Teenage Kicks – English Lyrics

• By: The Undertones
• Album: Teenage Kicks

Lyrics & Translation

Dive into the vibrant world of The Undertones' "Teenage Kicks" – a punk-pop gem that’s more than just a song, it's an exhilarating lesson in real-life English as spoken by Irish teenagers! Through its simple yet potent lyrics about youthful crushes and excitement, you can grasp authentic expressions of longing and innocent desire. The song's clear, fast-paced delivery and catchy chorus make it perfect for practicing listening skills and understanding colloquialisms related to adolescence and infatuation, offering a fun and memorable way to connect with the raw energy of 70s youth culture.

[English]

Are teenage dreams so hard to beat?

Everytime she walks down the street

Another girl in the neighbourhood

Wish she was mine, she looks so good

I wanna hold her wanna hold her tight

Get teenage kicks right through the night

I'm gonna call her on the telephone

Have her over 'cause I'm all alone

I need excitement oh I need it bad

And it's the best, I've ever had

I wanna hold her wanna hold her tight

Get teenage kicks right through the night, all right

...

Are teenage dreams so hard to beat?

Everytime she walks down the street

Another girl in the neighbourhood

Wish she was mine, she looks so good

I wanna hold her wanna hold her tight

Get teenage kicks right through the night

I'm gonna call her on the telephone

Have her over 'cause I'm all alone

I need excitement oh I need it bad

And it's the best, I've ever had

I wanna hold her wanna hold her tight

Get teenage kicks right through the night, all right

...

I wanna hold her wanna hold her tight

Get teenage kicks right through the night, all right

...

Key Vocabulary

Vocabulary	Meanings
dreams /driːmz/ A2	noun - a series of thoughts, images, and sensations occurring in a person's mind during sleep verb - to contemplate the possibility of doing something or that something might be the case
hard /hɑːrd/ A2	adjective - firm and solid; not easily broken, bent, or pierced adverb - with great effort or force
beat /biːt/ B1	verb - to strike (someone or something) repeatedly and forcefully noun - a main accent or rhythmic unit in music
walks /wɔːks/ A1	verb - move at a regular and fairly slow pace by lifting and setting down each foot in turn
street /striːt/ A1	noun - a public road in a city or town
girl /ɡɜːrl/ A1	noun - a female child or young woman
neighbourhood /ˈneɪbərhʊd/ B1	noun - a district, especially one of a town or city
good /ɡʊd/ A1	adjective - to be desired or approved of
hold /hoʊld/ A2	verb - grasp, carry, or support (something) with one's hands
tight /taɪt/ B1	adjective - fitting closely adverb - closely and firmly
kicks /kɪks/ B1	noun - a sudden feeling of excitement or pleasure verb - strike (someone or something) with the foot
night /naɪt/ A1	noun - the period from sunset to sunrise in each twenty-four hours
call /kɔːl/ A1	verb - to give someone a telephone call noun - a telephone call
alone /əˈloʊn/ A2	adjective - having no one else present; lonely
need /niːd/ A1	verb - require (something) because it is essential or very important noun - a thing that is necessary or desirable
excitement /ɪkˈsaɪtmənt/ B2	noun - a feeling of great enthusiasm and eagerness
bad /bæd/ A1	adjective - of poor quality or a low standard
teenage /ˈtiːneɪdʒ/ A2	adjective - relating to or characteristic of teenagers

Key Grammar Structures

• Are teenage dreams so hard to beat?

  ➔ Inversion for emphasis/question formation with 'so' + adjective

  ➔ Uses inversion (auxiliary verb + subject) to emphasize the degree of difficulty. 'So hard' emphasizes the intensity. This structure is often used in questions or statements to express surprise or strong feeling about something. For example, 'So beautiful is the sunset!'

• Everytime she walks down the street

  ➔ Simple Present Tense (habitual action) with 'Everytime' as a conjunction.

  ➔ The sentence describes a recurring event. The use of 'Everytime' (though grammatically it should be 'Every time') introduces a clause that describes when something happens. The verb 'walks' is in the simple present because it's a regular occurrence.

• Wish she was mine, she looks so good

  ➔ Subjunctive mood ('wish' + past subjunctive 'was') and 'so' + adjective.

  ➔ 'Wish she was mine' uses the subjunctive to express a desire contrary to fact. 'She looks so good' uses 'so' to intensify the adjective 'good', expressing a high degree of attractiveness.

• I wanna hold her wanna hold her tight

  ➔ Informal contraction ('wanna' for 'want to'), verb + object + adverb ('hold her tight').

  ➔ 'Wanna' is a very common informal contraction. 'Hold her tight' demonstrates the typical English word order for this type of sentence: verb, object, adverb.

• Get teenage kicks right through the night

  ➔ Imperative (understood 'you'), adverb 'right' modifying prepositional phrase 'through the night'.

  ➔ The imperative is implied (you get). 'Right through the night' means 'all through the night', with 'right' emphasizing the entirety of the duration.

• I'm gonna call her on the telephone

  ➔ Informal future tense ('gonna' for 'going to'), preposition 'on' used with 'telephone'.

  ➔ 'Gonna' is another very common informal contraction of 'going to', used to express a planned or intended action. The use of the preposition 'on' is standard when referring to using a telephone.

• Have her over 'cause I'm all alone

  ➔ Phrasal verb ('have over'), Informal conjunction ('cause' for 'because'), 'all alone' (emphasizing loneliness)

  ➔ 'Have over' means 'invite to one's home'. ''Cause' is an abbreviation of 'because', common in informal speech and song lyrics. 'All alone' is used for emphasis, strengthening the meaning of 'alone'.