Amy Studt – Testify

To practise: Past Tenses, Present perfect, Present perfect continuous
Band/singer:

This song comes with a worksheet to use in the classroomPractice the present perfect continuous in your ESL class with this song, Testify by Amy Studt.

These song lyrics include 5 examples of the present perfect continuous, and 3 examples of the present perfect simple: I’ve been cheating, I’ve been fighting, I’ve been lying, I’ve been pushing, I’ve been hating & it’s been, I’ve lost & I’ve made.

There is a suggestion on how to use this song in your ESL classes below, but for more ideas, click here.

YouTube player

Lyrics

I’ve been cheating myself for too long.
Living as if I was going nowhere,
And I know it’s wrong,
I’ve been fighting myself for too long,
I try, really try to keep my head up high,
And I know it’s wrong,
And I should really know better,
But it’s been so long;

Chorus
I know how I feel,
But I’m afraid to show it,
Inside it’s so real,
But no one else would know it,
The whole truth and no lies,
Cutting deeper, I can hear my soul cry,
Come on Testify, Come on Testify

I’ve been lying to myself for too long,
Silence… was my only comfort

And I know it’s wrong,
But I can’t change the weather,
It’s been too long;

Chorus

To the friends that I’ve lost on the way,
To the friends I’ve been pushing away,
You could say that I’ve made it,
But I’m jaded
And inside I’m falling;

Chorus

I’ve been fighting,
Myself for too long,
And I’ve been hating,
Myself for too long.

Suggested activity: fill the gaps

Download this exercise (PDF)

Put the verbs in brackets into the present perfect simple or the present perfect continuous

I 1_______________________ (cheat) myself for too long,
Living as if I was going nowhere,
And I know it’s wrong,
I 2_______________________ (fought) myself for too long,
I try, really try to keep my head up high,
And I know it’s wrong,
And I should really know better,
But it 3_______________________ (be) so long.

Chorus
I know how I feel,
but I’m afraid to show it,
Inside it’s so real,
but no one else would know it,
The whole truth and no lies,
Cutting deeper, I can hear my soul cry,
Come on testify,
Come on testify.

I 4_______________________ (lie) to myself for too long,
Silence was my only comfort.
And I know it’s wrong,
But I can’t change the weather,
It 5_______________________ (be) too long.

Chorus

To the friends that I 6_______________________ (lose) on the way,
To the friends I 7_______________________ (push) away,
You could say that I 8_______________________ (make) it,
but I’m jaded
and inside I’m falling.

Chorus

I 9_______________________ (fight)
myself for too long,
And I 10_______________________ (hate),
myself for too long.

Amy StudtMusical artist

Amy Jane Studt is an English singer, songwriter and musician. Growing up in a musical family, with her father a violinist and conductor who had toured with Roy Orbison, and her mother a pianist, Studt began writing music at the age of six, teaching herself piano, guitar, and oboe. At 12 years old she contracted the rare bone disease osteomyelitis in her hip, leaving her bedridden. Studt used this time for her hobbies, and two years later, with the advice of her father, she recorded her first two demo albums which would go on to get her signed to Polydor. Studt released her first single “Just a Little Girl” |in July 2002. It was followed almost a year later by “Misfit”, which came to be her highest-charting single, reaching No. 6 in the UK charts. That same month, her debut album False Smiles was released, selling over 260,000 copies and being certified Gold. Two more singles were released, “Under the Thumb” in late 2003 and “All I Wanna Do” in early 2004, but only to diminishing sales that prompted Polydor to drop Studt in February 2004, all before her 18th birthday.

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