Listening exercise
Country-pop song: Black Cadillac
by Rosanne Cash
Access video from this page:
http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/rosannecash/videos/video/9143568
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If interested, you can stream the "Black Cadillac" album here:
http://www.mp3.com/albums/20086394/summary.html

Vocabulary:
truth
loss
in abstract terms
Cadillac
to drive s.o. away
to tend to
concrete images
to represent
contained
compelling force
lonely world
metaphor
to wreck
to be aware that
abandon
to reference
ancestry
musical tradition
personal
in the song "Good Intent"
musical history
career
a numbers game
concept record
transcendence
universal
radio operator
image
tiny little
to intercept
Russian signals
to transcribe
to translate
sense of one's ancestry
to go even further back
demo
taxi
Fifth Avenue
to strike one
"come home to yourself" moment
to connect
to share
headlights
Texas road
Hank Williams
church wedding
to spend all one has
the deal is done
to become Mom and Dad
to sail
china doll
timelessness
diary
to wave
history
my corner of it
century
a heavy burden to bear
to rebel against
traditions
disassociate oneself from
family rituals
heritage
separate
to go through s.t.
to cast a long shadow
to shed a tear
to watch the world in smoke
never more to roam

Listening comprehension questions:
1. Who is Johnny Cash, why was he famous, and what is the relationship between Rosanne and Johnny Cash? (stream album)
2. What meanings does a "black Cadillac" have for Rosanne?
3. What does Rosanne say is a more effective way to write a song?
4. What does Rosanne say this album "references" for her? What does she mean by this?
5. What is a "concept record"?
6. What is the significance of "radio operator" in Rosanne's life and in her song?
7. What happened one day when Rosanne wanted to play for her father a song she'd written?
8. What difference does Rosanne say there is between her life and her father's?
9. How does Rosanne describe the process of children's rebellion, and her experience with it? How does she feel about "rebellion" now?


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