Far from perfect

25 years of songwriting in a book

I love English, the English language, English literature, and English TV series! But my deliberate love affair with the English language started with my first English lessons in 5th grade. This idiom seemed to be so different from my mother tongue. It was easier for me to express my thoughts and feelings in English than it was in German. English became something like my secret language of the heart. As I grew older my understanding of English became a more and more professional one. In spite of my refusal to swot vocabulary lists, my treasury of words grew richer. I even had a couple of English related jobs: teaching a group of students some basic stuff, coaching students for exams, and translating both nonfictional texts and poetry. But as you might have experienced yourself, the more I learned about the English language the more I became aware of the flaws of my usage. That is the reason for the title of this little book: "Far from perfect". In my darker moments I thought of "Not too far away from pathetic, really". But I doubt that would have been a big seller. Anyway, here are my favourite songs and poems from the last 25 years. Maybe you will like some of them, too.