspicous Minds was recorded by Elvis in 1969 and was his last No 1 hit in the USA.
The suspicious minds of the title were apparently those of the Author, Mark James and his first wife, who was suspicous of his feelings for a former girlfriend.
It was a regular feature of the live performances of the latter years of Elvis' career, but Suspicious Minds is surely also one of the greatest studio recordings that Elvis made.


We're caught in a trap
I can't walk out
Because I love you too much baby

We can't go on together
With suspicious minds

walk out: to leave your partner and end you relationship with them
See the full dictionary definition of walk out

go on: continue
See the full dictionary definition of go on
Other examples of go on featured in Rock n Roll Phrasal Verbs

See the full lyrics

Listen to Elvis' original studio recording of the song.


Watch Elvis performing the song live in Las Vegas in 1970 (great costumes and hair!)

Never gonna give you up - Rick Astley

give up, let down, run around, go on

Today's helping of Rock n roll Phrasal Verbs are unashamedly pop. Rick Astley's 1987 hit Never gonna give you up is almos as rich a source of phrasal verbs as it was a source of money for Rick and his producers, the 80's hit factory Stock Aitken and Waterman.

If you somehow missed out on being Rickrollered when the craze swept the internet in 2008, then another look at the video of this 80s synth dance smash hit can't do you any harm.

 

Never gonna give you up, never gonna let you down
Never gonna run around and desert you
Never gonna make you cry, never gonna say goodbye
Never gonna tell a lie and hurt you

.................

We've known each other for so long
Your heart's been aching but you're too shy to say it
Inside we both know what's been going on
We know the game and we're gonna play it

give up: to abandon, to renounce.
He is saying he will never leave her, that he will stay with her.
See the full dictionary definition of give up

let down: dissappoint, fail
See the full dictionary definiton of let down

run around: to be promiscuous
He is saying he will be faithful to her
See the dictionary definition of run around 

go on: happen
this line of the song means: "we both know what has been happening"
See the dictionary definition for go on

Read the lyrics to the song