The First Time – English Lyrics

• By: Damiano David
• Album: FUNNY little FEARS

Lyrics & Translation

Dive into Damiano David's "The First Time," a captivating pop-rock ballad where the Italian singer-songwriter expresses the profound impact of a new love. This song offers a rich lyrical landscape to explore emotional vocabulary in English, as Damiano's poignant delivery and the song's themes of transformation and discovery provide an authentic and relatable learning experience.

[English]

I thought my heart had felt it all

I swam for miles across the ocean

Never met the shore

My eyes were closed, my highs were lows

Just gettin' drunk on pills and potions

Cravin' something more

Traveled the world but it got me nowhere

Nothing could ever compare

A kiss, a touch, a song that made me cry

And all the drugs I've done, they never got me higher

Than the first time we met

There's nothing like the first time we met

I crashed my car, oh, baby, I was flyin'

And I talked to God, He couldn't get me higher

Than the first time we met

There's nothing like the first time, the first time we met

That night, the stars aligned, Heaven dropped a line

Before you, I was just a flare in the sky

A kid too afraid to go to play in the light

A colorless painter, a man with no sight

Before you, I was nothin', was nothin'

Had nothin', I only had

A kiss, a touch, a song that made me cry

And all the drugs I've done, they never got me higher

Than the first time we met

There's nothing like the first time we met

I crashed my car, oh, baby, I was flyin'

And I talked to God, He couldn't get me higher

Than the first time we met

There's nothing like the first time, the first time we met

You set the room on fire

You take the angels higher

I heard a thousand choirs

Oh, baby, you ain't seen nothing yet

Traveled the world, it got me nowhere

Nothing could ever compare

A kiss, a touch, a song that made me cry

The drugs I've done, they never got me higher

Than the first time we met

There's nothing like the first time we met

And when I crashed my car, oh, baby, I was flyin'

And I talked to God, He couldn't get me higher

Than the first time we met

There's nothing like the first time, the first time we met

The first time we met

The first time we met

There's nothing like the first time, the first time we met

...

Key Vocabulary

Vocabulary	Meanings
heart /hɑːrt/ A1	noun - the organ in your chest that pumps blood around your body
ocean /ˈoʊʃən/ A2	noun - a very large expanse of sea
shore /ʃɔːr/ B1	noun - the land along the edge of a sea, lake, or wide river
drunk /drʌŋk/ B1	adjective - affected by alcohol to the extent of losing control of one's faculties or behavior.
pills /pɪlz/ A2	noun - a small round object that you swallow
potions /ˈpoʊʃənz/ B2	noun - a liquid with special powers, especially one used as medicine, poison, or magic
world /wɜːrld/ A1	noun - the earth, together with all of its countries, peoples, and natural features.
kiss /kɪs/ A2	noun - an act of touching someone with your lips verb - to touch someone with your lips
touch /tʌtʃ/ A2	noun - the action of coming into contact with someone or something. verb - come into or be in contact with.
song /sɔːŋ/ A1	noun - a short musical composition with words
cry /kraɪ/ A1	verb - shed tears noun - an act of shedding tears
drugs /drʌɡz/ B1	noun - a medicine or other substance which has a physiological effect when ingested or otherwise introduced into the body.
higher /ˈhaɪər/ A1	adjective - at a greater or specified height.
crashed /kræʃt/ B1	verb - to hit something violently
flyin' /ˈflaɪɪŋ/ A2	verb - moving through the air
God /ɡɒd/ A1	noun - in religions that believe in only one god, the being who made the universe and everything in it
stars /stɑːrz/ A1	noun - a fixed luminous point in the night sky which is a large, remote incandescent body like the sun.
Heaven /ˈhevən/ A2	noun - a place or state of great happiness; paradise.

Key Grammar Structures

• I thought my heart had felt it all

  ➔ Past Perfect Tense

  ➔ The past perfect tense, "had felt", expresses an action completed before another action in the past. Here, the singer's heart feeling everything happened before the time frame of the song.

• Never met the shore

  ➔ Simple Past Tense (negative implied)

  ➔ Although the auxiliary verb 'did' is omitted, the sentence implies 'I never met the shore'. It's a concise way of saying the speaker didn't experience something in the past.

• Just gettin' drunk on pills and potions

  ➔ Present Participle (gerund) as Adjective

  ➔ 'Gettin' drunk' is a continuous action describing the state he was in. While technically a gerund, it functions adjectivally here, describing his state of being.

• And all the drugs I've done, they never got me higher

  ➔ Present Perfect Tense + Comparative Adjective

  ➔ "I've done" (present perfect) indicates experiences up to the present. "Higher" is a comparative adjective showing the degree of being high relative to other experiences.

• I crashed my car, oh, baby, I was flyin'

  ➔ Past Continuous Tense

  ➔ "I was flyin'" uses the past continuous to describe an ongoing action in the past, suggesting the speaker was in a state of euphoria or intoxication at the time of the car crash.

• Before you, I was just a flare in the sky

  ➔ Simple Past Tense + Metaphor

  ➔ "I was" uses simple past to describe a state of being in the past. The phrase "a flare in the sky" is a metaphor, comparing the speaker's former self to something bright but fleeting and insignificant.

• You set the room on fire

  ➔ Simple Past Tense + Idiomatic Expression

  ➔ "Set the room on fire" is an idiomatic expression meaning the person had a powerful and captivating effect, creating excitement and energy.

• You take the angels higher

  ➔ Simple Present Tense + Comparative Adjective

  ➔ The simple present tense "take" implies a general truth or habitual action, here describing the person's ability to elevate even angels. "Higher" is a comparative adjective.