Songs for English pronunciation practice
These songs have been selected because they contain frequent examples of English phonemes. They are organised by level, from elementary material through to more advanced songs.
The numbers in the phoneme column refer to the English phoneme chart. Phonemes 01–20 are vowel sounds and phonemes 21–44 are consonant sounds.
Select a level and look for songs containing the sounds you want learners to practise. The phoneme numbers can be checked against the English phoneme chart.
For song texts and published song books, see Song books and song lyrics. For songs organised by discussion topics, see Songs for Discussion.
Level 1
| Song | Level | Phonemes | Author |
|---|---|---|---|
| It's a long way to Tipperary | 1 | 01;04;13;17;19 | |
| My bonnie | 1 | 04;08;14;19;22 | trad |
| Hello Goodbye | 1 | 14;19;26;39;40 | Beatles |
| Sailing | 1 | 08;13;31;35 | Rod Stewart |
| Kum Ba Yah | 1 | 09;10 | trad |
| Michael row | 1 | 10;14;19;33;37 | trad |
| This old man | 1 | 01;03;13;19;30;33;34 | trad |
| Animals went in two by two | 1 | 02;03;09;10;39 | trad |
| One man went to mow | 1 | 02;03;19;33 | trad |
| Ten green bottles | 1 | 04;08;22 | trad |
| Ten in a bed | 1 | 02;19;22;27 | trad |
Level 2
| Song | Level | Phonemes | Author |
|---|---|---|---|
| One man's hands | 2 | 01;03;08;13;20;33;34;38 | |
| What did you learn in school? | 2 | 01;03;04;08;11;12 | Tom Paxton |
| Where have all the flowers gone? | 2 | 02;04;10;11;17;19;20;27;28;35;38 | Pete Seeger |
| Ebony & Ivory | 2 | 02;04;08;22;28;30 | Beatles |
| Red river valley | 2 | 01;02;03;28;37 | |
| Little Boxes | 2 | 01;03;04;13;22;23;25;32;33;36 | Malvina Reynolds |
| When I first came to this land | 2 | 01;03;04;05;06;11;13;14;20;25;30;33;34;36;38;41 | |
| Leaving on a jet plane | 2 | 08;13;35;36;44 | John Denver |
| Where are you going my pretty maid? | 2 | 02;11;13;17;19;27;33;38 | |
| And I love her | 2 | 05;10;11;14;36;39 | Beatles |
| All my loving | 2 | 01;05;10;12;13;14;19;36 | Beatles |
| Yesterday | 2 | 04;05;08;13;14;19;40 | Beatles |
| Santy Anno | 2 | 03;08;10;13;19;20 | |
| Yellow submarine | 2 | 01;02;03;05;08;31;36;38;40 | Beatles |
| All my trials | 2 | 07;08;10;13;14;31;32;33;34;36 | |
| John Brown's body | 2 | 03;04;09;14;19;22;26;33;35;36;44 | |
| Nobody knows the trouble I see | 2 | 03;05;13;19;26;31;36 | |
| Swing low sweet chariot | 2 | 01;03;04;06;08;31;36;37;38;43 | |
| Worried man blues | 2 | 01;03;04;05;13;20;31;37;38 | |
| We shall overcome | 2 | 01;03;05;08;09;14;19;25;28;36;38;39;40 | |
| When all the saints | 2 | 01;02;09;10;13;14;31;33;34;35;38;43 | |
| Down by the riverside | 2 | 01;10;13;14;20;24;31;36 | |
| Turn turn turn | 2 | 08;11;14;23;33;34;35 | Pete Seeger |
| Hey Jude | 2 | 01;02;03;09;11;12;13;19;20;22;33;34;39;44 | Beatles |
| Let it be | 2 | 01;08;09;14;17;20;31;32;33;38 | Beatles |
| Oh, Susanna | 2 | 03;08;12;14;19;31;32 | |
| Going to the zoo | 2 | 03;12;19;24;30;32;35 | Tom Paxton |
| She'll be coming round the mountain | 2 | 05;08;20;25;35;36;37;38;40;41 | |
| Drunken sailor | 2 | 04;05;10;11;13;14;24;30;31;32;37;38 |
Level 3
| Song | Level | Phonemes | Author |
|---|---|---|---|
| What have they done to the rain? | 3 | 13;17;38;40;44 | Malvina Reynolds |
| If I had a hammer | 3 | 03;10;30;31;32;39 | Pete Seeger |
| Show me the prison | 3 | 15;19;30;33;40;41 | Joan Baez |
| Marvellous toy | 3 | 01;04;15;38;44 | Tom Paxton |
| Blowin in the wind | 3 | 01;14;19;27;33;38;39 | Bob Dylan |
| H-bomb's thunder | 3 | 02;05;10;22;33 | |
| Universal soldier | 3 | 10;12;14;27;29;40 | Buffy Sainte-Marie |
| Last night I had the strangest dream | 3 | 03;08;10 | |
| March with us today | 3 | 01;04;13;30;38;43;44 | Peggy Seeger |
| Johnny, I hardly knew you | 3 | 04;05;12;24;26;39 | |
| Gypsy rover | 3 | 01;03;08;13;19;44 | |
| She's leaving home | 3 | 08;19;41 | Beatles |
| This land is your land | 3 | 01;03;10;14;30;34;35;40 | Woodie Guthrie |
| Down the lane | 3 | 01;10;19;31;33;35;40 | Ewan MacColl |
| Streets of London | 3 | 13;14;19;31;36;41 | Ralph McTell |
| Old mother earth | 3 | 03;19;29;30;31;32 | Harvey Andrews |
| Banks of Ohio | 3 | 05;10;14;19;36;38;39 | |
| I'll never find another you | 3 | 12;14;19;36 | The Seekers |
| First time ever | 3 | 11;14;27;28 | Ewan MacColl |
| Oh, no John | 3 | 04;10;12;19;34;44 | |
| Shenandoah | 3 | 07;10;13;19;37;41 | |
| Sweet nightingale | 3 | 08;13;14;28;31;32;34 | |
| My lady's a wild flying dove | 3 | 08;11;13;14;33;38 | Tom Paxton |
| I've just seen a face | 3 | 10;13;14;27;28;31;35;41 | Beatles |
| Annie's song | 3 | 01;02;04;07;14;27;36 | John Denver |
| I give you the morning | 3 | 01;02;05;10;12;19;27;29;36 | Tom Paxton |
| Colours | 3 | 02;07;14;23;25;30;32;37 | Donovan |
| Leaving London | 3 | 04;19;20;22;35;36 | Tom Paxton |
| Water is wide | 3 | 12;14;19;27;38 | |
| Girl | 3 | 11;26 | Beatles |
| I should have known better | 3 | 06;07;12;41 | Beatles |
| I don't know how to love him | 3 | 05;06;12;13;19;24;41 | Andrew Lloyd Webber |
| Morning has broken | 3 | 10;11;19;21;22;33 | |
| Cockles & mussels | 3 | 04;05;07;31;32;33 | |
| Freight train | 3 | 04;13;27;37 | Elizabeth Cotton |
| Sloop John B | 3 | 08;19;31 | |
| Beans, bacon & gravy | 3 | 08;10;;13;22;35 | |
| Nowhere man | 3 | 03;19;33;34 | Beatles |
| Deep blue sea | 3 | 01;08;12;22;24 | |
| I can't help but wonder | 3 | 05;09;14;20;38 | Tom Paxton |
| All night long | 3 | 04;10;13;19;27;36 | Tom Paxton |
| Now I'm easy | 3 | 05;08;20 | Eric Bogle |
| Wild rover | 3 | 02;13;19;38 | |
| Clementine | 3 | 01;09;14;25;35;36 | |
| We can work it out | 3 | 10;11;14;20;38 | Beatles |
| Moonshadow | 3 | 03;12;33;41 | Cat Stevens |
| Hippies & the beatniks | 3 | 01;08;19;38;39 | Miles Wootton |
Level 4
| Song | Level | Phonemes | Author |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lag's song | 4 | 03;05;09;13;14 | Ewan MacColl |
| Times they are a-changing | 4 | 13;14;23;30 | Bob Dylan |
| Rider pass by | 4 | 14;21;22;37 | Joan Baez |
| No man's land | 4 | 01;13;14;19;20;24;27;36;40 | Eric Bogle |
| Hard rain's a gonna fall | 4 | 08;10;11;13;14;17;28;38;39 | Bob Dylan |
| Imagine | 4 | 01;03;05;30;44 | John Lennon |
| Free born man | 4 | 08;33;34 | Ewan MacColl |
| Country roads | 4 | 05;08;13;19;20 | John Denver |
| Dirty old town | 4 | 11;19;20;23;24 | Ewan MacColl |
| Fiddler's green | 4 | 01;02;08;13;15;26;27 | |
| Skye boat song | 4 | 01;03;08;14;19 | |
| When the ship comes in | 4 | 01;07;14;41 | Bob Dylan |
| Going to the west | 4 | 01;08;13;19;26;38 | |
| Last thing on my mind | 4 | 11;13;14;19;36 | Tom Paxton |
| Darlin Annie | 4 | 01;02;03;04;05;36 | Peggy Seeger |
| What the poet called her | 4 | Ewan MacColl | |
| Maids when you're young | 4 | 02;03;05;13;33;38;40 | |
| I'm a rover & seldom sober | 4 | 08;19;37 | |
| Rosalie | 4 | 08;19;31;32;37 | Ewan MacColl |
| Wild mountain thyme | 4 | 02;19;26;30;38 | |
| Early one morning | 4 | 08;19;24 | |
| Down by the Sally Gardens | 4 | 03;08;16 | W. B. Yeats |
| Foggy dew | 4 | 12;26;33;38 | |
| Ramblin' boy | 4 | 15;37;39 | Tom Paxton |
| Housewife's alphabet | 4 | 02;13;17;25 | Peggy Seeger |
| Banks of marble | 4 | 03;10;33 | Pete Seeger |
| Net hauling song | 4 | 01;06;08;10;12;13;34;39;40;41 | Ewan MacColl |
| Miner's wife | 4 | 02;23;24;34 | Ewan MacColl |
| My old man | 4 | 03;19;33 | Ewan MacColl |
| Come my little son | 4 | 03;13;24;35 | Ewan MacColl |
Level 5
| Song | Level | Phonemes | Author |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gilgarra mountain | 5 | 01;03;09;19;26;33;38 | |
| Thirty foot trailer | 5 | 02;03;06;13;14;19;23 | Ewan MacColl |
| Sunday supplement world | 5 | 05;11;31 | Miles Wootton |
| Little girl child | 5 | 01;04;11;14;26;36;38;43 | Peggy Seeger |
| Swansea town | 5 | 01;04;08;10;31;32;33;38 | |
| Leaving of Liverpool | 5 | 01;08;27;36 | |
| Don't think twice | 5 | 01;13;14;19;29 | Bob Dylan |
| Four strong winds | 5 | 01;06;10;13;19;27;29;30;31;32 | Ian Tyson |
| Talking want-ad blues | 5 | 06;33;36 | Peggy Seeger |
| Squire of Tanworth | 5 | ||
| Wish I had a troubador | 5 | 01;14;38 | Tom Paxton |
| Nine month blues | 5 | 12;14;33;34 | Peggy Seeger |
| She moved through the fair | 5 | 08;12;13;14;17;27;28;30;33 | |
| Sweet Thames flow softly | 5 | 01;02;04;08;19 | Ewan MacColl |
| Auld lang syne | 5 | 13;14;19;31;36 | |
| I'd rather be a sparrow than a snail | 5 | 06;08;09;25;38 | Simon & Garfunkel |
| Blow the man down | 5 | 08;13;14;19;20;22;36;38;39 | |
| Work of the weavers | 5 | 04;08;11;38 | |
| Shoals of herring | 5 | 02;17;19;35;36;41 | Ewan MacColl |
| Come fill up your glasses | 5 | 01;02;08;09;38;39 | Peggy Seeger |
| I'm gonna to be an engineer | 5 | 07;12;13;15;16;41;44 | Peggy Seeger |
| Diggers' song | 5 | 30;38;40 | Leon Rosselson |
| Poor Paddy works on the railway | 5 | 03;11;13;21;37;38 | Ewan MacColl |
Level 6
| Song | Level | Phonemes | Author |
|---|---|---|---|
| Legal illegal | 6 | 07;08;26;36 | Ewan MacColl |
| Alan Tyne of Harrow | 6 | 03;19;39;40 | Ewan MacColl |
| Joy of living | 6 | 01;14;15;28;31;32;35;44 | Ewan MacColl |
| Angela Davis (Love for love) | 6 | 01;05;17;27;28;36 | Ewan MacColl |
| Both sides now | 6 | 10;19;20;22;36 | Joni Mitchell |
| Nuclear energy means jobs | 6 | 04;12;31;32;34;40;44 | Ewan MacColl |
| Manchester rambler | 6 | 03;13;14;33;42 | Ewan MacColl |
| Ballad of accounting | 6 | 01;08;24;38;40 | Ewan MacColl |
| Daddy what did you do in the strike? | 6 | 12;14;24 | Ewan MacColl |
The English phoneme chart
Use the English Phoneme Chart to identify the sounds represented by the numbers in the tables.
01–20: vowel sounds
21–44: consonant sounds
More song resources
Song books and song lyrics – published song books and advice on finding song texts.
Songs for Discussion – songs organised by discussion topic and theme.