What the song is about
The singer describes a daily routine: waking up early, drinking coffee, reading the newspaper, working hard and always being on time. Every day from Monday to Sunday follows the same plan. In the bridge, once in a blue moon (very rarely), the singer throws the routine away for a day, with no clocks and no habits, and then goes back to the usual rhythm.
Useful words and expressions
- always, usually, often, sometimes, rarely, never: adverbs of frequency, from most often to least often.
- once in a blue moon: very rarely, almost never.
- the paper: short for the newspaper.
- a habit: something you do regularly, often without thinking.
- daily routine: the things you do every day, in the same order.
- as simple as can be: extremely simple.
- go out walking: leave the house to take a walk.
- sleep in (late): stay in bed longer than usual in the morning.
- be on time: not be late.
- until the sun goes down: until evening.
- get lost: not know where you are.
- the days go by: time passes.
- make the moments last: enjoy the moments so they feel longer.
- throw it away / let it go: here they mean giving up the routine for a while, not throwing an object away.
- break the rules: not do what you normally must do.
- nice and slow: in a relaxed, slow way.
Grammar
Present simple for habits. The song uses the present simple to talk about things that happen regularly: I drink my coffee, I follow the plan, I walk around the town.
Where adverbs of frequency go:
- before the main verb: I always wake up early, I sometimes go out walking, I rarely get lost.
- after the verb be: I am always on time.
Watch out
- In the chorus, ever is listed together with rarely and often to rhyme with never. In normal English, ever is not used like often in a positive sentence. It appears mainly in questions and negatives: Do you ever sleep in? / I don't ever get lost. Do not say I ever drink coffee.
- Then back to the rhythm, nice and slow has no verb. That is fine in a song, but in a full sentence you would say Then I go back to the rhythm.