Ordinary World – English Lyrics

• By: Duran Duran
• Album: The Wedding Album

Lyrics & Translation

Explore the depths of grief and the path to resilience with Duran Duran's 'Ordinary World.' Penned in response to personal loss, this iconic song offers a powerful lesson in navigating emotional turmoil and finding solace in the familiar. Discover how Le Bon's lyrics resonate with universal experiences of loss and the quest for a stable reality .

[English]

Came in from a rainy Thursday on the avenue

Thought I heard you talking softly

I turned on the lights, the TV, and the radio

Still I can't escape the ghost of you

What has happened to it all?

Crazy, some'd say

Where is the life that I recognise? (Gone away)

But I won't cry for yesterday

There's an ordinary world

Somehow I have to find

And as I try to make my way

To the ordinary world

I will learn to survive

...

Passion or coincidence once prompted you to say

"Pride will tear us both apart"

Well, now pride's gone out the window

Cross the rooftops, run away

Left me in the vacuum of my heart

What is happening to me?

Crazy, some'd say

Where is my friend when I need you most? (Gone away)

But I won't cry for yesterday

There's an ordinary world

Somehow I have to find

And as I try to make my way

To the ordinary world

I will learn to survive

...

Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh

Ahh-ah-ahh

...

Away-ay, ay-ay-ay-ay

Oh, oh

...

Papers in the roadside tell of suffering and greed

Fear today, forgot tomorrow

Ooh-ooh

Here besides the news of holy war and holy need

Ours is just a little sorrowed talk

And I don't cry for yesterday

There's an ordinary world

Somehow I have to find

And as I try to make my way

To the ordinary world

I will learn to survive

(Every world is my world)

I will learn to survive

(Any world is my world)

I will learn to survive

(Any world is my world)

...

(Every world is my world)

...

Key Grammar Structures

• Thought I heard you talking softly

  ➔ Past Perfect

  ➔ The phrase uses the past perfect tense ('Thought I heard') to indicate an action that occurred before another past action ('I turned on the lights').

• Where is the life that I recognise? (Gone away)

  ➔ Present Simple in Question Form

  ➔ The question 'Where is...' uses the present simple tense to ask about the current location or state of something.

• But I won't cry for yesterday

  ➔ Future Simple with 'will' in Negative Form

  ➔ The phrase 'I won't cry' uses the future simple tense with 'will' in negative form to express a future action that will not happen.

• There's an ordinary world

  ➔ Present Simple with 'There is'

  ➔ The phrase 'There's an ordinary world' uses the present simple tense with 'there is' to state the existence of something in the present.

• I will learn to survive

  ➔ Future Simple with 'will'

  ➔ The phrase 'I will learn' uses the future simple tense with 'will' to express a future action or intention.

• Pride will tear us both apart

  ➔ Future Simple with 'will'

  ➔ The phrase 'Pride will tear' uses the future simple tense with 'will' to predict a future outcome or consequence.

• Ours is just a little sorrowed talk

  ➔ Present Simple with 'is'

  ➔ The phrase 'Ours is just' uses the present simple tense with 'is' to describe a current state or condition.

• Every world is my world

  ➔ Present Simple with 'is'

  ➔ The phrase 'Every world is my world' uses the present simple tense with 'is' to express a general truth or statement.