The Bee Gees – How can you mend a broken heart?

To practise: How, Interrogative, Modal verbs, Modal verbs of ability, Question words, Questions
Band/singer:

Practice questions and the modal verbs can & could in your ESL class with this song, How Can you Mend a Broken Heart? by the Bee Gees.

The questions, repeated several times, in these lyrics are: how can you mend, how can you stop, how can a loser ever win, what makes the world go round and there are also 7 examples of the modal verb “can” and 2 of the modal verb “could” to express ability.

To see suggestions on how to use this song in class, click here.

YouTube player

Lyrics

I can think of younger days
When living for my life
Was everything a man could want to do
I could never see tomorrow
But I was never told about the sorrow
And how can you mend a broken heart?
How can you stop the rain from falling down?
How can you stop the sun from shining?
What makes the world go round?

How can you mend a this broken man?
How can a loser ever win?
Please help me mend my broken heart
And let me live again

I can still feel the breeze
That rustles through the trees
And misty memories of days gone by
We could never see tomorrow

No one said a word about the sorrow
And how can you mend a broken heart?
How can you stop the rain from falling down?
How can you stop the sun from shining?

What makes the world go round?
How can you mend this broken man?
How can a loser ever win?
Please help me mend my broken heart

And let me live again

Bee GeesMusic group (1958–2012)

The Bee Gees were a musical group formed in 1958 by brothers Barry, Robin, and Maurice Gibb. The trio were especially successful in popular music in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and later as prominent performers in the disco music era in the mid-to-late 1970s. The group sang recognisable three-part tight harmonies: Robin’s clear vibrato lead vocals were a hallmark of their earlier hits, while Barry’s R&B falsetto became their signature sound during the mid-to-late 1970s and 1980s. The group wrote all their own original material, as well as writing and producing several major hits for other artists, and are regarded as one of the most important and influential acts in pop-music history. They have been referred to in the media as The Disco Kings, Britain’s First Family of Harmony, and The Kings of Dance Music.

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