My Song, My Home: Bailey in St Ives
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Hello. This next episode is the first in our new music series, My Song, My Home. In each episode, we'll meet a musician who'll tell us about their hometown and play a song for us. It's a great way to practice listening to real English speakers, hear some music and learn lots of English expressions. We hope you enjoy it.

I think that St Ives, the thing that's special about it is how coastal it is and how there's not many places in the UK especially that look like this. The beaches are, you know, they look like beaches you'd find abroad and the towns are lots of cobblestones and it's kind of got that British edge to it as well but it feels so different to anywhere else at the same time. MUSIC PLAYS

Hello, I'm Pippa and welcome to My Song, My Home. This is a BBC Learning English series where we explore towns and cities around the UK and meet musicians that live there. We'll hear about how the place they live has shaped the music they make and learn some English from a performance of their song. Today, we're by the sea in St Ives with Bailey Tompkinson.

I wasn't born in Cornwall, but I moved here when I was a kid and I went to school here and I guess this is all I really know in a sense. I love it here. It's probably why I never left. St Ives is a small town on the south-west coast of the UK. It's in Cornwall, which is a beautiful part of the country, popular with tourists.

But the town also has an important history and local community. We've got an amazing community in St Ives. I think that's probably the most important thing, but obviously it's super beautiful. And the art scene here is just kind of one of a kind. If you've ever been to St Ives, you'll know how special it is. Bailey talks about the art scene in St Ives. This means the artistic activities, events and people in the town.

But we can use scene to talk about lots of things. We could have a sports scene, a nightlife scene and of course, a music scene. I grew up in a really rich music scene in St Ives. I was going to open mics from the age of about 11.

Open mic nights are events where anyone can come and play or sing, and Bailey found them to be a great way to learn music and get support from the community. I mean, I would go to these songwriter circles at the Kettle and Wink on, like, a Friday night after school, where I'd be, like, the youngest person by, like, 50 years, but I'd sit in a circle of a bunch of old men, and they'd play James Taylor and Carole King and the Eagles and...

Lots of 70s music and I guess that's influenced me massively. But I guess, you know, everyone kind of took me under the wing growing up. Bailey says she's lucky that she grew up in beautiful St Ives, surrounded by the sea and by a musical community that have supported her dream to become a singer. But her ultimate goal is to take her music around the world. I just want to be able to tour the world and play big venues for people

You know, people who love the music. It's all about the music to me, you know. None of the artificial stuff, it's all about the music to me and people relating and connecting with it and being able to meet these people and hear their experiences and I think part of why I love writing is because I love transporting people into their own little, I guess, fantasies. Bailey took us down to her favourite beach in St Ives.

It's a beautiful stretch of sand with black rocks and big waves. So we're on Porfimere Beach right now. I mean it's quiet right now but in summertime this beach is packed.

It's very, very beautiful. The sand is super soft. The surf culture on this beach and the scene here is really what makes it special. People travel all from around the world to come here and surf. It was a perfect spot to listen to one of Bailey's songs, Cobalt Blue. Listen to the song and see if you can recognise the vocabulary. MUSIC PLAYS

The rock star station. And you brush my arm there. We rant about the prime minister. But we can't stand. Who kissed the wishbone scar? Etched on my top lip. Till you say stop it. Feel business.

So what did Bailey intend the song to mean? Basically my partner's in my band with me and creative differences we sometimes fall out about our musical ideas and I felt really bad because I kind of shut him down.

regarding one of his ideas and I went away and I wrote this song Cobalt Blue about feeling guilty that I'd done that and kind of been a jerk to him. Bailey says her song is about falling out with her partner. She says that she shut him down about an idea and when we shut someone down it's when we reject their idea sometimes quite quickly or harshly.

Let's look at some of the lyrics in more detail. Remember, you can find the lyrics and vocabulary to read along on our website, bbclearningenglish.com. In the song, the characters rant about the Prime Minister. To rant about something is to talk about it in an angry and sometimes confused way. When you rant about something, it can be quite uncontrolled and loud, usually because you feel strongly about it.

Bailey also sings about a wishbone scar etched on her top lip. A wishbone is just the shape of the scar and etched, we use that to talk about a shape that is cut into something. It's often used to talk about artwork or writing on metal or glass.

Using etched in a metaphorical way like this is usually to emphasise that something is permanent. You'll also often hear the expression etched in someone's memory. That means that something is a strong or permanent memory. The song is called Cobalt Blue and Bailey sings about feeling cobalt blue.

Now, when we feel blue in English, this expression means that we feel sad or bad about something. Remember that Bailey said the song was about feeling guilty about an argument with her partner. Now, cobalt is a metal and cobalt blue is a dark blue. So when Bailey sings about being cobalt blue, she's talking about a more intense feeling of sadness.

Let's listen to the rest of the song. See if you can notice any other language about feeling guilty in the lyrics. It's sun, round, hot and heavy And I'm swimming in my nightgown Beach baby No more I'll bet If I'm free Will you want

Just the same When I'm not 23 Feeling It's the last time Me You've been feeling Cobalt I've been cruel To you You've been feeling Cobalt Blue Carnage It's the last time Me Me

I've been cruel to you You've been vinco You've been vinco Thanks for listening to My Song My Home. If you want to see St Ives, you can find a video of Bailey's performance by The Sea on our website. There's a link in the notes for this episode. We'll be back next week with a new place and a new musician to show us around. See you then. Bye.

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