Shadowing Practice: John Deacon Interview 1986 - Learn English Speaking with Video

Since the release of the works in 1984 you've been relatively quiet.

Yes, in a way We did some touring last year We did a big festival in Brazil, Rock and Rio festival in January last year

And then later on in the year we went on and we did a concert in Auckland

New Zealand and some in Australia and some in Japan.

Now we had the scripts and we went to see

Quite a lot of the footage that they got already

and then we all went away and all tried to write songs for various bits

I actually found it hard to find a spot.

It took me a long while to find something where I could actually, something A to write about in terms of the lyrical idea to fitting with the film,

and also where it could go in the film.

So I ended up writing a slow, another slow ballad in a 6 -8 sort of, which is called One Year of Love,

and that goes, that's when he eventually decides to have another relationship with a woman again, because he vowed he never would again because it hurt him so much the first one.

So that's when we came to do the album.

We did all the music for the film first and they dubbed it onto the film.

Then when we came to do the album we actually rearranged a lot of the tracks, made them longer and wrote more lyrics and tried to make them into fully fledged songs.

So they stand up in their own right without necessarily having to be with the film.

You could actually hear them on the radio and they would sound like songs rather than actually more incidental music.

In the early days it was Brian and Freddie who really used to write most of the material, And Roger and I have started to contribute more,

and the fact that we've all had hit singles, that's really been quite a balancing factor.

And that's very rewarding in a way.

I think if I'd just been a bass player all my life with the band, it wouldn't be so satisfying to sit here now and that would have been my input.

Because I only consider that as part of what I do.

You know, actually writing songs and also being involved in the decision making processes, you know, or arguments or whatever, is nice, you know, I mean,

it really feels that you're part of, you know, of our own destiny, really.

De juin à juillet, ce n 'est pas dans dix villes que Queen va tourner, mais dans dix pays.

Combien de temps faut -il pour préparer une telle aventure?

Veillez -vous personnellement à tous les détails.

Qu 'est -ce qui se trouve?

We're starting on it now, really, ideas for the staging and lighting and that sort of thing.

I'm not particularly involved in that, but we really won't get into gear until May, when we actually get together and start rehearsing.

We're going to rehearse here in London for two or three weeks.

And that's quite a commitment from us, in a way, really, because Freddie's sometimes a little reluctant to go on the road these days.

We can't just go out and play now, you know, say, oh, we do this number, we'll do that number.

Obviously, there's certain numbers that we have to play.

I mean some of the bigger hits we have to play but choosing from the rest of them is quite difficult

it really is quite difficult and you know there are some numbers

that we've forgotten what key it's in

because we've got such a vast amount of material over the

years we actually do forget some of our older numbers it

wasn't another gig at all in fact i had a really bad attack of nerves in the morning

because of the tv and you knew it was being satellited everywhere we walked out there You know, there's the four of us, no sound check, no lights,

and the response we got was very, you know, it was, we didn't, you know, it hit us a bit that day.

Like weeks afterwards, we realized, you know, how successful it was.

I don't know what to say about that, really.

When we first started, we always had, we were future thinking in the fact that we wanted to do this, we wanted to tour here, we wanted to go there,

we wanted our albums to be successful here and there and ever, you know, and we worked really hard at it.

But in a strange way, now we have achieved that in a lot of countries in the world.

It does take away some of the incentive.

I think we all find it quite difficult now to actually sort of, to do nothing, to laze around and do nothing.

We all get, I don't know, we all get very bored and get fidgety and want to do something, work, which is good I suppose in a way.

I'm going probably through a very uncertain phase in my life at the moment.

Part of the insecurities of being involved in the music business or in a band.

And over the years, we have actually had quite a wide age range.

I mean, apart from the fact that we've actually been doing it for so long and we've grown up through it all.

You know, I mean, people who started out the same age as us when we started, you know, early 20s and whatever, still, we have some that still follow us.

We've also picked up a lot of younger people as well as we've gone along.

I, I, it's very hard because it, when we look back on it, because it's so many years ago now, and were we that shocking?

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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

This speaking lesson is built on the video “John Deacon Interview 1986”. This video has 57 sentences and 981 words to shadow. The speech runs for 4:53. The speaker talks fast, about 201 words per minute, so expect linked and reduced sounds. 85% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English; the rest is worth studying before you start.

Key vocabulary in this video

15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
bind verb	/ˈbaɪ̯nd/	To tie; to confine by any ligature.
vast adjective	/væst/	Very large or wide (literally or figuratively).
necessarily adverb	/ˌnɛs.əˈsɛɹ.ə.li/	Inevitably; of necessity.
adventure noun	/ədˈvɛn.t͡ʃə/	A feeling of desire for new and exciting things.
gear noun	/ɡɪɚ/	Equipment or paraphernalia, especially that used for an athletic endeavor.
shock noun	/ʃɔk/	A sudden, heavy impact.
commitment noun	/kəˈmɪtmənt/	The act of sending a legislative bill to committee for review.
afterwards adverb	/ˈæf.tɚ.wɚdz/	At a later or succeeding time; after that;
script noun	/skɹɪpt/	A writing; a written document.
input noun	/ˈɪnpʊt/	The act or process of putting in; infusion.
lyrics noun	/ˈlɪɹ.ɪks/	The words to a song (or other vocal music).
contribute verb	/kənˈtɹɪb.jut/	To give something that is or becomes part of a larger whole.
tail noun	/ˈteɪ̯l/	An object or part of an object resembling a tail in shape, such as the thongs on a cat-o'-nine-tails; a strand of material hanging from something.
reward noun	/ɹɪˈwɔɹd/	Something of value given in return for an act.
satellite noun	/ˈsætəlaɪ̯t/	A moon or other smaller body orbiting a larger one.

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Word	Meaning
end up verb	To bring to a conclusion.
get together verb	To meet, to gather together, to congregate.
go along verb	To participate, cooperate, or conform.
go away verb	To depart or leave a place.
go out verb	To leave, especially a building.
grow up verb	To mature and become an adult.
pick up verb	To lift; to grasp and raise.
start out verb	To emerge suddenly; to jump out.

Grammar in this video

The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:

Structure	In the video
Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now	you've been · have started · we've forgotten
Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it	is called · being involved · being satellited
Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing	work, which is · people who started

Pronunciation to watch

The speaker uses 22 contractions and reduced forms, such as we've, don't, I'm. Say them the short way, as you hear them.

Long words — get the stress right: necessarily /ˌnɛs.əˈsɛɹ.ə.li/, incidental /ɪnsɪˈdɛntəl/

How to practise with this video

Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like bind, vast, necessarily.

What is the Shadowing Technique?

Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.

Shadowing technique: read the full step-by-step guide →

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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

Key vocabulary in this video

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Grammar in this video

Pronunciation to watch

How to practise with this video

What is the Shadowing Technique?