– English Lyrics

Lyrics & Translation

[English]

The basic issue is that people are fundamentally mobile. So the idea of having wires to make

a conversation is really not very natural.

My name is Marty Cooper. I conceived of and introduced the first portable -- oh, excuse me.

...

Hello? Oh, hi, George.

George, I'm really tied up at the moment. Do you mind if I call you back?

Oh, thank you so much. Bye now.

As I was saying. I conceived of and introduced the first cellular telephone in April of 1973.

Now the concept of cellular telephony is really very simple. It breaks the city up into a

lot of small areas which being engineers we had to come up with a new name and we called

them cells. And the second concept is being able to move from one cell to another and

having a continuous conversation.

The first public cellular call was made in New York. I was with Motorola at that time

and I thought a dramatic thing to do was to call my counterpart at AT&T. So I dialed the

phone, and I said,

"Hi, Joel. It's Marty Cooper." He said, "Hi, Marty."

I said, "I'm calling you from my cell phone." And there was silence at the other end of the line.

The idea for the shape of the first phone started out with me approaching Motorola's

design group. I told them that I wanted to have a really dazzling design. And two weeks

later they had a flip phone, they had a slider phone. But we selected this phone because

it was simple.

What's important about any technology is that the technology is hopefully invisible but

at least transparent and maybe intuitive. Think about it. The purpose of technology

is to make your life better. Most cell phones don't do that very well. In fact, they force

us to become engineers, to learn a bunch of new things. And we shouldn't have to do that.

The ideal phone would be one where I would just talk to the phone, or maybe the phone

would read my mind, and it would do things to make my life better. And all of us have

these complicated phones. And they all try to be universal. If you try to build a device

that does all things for all people, it won't do any of them very well. So I think that's

where we are with cell phones today.

Key Grammar Structures

• The basic issue is that people are fundamentally mobile.

  ➔ Simple present tense with a linking verb (is) + a that‑clause as subject complement.

  ➔ The basic issue **"is"** that people are fundamentally mobile.

• So the idea of having wires to make a conversation is really not very natural.

  ➔ Gerund phrase (having wires) as noun complement + infinitive of purpose (to make).

  ➔ the idea of **"having"** wires to **"make"** a conversation is really not very natural.

• Do you mind if I call you back?

  ➔ Polite request using 'Do you mind' + if‑clause.

  ➔ Do you **"mind"** if I call you back?

• I was with Motorola at that time and I thought a dramatic thing to do was to call my counterpart at AT&T.

  ➔ Past simple + 'to‑infinitive' as subject complement (was ... to do was to call).

  ➔ I thought a dramatic thing **"to do"** was **"to call"** my counterpart at AT&T.

• And there was silence at the other end of the line.

  ➔ 'There' + be construction to introduce existence of something.

  ➔ And **"there"** **"was"** silence at the other end of the line.

• I told them that I wanted to have a really dazzling design.

  ➔ Past simple with a that‑clause reporting desire (wanted + infinitive).

  ➔ I told them that I **"wanted"** to have a really dazzling design.

• Most cell phones don't do that very well.

  ➔ Negative present simple with auxiliary 'do' + base verb.

  ➔ Most cell phones **"don't"** do that very well.