Face for Today – English Lyrics

• By: Duran Duran
• Album: Paper Gods

Lyrics & Translation

Discover the layers of meaning in Duran Duran's 'Face for Today.' This song offers a chance to explore nuanced English vocabulary related to identity and emotion, wrapped in the band's signature synth-pop style. It's a great way to delve into figurative language and contemporary themes through music.

[English]

A little ray of comfort in the afternoon

To brighten up the room

To lighten up your mood

The whole world is an ink spot on a plastic spoon

You can fight it

Or invite it

Live beside it, laugh until you're crying

Hold on to your time, boy

Don't be scared of what they'll say

You'll pull it off fine, girl

If you got the face for today, yeah

Around, around the wall of death

Around you go

What keeps you in the air

Is having not a care (yeah)

And time flies like a dancing man on crystal glow

You can fight it

Or invite it

Live beside it, laugh until you're crying

Hold on to your time, boy

Don't be scared of what they'll say

You'll pull it off fine, girl

You've got that thing which makes us smile, yeah

Hold on to your time, boy

Make up your own fat caché

You'll pull it off fine, girl

If you got the face for today, yeah

Hold on to your time, boy

Don't be scared of what they'll say

You'll pull it off fine, girl

You've got that thing which makes us smile, yeah

Hold on to your time, boy

Wake up on that speeding train

You'll pull it off fine, girl

If you got the face for today, yeah

Yeah

The face for today

The face for today

Key Vocabulary

Vocabulary	Meanings
comfort /ˈkʌmfərt/ B1	noun - a state of physical ease and freedom from pain or constraint.
brighten /ˈbraɪtn/ B2	verb - make or become brighter.
fight /faɪt/ A2	verb - take part in a physical fight. verb - struggle against something.
laugh /læf/ A1	verb - make the characteristic sound of amusement.
scared /skeərd/ A2	adjective - frightened or anxious.
time /taɪm/ A1	noun - the indefinite continued progress of existence and events in the past, present, and future regarded as a whole.
care /keər/ A2	noun - serious attention or consideration applied to doing something correctly or to avoid damage or risk.
flies /flaɪz/ A2	verb - move through the air using wings.
smile /smaɪl/ A1	verb - form the features in a grin.
cache /kæʃ/ C1	noun - a hidden store of goods or money.
wake /weɪk/ A2	verb - cease to sleep.
train /treɪn/ A1	noun - a series of connected railroad cars moved by a locomotive.
speeding /ˈspiːdɪŋ/ B1	adjective - moving or traveling at a high speed.
thing /θɪŋ/ A1	noun - any object or entity.
plastic /ˈplæstɪk/ B1	adjective - made of plastic.
world /wɜːld/ A1	noun - the earth, together with all of its countries, peoples, and natural features.

Key Grammar Structures

• A little ray of comfort **in the afternoon**

  ➔ prepositional phrase of time

  ➔ The phrase "in the afternoon" is a prepositional phrase that tells us **when** the comfort occurs.

• To **brighten up** the room

  ➔ infinitive of purpose

  ➔ The infinitive "To brighten up" shows the purpose **why** the action is done.

• You **can** fight it

  ➔ modal verb *can* (ability/possibility)

  ➔ "Can" is a modal verb expressing **ability** or **possibility**: you are able to fight it.

• **Hold on** to your time, boy

  ➔ imperative with phrasal verb “hold on to”

  ➔ "Hold on" is a phrasal verb meaning **to keep** or **cling to**; the whole sentence is an imperative command.

• Don't be **scared** of what they'll **say**

  ➔ negative imperative + infinitive + content clause

  ➔ "Don't" forms a negative command; "be scared" uses the infinitive verb "be" with the adjective "scared"; "what they'll say" is a content clause acting as object of "of".

• If you **got** the face for today, yeah

  ➔ informal conditional (zero/first) using simple past for present

  ➔ The clause "If you got the face for today" uses the past form "got" to talk about a present situation, a typical informal conditional.

• What **keeps** you in the air is having **not** a care

  ➔ relative clause as subject + gerund phrase as complement

  ➔ "What keeps you in the air" is a relative clause that functions as the subject; "having not a care" is a gerund phrase serving as the predicate complement.

• Time **flies** like a **dancing man** on crystal glow

  ➔ simile using "like"

  ➔ The structure "like a dancing man" compares the way time moves to a dancing man, using "like" to form a simile.

• **Make up** your own fat caché

  ➔ imperative with phrasal verb “make up”

  ➔ "Make up" is a phrasal verb meaning **to create** or **invent**; the whole sentence is a direct command.