A Different Corner – English Lyrics

• By: George Michael

Lyrics & Translation

[English]

I'd say love was a magical flame

I'd say love would keep us from pain

Had I been there

Had I been there

I would promise you all of my life

But to lose you would cut like a knife

So I don't dare

No, I don't dare

'Cause I've never come close in all of these years

You are the only one to stop my tears

And I'm so scared

I'm so scared

Take me back in time maybe I can forget

Turn a different corner and we never would have met

Would you care

I don't understand it, for you it's a breeze

Little by little you've brought me to my knees

Don't you care

No, I've never come close in all of these years

You are the only one to stop my tears

I'm so scared of this love

And if all that there is, is this fear of being used

I should go back to being lonely and confused

If I could, I would, I swear

Oh, I swear

Key Grammar Structures

• I'd say love was a magical flame

  ➔ Second Conditional

  ➔ The structure uses "I'd" (I would) + base verb to express a hypothetical situation. "I'd say" introduces a hypothetical statement about love.

• Had I been there

  ➔ Inverted Past Perfect

  ➔ This is an inverted form of "If I had been there". The inversion of subject and auxiliary verb "had" creates a more formal or poetic expression of a past hypothetical condition.

• I would promise you all of my life

  ➔ Modal Verb in Conditional

  ➔ The modal verb "would" is used here to express a hypothetical promise in a conditional context. It indicates what the speaker would do under certain circumstances.

• Turn a different corner and we never would have met

  ➔ Third Conditional

  ➔ This is an example of the third conditional, used to talk about hypothetical past situations and their imagined results. "would have met" indicates the imagined result of a past hypothetical action.

• I've never come close in all of these years

  ➔ Present Perfect

  ➔ The present perfect tense "I've never come close" is used to talk about experiences that happened at an unspecified time in the past but are relevant to the present. It emphasizes the speaker's experience up to now.

• Little by little you've brought me to my knees

  ➔ Adverbial Phrase of Gradual Change

  ➔ The phrase "Little by little" is an adverbial phrase indicating gradual change or progression. It emphasizes how something happened slowly over time, leading to the result "you've brought me to my knees".

• I'm so scared of this love

  ➔ Emotional State with Preposition

  ➔ The structure uses the adjective "scared" with the preposition "of" to express fear about something specific. "I'm so scared of this love" shows the speaker's emotional state regarding love.

• I should go back to being lonely and confused

  ➔ Gerund as Object of Preposition

  ➔ The gerund "being" functions as the object of the preposition "to" in the phrase "go back to being". This structure is used to express returning to a state or condition.