"The birds and the bees" - Inara George of the Bird and the Bee

Introducción

“Well, you see, son, when a man and woman get along really well and spend a lot of time together, sometimes they decide to…uh…form an electronic jazz duo together.”

No, wait. That’s not how that common parent to child speech goes. Parents have to tell their kids about the birds and the bees, not the Bird and the Bee, even though that would be an easier conversation to have.

At some point, all kids ask their parents, “Where do babies come from?” The idiom “the birds and the bees” refers to the answer to that question. Since the facts of life are a pretty private subject, it helps to have a euphemism for sex and reproduction.

So, since your parents weren’t available for an Ebaby! lesson, we asked Inara George, one half of Los Angeles jazz/pop duo the Bird and the Bee, to have this important conversation with you. Jason recently talked to her on the phone about her hit song “Love Letter to Japan” and where babies…or, uh, her band’s name comes from.

Dialog

Inara

Jason

Inara:  Hi Jason, it’s Inara.

Jason:  Cool. You guys just played with Katy Perry in Hollywood. How was that?

Inara:  It was fun. We haven’t been playing a ton lately, so it’s always fun to play a show.

Jason:  How did you find her fans?

Inara:  They were very sweet. We haven’t opened up for anyone in a long time, but it seemed like the audience was into it, so that was cool.

Jason:  Well, tell me about “Love Letter to Japan.” What inspired that song?

Inara:  Our first record did really well in Japan and we went there I think three times in a year, so we thought it would be nice to do sort of a love song to Japan. But the label chose that song as the single and we didn’t even think that song was going to make it on the record.

Jason:  But then it seems like a really fantastical song. Like, it has a dream in it…

Inara:  It’s a pretty straightforward song. You know like when someone learns a new language and when they start to dream in that language, that’s what people say, is when they’ve actually learned it, you know?

Jason:  Right, right. So your name is the Bird and the Bee and you have this sort of futuristic electronic sound, but it’s also kind of comfortable and classic. And “the birds and the bees” is such a classic, wholesome idiom, I was hoping you could just explain what that means.

Inara:  Well, for us it came from a song. I wrote the lyrics to this song called “Birds and the Bees” and I sort take the idiom out of context so it doesn’t really mean what it means. I think in terms of what it actually means, I think it came from a poem, and I think in reference to sex. And it turned into maybe more of an antiseptic way of discussing sex with young people.

Jason:  So it wasn’t that song, “Birds do it, bees do it, even educated fleas do it…”

Inara:  No, that wasn’t the first time.

Punto gramatical

Gerunds vs. Infinitives

Inara tells Jason that when people start to dream in another language, it means they are really learning the language. To dream is an infinitive.

Infinitives are made up of to + the basic verb form. They often follow other verbs, such as start, try, or like. For example, we can say, “I like to dance to the Bird and the Bee songs.” Some verbs can be followed by either an infinitive or a gerund, meaning a verb ending in ing. It’s also correct to say, “I like dancing to the Bird and the Bee songs.

But some verbs can only be followed by one or the other. We can say, “I hope to become fluent in English,” but not, “I hope becoming fluent in English.” On the other hand, it’s correct to say “I miss being in Japan,” but not “I miss to be in Japan.”

Should you say, “I need to tell you something” or “I need telling you something”?

Discusión

Discusión - Join the discussion to learn more and make friends.

Listen to Discussion

The Bird and the Bee’s first album was very popular in Japan so they went there to perform three times. They liked it so much they decided to write a love letter to the whole country. In the song, Inara sings about a dream she had in Japanese. When you dream in a new language, you know you’re making progress at learning it.

Another one of Inara’s songs is called “Birds and the Bees” and her group is named after it. But birds and bees first got together in a Samuel Coleridge poem called “Work Without Hope,” which was written in 1825. Jason guessed it was a popular song from the 1920s, but like a helpful parent or friend on the playground, Inara was happy to explain the true meaning of the birds and the bees to him.

When was the first time you dreamed in English? Was it before or after you learned about the birds and the bees?

For more with Inara and to see the music video for “Love Letter To Japan” visit our blog. And for music, tour dates and more, visit the Bird and the Bee online.

Comprehension Quiz