Talk Is Cheap – English Lyrics

• By: Chet Faker
• Album: Built On Glass

Lyrics & Translation

Learning a language through music is a fantastic way to connect with culture, and Chet Faker's "Talk Is Cheap" offers a great opportunity to explore the nuances of English expression. The song's central idiom, "talk is cheap," is a common phrase you'll hear in everyday conversation, meaning that promises are meaningless without action. By listening to this song, you'll not only learn this useful expression but also delve into the emotional depth of Chet Faker's songwriting, which blends soulful vocals with electronic beats. Its laid-back tempo and clear lyrics make it an accessible and enjoyable song for language learners.

[English]

Oh-oh-oh-oh

Oh-oh-oh-oh

Oh-oh-oh-oh

Oh-oh-oh-oh

Oh so, your weak rhyme

You doubt I'll bother reading into it

I'll probably won't

Left to my own devices

But that's the difference in our opinions

You're a mouthful

That amounts for another week on my own

Now I'm a novel made resourceful

I start a chain with my thought

Talk is cheap, my darling

When you're feeling right at home

I wanna make you move with confidence

I wanna be with you alone

Said help me help you start it

You're too comfortable to know

Throwing out those words

No, you gotta feel it on your own

...

Cold pain

I cannot sustain it

That's what I'm thinking

Not what I'm drinking

I hold up my ways

These thoughts are pervasive

It's not a statement

But peace can be evasive

You're a mouthful

That amounts for another week on my own

Now I'm a novel made resourceful

I start a chain with my thought

Talk is cheap, my darling

When you're feeling right at home

I wanna make you move with confidence

I wanna be with you alone

Said help me help you start it

You're too comfortable to know

Throwing out those words

No, you gotta feel it on your own

Talk is cheap, my darling

When you're feeling right at home

I wanna make you move with confidence

I wanna be with you alone

Said help me help you start it

You're too comfortable to know

Throwing out those words

No, you gotta feel it on your own

...

Key Vocabulary

Vocabulary	Meanings
weak /wiːk/ A2	adjective - lacking physical strength or energy
rhyme /raɪm/ B1	noun - correspondence of sound between words or the endings of words, especially when these are used at the ends of lines of poetry. verb - to (cause words to) have a correspondence of sound
bother /ˈbɒðər/ B1	verb - to take the trouble to do something noun - trouble or difficulty
left /left/ A1	verb - to go away from
difference /ˈdɪfrəns/ A2	noun - a point or way in which people or things are dissimilar
mouthful /ˈmaʊθfʊl/ B2	noun - a quantity that fills the mouth noun - A word or statement that is long or difficult to pronounce.
novel /ˈnɒvəl/ B2	noun - a fictitious prose narrative of book length, typically representing character and action with some degree of realism. adjective - new or unusual in an interesting way
resourceful /rɪˈsɔːsfʊl/ C1	adjective - having the ability to find clever ways to overcome difficulties.
chain /tʃeɪn/ A2	noun - a sequence of connected things or people.
cheap /tʃiːp/ A2	adjective - low in price
darling /ˈdɑːrlɪŋ/ A2	noun - a beloved person
confidence /ˈkɒnfɪdəns/ B1	noun - the feeling or belief that one can have faith in or rely on someone or something.
comfortable /ˈkʌmfətəbl/ A2	adjective - in a state of physical ease and freedom from pain or constraint.
cold /koʊld/ A1	adjective - of or at a low or relatively low temperature.
pain /peɪn/ A2	noun - physical suffering or discomfort caused by illness or injury.
sustain /səˈsteɪn/ B2	verb - strengthen or support physically or mentally.
thinking /ˈθɪŋkɪŋ/ A1	verb - to have a particular belief or idea noun - the process of using one's mind to consider or reason about something
hold /hoʊld/ A1	verb - to grasp, carry, or support with one's hands.
pervasive /pərˈveɪsɪv/ C1	adjective - spreading widely throughout an area or a group of people.
peace /piːs/ A2	noun - freedom from disturbance; tranquility.
evasive /ɪˈveɪsɪv/ B2	adjective - tending to avoid commitment or self-revelation, especially by responding only indirectly.

Key Grammar Structures

• You doubt I'll bother reading into it

  ➔ Future Simple (will) with contraction 'll

  ➔ Uses the future simple with the contracted form "'ll" to express a prediction or belief about a future event. "I'll bother" means "I will bother".

• Left to my own devices

  ➔ Past participle used as an adjective, idiomatic expression.

  ➔ "Left" is the past participle of "leave" and it acts as an adjective describing the speaker's state. "Left to my own devices" is an idiom meaning to be alone and allowed to do whatever you want.

• That amounts for another week on my own

  ➔ Phrasal verb 'amounts for' with preposition 'on'

  ➔ "Amounts for" means to result in or add up to. The phrase suggests that someone's actions or words contribute to the speaker spending another week alone. The word "on" shows it is spent "on my own".

• I wanna make you move with confidence

  ➔ Informal contraction 'wanna' (want to) + infinitive 'make' + bare infinitive 'move'

  ➔ "Wanna" is a colloquial contraction of "want to". "Make you move" uses the causative verb "make", which is followed by the base form (bare infinitive) of the verb "move".

• Said help me help you start it

  ➔ Imperative verb 'help' used twice in a row, elliptical construction.

  ➔ This is a shortened, more impactful way of saying "Help me to help you start it." The first 'help' is an imperative directed at someone else, while the second 'help' is part of an infinitive phrase indicating the speaker's action.

• You're too comfortable to know

  ➔ Adjective 'too' + adjective 'comfortable' + infinitive of purpose 'to know'

  ➔ Uses the structure "too + adjective + to + verb" to indicate that someone is excessively in a certain state to the point that they are unable to understand something. The infinitive phrase explains the consequence of being too comfortable.

• Throwing out those words

  ➔ Present participle used as a gerund. Elliptical construction.

  ➔ While "throwing" looks like a continuous tense, here it functions as a noun (a gerund) indicating the *action* of throwing out words. The subject is omitted; we can infer the subject is someone, most likely "you". The full phrase would be something like: *You* are throwing out those words.