First Day of My Life – English Lyrics

• By: Bright Eyes
• Album: I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning

Lyrics & Translation

Key Vocabulary

Vocabulary	Meanings
day /deɪ/ A1	noun - the period of light between one night and the next
life /laɪf/ A1	noun - the condition that distinguishes animals and plants from inorganic matter, including the capacity for growth, reproduction, functional activity, and continual change preceding death.
born /bɔːrn/ A2	verb - brought into life
rain /reɪn/ A1	noun - water falling in drops from vapor condensed in the atmosphere. verb - fall as rain
face /feɪs/ A1	noun - the front part of the head, from the forehead to the chin. verb - to deal with
blind /blaɪnd/ B1	adjective - unable to see
things /θɪŋz/ A1	noun - objects that one need not, cannot, or does not wish to give a specific name to.
home /hoʊm/ A1	noun - the place where one lives adverb - to one's home
time /taɪm/ A1	noun - the indefinite continued progress of existence and events in the past, present, and future regarded as a whole.
night /naɪt/ A1	noun - the period from sunset to sunrise in each twenty-four hours.
morning /ˈmɔːrnɪŋ/ A1	noun - the period of time between sunrise and noon.
strange /streɪndʒ/ B1	adjective - unusual or surprising; difficult to understand or explain.
care /ker/ A2	verb - feel concern or interest; attach importance to something. noun - the provision of what is necessary for the health, welfare, maintenance, and protection of someone or something.
happy /ˈhæpi/ A1	adjective - feeling or showing pleasure or contentment.
work /wɜːrk/ A1	verb - be engaged in physical or mental activity in order to achieve a purpose or result, especially in one's job noun - activity involving mental or physical effort done in order to achieve a purpose or result.

Key Grammar Structures

• Swear I was born right in the doorway

  ➔ Subjunctive mood (implied)

  ➔ While not explicitly using "if" or other subjunctive markers, "Swear I *was* born..." implies a hypothetical or exaggerated statement for emphasis. It's not a literal birth, but a metaphorical one.

• Yours is the first face that I saw

  ➔ Relative clause (that/which omitted)

  ➔ The word "that" can be omitted when it's the object of the relative clause. "Yours is the first face *that* I saw."

• I think I was blind before I met you

  ➔ Past perfect tense (was blind *before* met)

  ➔ Using 'was blind' (simple past) to describe a state *before* meeting the person, which is in the simple past ('met'). Past perfect would be used in more formal writing: "I think I *had been* blind..."

• I realized that I need you

  ➔ Noun clause with "that"

  ➔ "that I need you" functions as the object of the verb "realized."

• Remember the time you drove all night Just to meet me in the morning

  ➔ Infinitive of purpose (to meet)

  ➔ "To meet me in the morning" explains the purpose of driving all night.

• You felt as if you'd just woke up

  ➔ Past perfect subjunctive (you'd woke up)

  ➔ The expression "as if" introduces a hypothetical situation in the past. "You'd woke up" is a contraction of "you had woke up," representing the past perfect tense in a subjunctive context.

• I'm glad I didn't die before I met you

  ➔ Past perfect tense (didn't die *before* met)

  ➔ Expressing a sequence of past events where one event (dying) occurred before another (meeting).

• But I'd rather be working for a paycheck Than waiting to win the lottery

  ➔ Conditional sentence type 2 (Hypothetical), comparative structure

  ➔ "I'd rather be working... than waiting..." expresses a preference in a hypothetical situation. 'I'd' is a contraction of 'I would'. It describes something that is not currently happening, but the speaker would prefer it over something else that is also not happening (winning the lottery).