Similes & Song: Everything At Once -- Lenka

Image from rojak

Wow!! New Age, new songs! Recently, Lenka releases a new album Two and there is a song called "Everything at once". The lyrics of the song are flooded with similes!

Image from tnellen

Simile is a very important part of  movies and songs and of course, in spoken and written English, as an English speaker, one must learn at least some of the more common ones.


I hope you still remember what similes are. If not, here is the definition from Cambridge Dictionary,


similes
noun [C or U]
(the use of) an expression comparing one thing with another, always including the words `as' or `like'

And of course, I like the definition from Wikipedia better,

A simile is a figure of speech that indirectly compares two different things by employing the words "like", "as", or "than".^[1] Even though similes and metaphors are both forms of comparison, similes indirectly compare the two ideas and allow them to remain distinct in spite of their similarities, whereas metaphors compare two things directly.

Image from Kai Power

And here are the common formulas,

1. verb (phrase) + like+ noun (phrase)
2. verb (phrase) + (as) + adjective + as + noun (phrase)

Any examples?

Let's check out the lyrics of the song then!

Lyrics:

As sly as a fox, as strong as an ox
As fast as a hare, as brave as a bear
As free as a bird, as neat as a word
As quiet as a mouse, as big as a house

All I wanna be, all I wanna be, oh
All I wanna be is everything

As mean as a wolf, as sharp as a tooth
As deep as a bite, as dark as the night
As sweet as a song, as right as a wrong
As long as a road, as ugly as a toad

As pretty as a picture hanging from a fixture
Strong like a family, strong as I wanna be
Bright as day, as light as play
As hard as nails, as grand as a whale

All I wanna be, all I wanna be, oh
All I wanna be is everything

As warm as the, the sun, as silly as fun
As cool as a tree, as scary as the sea
As hot as fire, cold as ice
Sweet as sugar and everything nice

As old as time, as straight as a line
As royal as a queen, as buzzed as a bee
Stealth as a tiger, smooth as a glide
Pure as a melody, pure as I wanna be

All I wanna be, all I wanna be, oh
All I wanna be is everything

I have a website here which will offer you a list of similes. Hope you enjoy learning them!!!

Have a nice weekend!

Resources:

Lenka Official Website
http://www.lenkamusic.com/us/home

Everything at once @ Sing365
http://www.sing365.com/music/lyric.nsf/Everything-At-Once-lyrics-Lenka/EC2A49E74482BA564825783E0007E112

Everything At Once by Lenka w/ lyrics @ YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QbrwlqYVwCE&feature=player_embedded

Simile @ Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simile

Similes @Said What
http://www.saidwhat.co.uk/spoon/similes.php

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/simile#simile__3