Song Exercise - Traffic

Traffic In The Sky

Before Jack Johnson perfected his rock star ways, he was a champion surfer on the professional route with a sponsorship with Quiksilver. It was a life that was second nature for this Hawaiian native, for he began chasing waves as a toddler, and by the time he was 17, he was an outstanding athlete on the Pipeline. However, Johnson was also testing his other creative outlets -- one being film and the other being music. It was during his college years as a film student at University of California at Santa Barbara when Johnson began writing songs. He and old mates, Chris Malloy and Emmett Malloy, produced a surf cinema documentary entitled Thicker Than Water, in turn spotlighting Johnson as a talented cinematographer as well as a burgeoning singer/songwriter. His peers in and around the surf circuit praised his work and Thicker Than Water received props in Surfer magazine for Video of the Year during 2000. The follow-up surf flick The September Sessions also earned the Adobe Highlight Award at the ESPN Film Festival that same year. Still, Johnson steered away from a blossoming pro sports career and stuck with music -- something that would soon earn him additional honors. G. Love & Special Sauce quickly took notice to Johnson's lazy blues stylings, which also molded folk and hip-hop for a modern rock twist, and included Johnson on "Rodeo Clowns'" from G. Love's 1999 release, Philadelphonic. Johnson's four-track demo also caught the ears of Ben Harper's right hand man, J.P. Plunier. This was surely mind-blowing for Johnson, for Harper's college rock mainstay Fight for Your Mind was one of his favorites and remained an inspiration. Aside from Plunier's production work, Harper also added his lap steel guitar work on Jack Johnson's sultry debut, Brushfire Fairytales (Enjoy Records) in winter 2001. Two co-headlining tours followed throughout spring and summer 2002; Johnson's sophomore effort On and On appeared in May 2003. Stateside dates with Ben Harper followed in June and July. A third album, In Between Dreams arrived in March 2005. (http://www.jackjohnsonmusic.com/)

Traffic In The Sky
Jack Johnson

While you listen to the song do the following activities:

1. Fill in the blanks with the missing word;
2. Choose the correct verb form and
3. Write the opposite of the underlined words.

there's 1._______ in the sky
and it doesn't seem/seems to be get/getting much better
theres kids playing games on the 2._______
drawing waves on the pavement
shadows of the planes on the pavement
it's enough to make me cry
but that don't seem like it would make it feel better
maybe it's a dream and if i scream
it will burst at the seams
this whole 3._______ will fall into pieces
and then they’ll/they'd say

well how could we have known/know?
i'll tell them it's not so hard to tell
if you keep 4._______ stones
soon the water will/would be lost in the well

5._______ pieces in the ground
but no one ever seems/seem to be digging instead they're looking up
towards the heavens
with their eyes on the heavens
there are shadows on the way to the heavens
it's enough to make me cry
but that don't seem like it would make it feel better
the answers could be 6._______
we could learn from digging down
but no one ever seems to be digging
instead they’ll say (chorus)

words of wisdom all around
but no one ever seems to be listening/listen
they’re talking about their plans on the paper
building up from the pavement
there are shadows from the 7._______ on the pavement
it’s enough to make me sigh
but that don’t seem like it would make it feel better
the 8._______ are all around
but the words are only sounds
and no one ever seems to listen
instead they’ll say (chorus)

theres traffic in the sky
and it doesn't seem to be getting much better
theres kids playing games on the pavement
drawing waves on the pavement
shadows of the planes on the pavement
it's enough to make me cry
but that don't seem like it would make it feel better
maybe it's a dream and if i scream
it will burst at the seams
this whole place will fall into pieces
and then they'd say

well how could we have known?
i'll tell them it's not so hard to tell
if you keep adding stones
soon the water will be lost in the well

puzzle pieces in the ground
but no one ever seems to be digging instead they're looking up
towards the heavens
with their eyes on the heavens
there are shadows on the way to the heavens
it's enough to make me cry
but that don't seem like it would make it feel better
the answers could be found
we could learn from digging down
but no one ever seems to be digging
instead theyll say (chorus)

words of wisdom all around
but no one ever seems to listen
theyre talking about their plans on the paper
building up from the pavement
there are shadows from the scrapers on the pavement
its enough to make me sigh
but that dont seem like it would make it feel better
the words are all around
but the words are only sounds
and no one ever seems to listen
instead theyll say (chorus)

Created by Marina Ghirotto Santos 2°A 2005

You can listen to this song here. It can be used for educational purposes ONLY.
Bear in mind that all the musicians live on the sales of their songs. If you appreciate this song,
buy the CD!!!