Chained To The Rhythm

• By: Katy Perry, Skip Marley
• Album: Witness

Lyrics:

Vocabulary in this song:

Vocabulary	Meanings
lives /laɪvz/ A1	noun - plural of life
trapped /træpt/ B1	adjective - unable to escape verb - past tense of trap
fence /fens/ A2	noun - a barrier
ornaments /ˈɔːrnəmənts/ B2	noun - decorations
comfortable /ˈkʌmfərtəbl/ B1	adjective - feeling relaxed
bubble /ˈbʌbl/ B1	noun - a thin sphere of liquid enclosing air
trouble /ˈtrʌbl/ A2	noun - difficulty or problems verb - to cause worry or difficulty
lonely /ˈloʊnli/ A2	adjective - sad because one has no friends or company
utopia /juːˈtoʊpiə/ C1	noun - an imagined place or state of things in which everything is perfect
numb /nʌm/ B2	adjective - deprived of feeling or responsiveness verb - deprive of feeling or responsiveness
party /ˈpɑːrti/ A1	noun - a social gathering verb - to enjoy oneself at a party or other social gathering
song /sɔːŋ/ A1	noun - a musical composition
dance /dæns/ A1	verb - to move rhythmically to music noun - a rhythmic movement to music
distortion /dɪˈstɔːrʃn/ C1	noun - the act of distorting
repeat /rɪˈpiːt/ B1	verb - to say again noun - an instance of repeating something
zombie /ˈzɑːmbi/ B2	noun - a dead person brought back to life
chained /tʃeɪnd/ B2	adjective - fastened or secured with a chain verb - to fasten or secure with a chain
rhythm /ˈrɪðəm/ B1	noun - a strong, regular repeated pattern of movement or sound.

Grammar:

• LIVING OUR LIVES THROUGH A LENS

  ➔ Present participle as an adjective and prepositional phrase

  ➔ "Living" is the present participle acting as an adjective to describe "our lives". "Through a lens" is a prepositional phrase indicating the means by which they are living.

• TRAPPED IN OUR WHITE PICKET FENCE

  ➔ Past participle as adjective and prepositional phrase

  ➔ "Trapped" is a past participle acting as an adjective. "In our white picket fence" is a prepositional phrase indicating location.

• AREN’T YOU LONELY UP THERE IN UTOPIA

  ➔ Question tag, adjective, prepositional phrase

  ➔ "Aren't you" is a question tag. "Lonely" is an adjective describing the subject. "Up there in Utopia" is a prepositional phrase indicating location.

• WHERE NOTHING WILL EVER BE ENOUGH

  ➔ Relative clause, future tense

  ➔ "Where nothing will ever be enough" is a relative clause modifying the noun "Utopia" (from the previous line). "Will be" indicates the future tense.

• WE’RE ALL CHAINED TO THE RHYTHM

  ➔ Present passive voice

  ➔ "We're all chained" is in the passive voice, indicating that we are being acted upon by "the rhythm."

• KEEP SWEEPING IT UNDER THE MAT

  ➔ Gerund as a noun and prepositional phrase

  ➔ "Keep sweeping" implies the continuation of the action "sweeping" which is a gerund acting like a noun in this context. "Under the mat" is a prepositional phrase indicating location.

• THE TRUTH THEY FEED IS FEEBLE

  ➔ Relative clause with implied relative pronoun

  ➔ "The truth they feed is feeble" has an implied relative pronoun (that or which) between "truth" and "they". It could be rewritten as "The truth that they feed is feeble."

• THEY GREED OVER THE PEOPLE

  ➔ Verb 'greed' used as a verb instead of a noun. Preposition 'over' indicating dominance or superiority.

  ➔ The standard usage is 'greed' as a noun. Using it as a verb is less common and emphasizes the action of being greedy. 'Over' indicates that their greed is directed at and has an impact on 'the people'.