Karma Chameleon – Culture Club - Notes

Activity type: watching and describing a video, vocabulary, listening for incorrect words.

Time: 40 mins (20 without video).

Note: This was Culture Club’s biggest hit, released in 1983 and going to Number One in
sixteen countries. In an interview, singer Boy George explained: “The song is about the
terrible fear of alienation that people have, the fear of standing up for one thing. It's about
trying to suck up to everybody. Basically, if you aren't true, if you don't act like you feel,
then you get Karma-justice, that's nature's way of paying you back”.

1) Ask students if they know who Boy George is. Do they know the name of his 1980’s band?

2) Tell students they are going to watch a video of Culture Club’s most successful single.
(Note: this video is available on www.tuneintoenglish.com. You can skip this step if you
do not have access to the video.) Ask them to answer the following questions:
- Where is the video set?
- Who are the people in the story?
- What are they doing?
- What happens in the story?

Key: (from Wikipedia)

The video is set in Mississippi in 1870, and depicts people in colourful costumes,
including dancers in "red, gold and green", waiting on a riverbank. Boy George is
dressed in a colourful costume and is depicted singing the title song. A pickpocket
is seen wandering through the crowd. A riverboat, The Chameleon, arrives and
people board. A game of cards takes place, as Boy George continues to sing in
the background. The pickpocket is discovered cheating and is forced to walk the
plank. Throughout the video, black and white people are shown singing and
dancing together.

3) Give each student a folded copy of the worksheet. Ask students to match the words and
phrases from the song with their definitions. Feedback.
Key: (definitions are from www.dictionary.com)
1. c, 2. d, 3. a, 4. g., 5. b, 6. l, 7. I, 8. e., 9. k, 10. h, j, 12. f

4) Ask students to unfold the worksheet. Some of the words in bold are incorrect (be
careful, not all!). Play the song, students correct where necessary. Note, if you did
not show them the video, you can play the song and let students tick the correct
and incorrect words, before they listen again and correct.
Key: see complete version of lyrics.

5) Feedback and sing song together.

6) Discussion: what does the symbolism of the colours “red, gold and green” mean? And
“Karma”?

7) Follow up: Suggest students read Mark Twain’s “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” and
“Adventures of Huckleberry Finn”. The latter is often called “the Great American Novel”

This worksheet is to be used for educational purposes only

Activity © Tune into English 2011 – www.tuneintoenglish.com Worksheet written by Prof. Maria Gulczynska, Ancona
  Karma Chameleon – Culture Club 
Match the words/phrases with the correct definitions (from www.dictionary.com):

1. all the way

a. a fixed belief
2. lie
b. direct opposition between things compared; inconsistency
3. conviction c. completely, from start to finish
4. to sell d. an inaccurate or false statement
5. contradiction e. evil or morally bad, mischievous or playfully malicious
f. a person who is competing for the same thing as another, competitor
6. karma
g. to make a sale, the opposite of buy
7. easy h. to assert or maintain as a fact
8. wicked i. the opposite of difficult
9. addiction j. to keep (a person) waiting or in a state of uncertainty, to cheat
k. the condition of being abnormally dependent on some habit,
10. to claim
e.g. compulsive dependency on narcotic drugs
11. to string along l. Hinduism, Buddhism, action, seen as bringing upon oneself
12. rival inevitable results, good or bad, either in this life or in a
reincarnation, destiny

__________________________________________________FOLD__________________________________
_____________
Look at the lyrics. Some of the words in bold are incorrect. Listen and correct.

Desert loving in your eyes all the stay.
If I listened to your lies would you say
I'm a man without contradiction,
I'm a man who doesn't know
how to send a conviction.
You come and go, you come and go.
Didn't hear your wicked words every day
and you used to be so sweet, I heard you tell
that my love was an addiction.
When we claim our love is strong.
When you go you're gone forever.
You string along, you string along.

Repeat Chorus:
Chorus:
Every day is like waystage,
Karma karma karma karma karma chameleon,
you're my lover, not my brother.
you come and go, you come and go. Every day is like waystage,
you're my lover , not my brother.
Loving would be easy if your colours were like
my ice creams,
I'm a man without conviction,
red gold and green, red gold and gin.
I'm a man who doesn't show
how to sell a contradiction.
You come and go, you come and go.

Repeat Chorus three times

This worksheet is to be used for educational purposes only

Activity © Tune into English 2011 – www.tuneintoenglish.com Worksheet written by Prof. Maria Gulczynska, Ancona

Karma Chameleon – Culture Club - Complete

Desert loving in your eyes all the way.
If I listened to your lies would you say
I'm a man without conviction,
I'm a man who doesn't know
how to sell a contradiction.
You come and go, you come and go.

Chorus:

Karma karma karma karma karma chameleon,

you come and go, you come and go.
Loving would be easy if your colours were like my dream,
red gold and green, red gold and green.

Didn't hear your wicked words every day

and you used to be so sweet, I heard you say
that my love was an addiction.
When we claim our love is strong.
When you go you're gone forever.
You string along, you string along.

Repeat Chorus

Every day is like survival,

you're my lover, not my rival.
Every day is like survival,
you're my lover, not my rival.

I'm a man without conviction,

I'm a man who doesn't know
how to sell a contradiction.
You come and go, you come and go.

Repeat Chorus three times

This worksheet is to be used for educational purposes only

Activity © Tune into English 2011 – www.tuneintoenglish.com Worksheet written by Prof. Maria Gulczynska, Ancona