I continue to think that music is a good way of starting to understand a language. \u00a0It takes work, but parsing the lines to a simple song can be a fun way to get into some new, perhaps offbeat, vocabulary. \u00a0Sometimes songs are a good window into nonsense words, or idiomatic facets of language that even conversation neglects.<\/p>\n
With the help of my friends, I recently discovered a great Dutch gem from 1980 which could serve exactly this purpose. \u00a0It’s also, just, great to listen to. \u00a0The artist is Danny Boy, an adolescent rapper in suspenders, and the concept was inspired by early rap records (particularly Joe Bataan’s “Rappo Clappo,”<\/a>) that were becoming more popular in the Netherlands at that time.<\/p>\n