Omah Lay, Never Forget
Hi and welcome!
In this new lesson, you will learn how to use the modal verb WILL in order to talk about the future.
We will base our lesson on Omah Lay’s catchy Afrobeat song entitled: ‘Never Forget’. This track is part of the Nigerian artist’s Boy Alone album that was released on July 15th, 2022.
Who is Omah Lay?
Omah Lay is the stage name of Stanley Omah Didia who was born and bred in Port Harcourt in southern Nigeria. He formed his stage name after how his grandmother used to call him when he was small.
He is a popular singer, songwriter and record producer. Before blowing up as an Afrobeat artist, he started off as a rapper but realised that he needed to create something unique that best fit the environment where he came from.
His musical career has seen him topping the charts, winning many awards and collaborating with local and international artists such as Victony and Justin Bieber.
‘Never Forget’ is the 8th track on the 2022 ‘Boy Alone’ album. It is an ode to his beloved late father who was nicknamed ‘Boy Alone’ because he was a self-starter and self-made man who did everything on his own without depending on other people.
Omah Lay also describes himself as a pioneer who came from a poor family and yet managed to have the splendid career that he has thanks to his hard work.
The prevalent theme in ‘Never Forget’ are the importance of remembering the people that passed away: his father, childhood friends, soldiers and victims of the EndSARS protests in Nigeria in 2020.
He also talks about how tough life is for young men growing up and trying their best to survive in a tough environment.
The purpose of this song is to make people dance and forget their pains.
The Future Simple
Omah Lay’s song enables us to study the Future Simple tense in English.
Never Forget: The sentence construction of the Future simple is as follows:
- Subject + Modal Verb WILL + Verb Stem in the Affirmative Form
- Subject + Negation+Modal Verb WILL+ Verb Stem in the Negative Form
- Modal Verb WILL+ Subject + Verb Stem in the Interrogative Form (Yes/No Questions)
- Interrogative Pronoun+ Modal Verb WILL+ Subject + Verb Stem in the Interrogative Form (Wh- Questions)
Example:
Affirmative Form: I will go to the supermarket tomorrow.
Negative Form: I will not forget you. (‘Never Forget’, Omah Lay)
Interrogative Form (Yes/No Questions): Will you tell me the truth?
Interrogative Form (Wh- Questions): What will you tell me?
NEVER FORGET:
- A verb stem always follows WILL. (E.g. He will perform this Saturday.) The verb stem is also known as the base of a verb. You can find examples of verb stems in the dictionary.
- We do not add ‘TO‘ after WILL. (E.g. She will
tocome.) - WILL is able to replace auxiliary verbs such as DO and BE which help us to form questions. (E.g. When will you go?)
When Do We Use the Future Simple Tense?
We use the Future Simple tense in many situations.
In the Affirmative Form, we use the Future Simple tense to:
- Talk about future plans: I‘ll travel to Egypt in summer.
- Make predictions: He will become a doctor one day.
- Express certainty about the future: That will be Jane. She always phones at this time.
- Express possibility in First Conditionals: I‘ll be happy if she wins.
- Make rapid or spontaneous decisions: Look, I’ll come with you, ok?
- Make promises or offers: I‘ll marry you.
- Make orders or commands: You will respect the rules of this club.
- Make suggestions: You will want to add some salt to the recipe.
- Characterise someone or something: Water will boil at 100°C.
- Express determination: I‘ll learn all irregular verbs this year.
In the Negative Form, we use the Future Simple tense to:
- Talk about something that will not happen in the future: He‘ll not come tomorrow.
- Make predictions about something that will not happen in the future: I‘ll never forget you. (‘Never Forget’, Omah Lay)
- Express uncertainty about the future: He won’t be here on time.
- Express impossibility in First Conditionals: She will not pass her exams if she spends too much time on YouTube.
- Refuse to do something: I won’t do the homework. It’s too difficult.
- Make orders or commands: You will not stare at me like that.
In the Interrogative Form, we use the Future Simple tense to:
- Make requests: Will you give me that notebook?
- Ask questions in Conditionals: What will happen if I don’t come?
- Ask for information: At what time will you come?
- Make commands: Will you be quiet?
Your Turn: Try to make 6 sentences using the Affirmative, Negative and Interrogative forms of the Future Simple Tense. Be creative.
Next Step: Let us now look at how the Future Simple tense is used in the song.
NEVER FORGET by Omah Lay
[Intro]
Oh I don’t know what to do
I don’t know what to do (Do-do-do)
Oh, I don’t know what to do
I don’t know what to do (Do-do-do)
Oh, I don’t know what to do without you
I don’t know what to do without you
Meaning: “I don’t know what to do.” is in the Simple Present tense. Presently, Omah Lay doesn’t know what to do without his father who passed away.
[Verse 1]
From the slums I come
Oh, Marine Base boy
I know love is war
I know God is God (oh)
And I will never stop
‘Til the war is won
Tell the kids unborn
And the ones we lost
Meaning: Omah Lay grew up in the slums of Port Harcourt in southern Nigeria. Slums are overcrowded urban areas with makeshift housing. Houses are constructed with random materials such as thatch, wood, cardboard and metals. In this verse, we can tell that he had a rough time growing up (slums, war, kids unborn). However love and God remain constants that help him to keep his resolution of surviving and never forgetting despite difficult circumstances. He will remember all the people he lost, including the unborn children and will keep his hopes high about winning the war against poverty and social injustice.
[Bridge]
I’ll never forget (Gen-gen, gen-gen)
I’ll never forget gen-gen (Gen-gen)
I’ll never forget you (Gen-gen, gen-gen)
I’ll never forget gen-gen (Gen-gen)
I’ll never forget you
I’ll never forget
I’ll never forget, oh, oh
Meaning: This bridge highlights his message and seals it. He will never forget. Never means not at any time or any occasion. The repetition helps to cement the message and keeps it in our memories.
[Chorus]
Boy Alone Lay, oh (ahhh)
Boy Alone Lay
Boy Alone Lay, oh
Boy Alone Lay (ahhh)
Gbashi nim ere ngwa-ngwa
Gbashi nim ere kwai-kwai
If you’re hearing my voice, I want you to know
I will not (oh-whoa), I will not (oh-whoa), I will not (oh-whoa)
I will not forget you (oh-oh)
I will not (uh-uh), I will not, I will not
Meaning: As previously mentioned, ‘Boy Alone’ is the name of the album but also his deceased father’s nickname. ‘Lay’ is what people add to a name when they are calling them in his culture. So Boy Alone Lay could mean that Omah Lay is calling his father to hear him ” If you are hearing my voice, I want you to know”. He wants his father to know that he will never forget him. The fact that some of the lyrics are in Igbo, Omah Lay’s native language, makes this chorus even more powerful.
[Verse 2]
I’ve been vigilant
I’ve been intelligent
Nobody get rank for this military
Everybody will die
Die like ant and rot like Millipede
I’ve been knickering
Way before Michael Jackson sing Billie Jean
From 19′ Bilidin
Way before Patoranking sing Wilmer
See, my eyes don see the things
Ordinary person like you no go believe it
It’s why I’m cold and shivering
I hide my pains, my blow, my misery
(Ayy, ayy, oh)
I hide my pains, my blow, my misery (uh-uh, ayy)
I hide my (ayy)
Meaning: In this verse, Omah Lay describes more of his rough life. He has had to be ‘vigilant‘ and ‘intelligent‘ in order to survive in the slums. Life is not easy there and death is omnipresent. One can die easily like an ‘ant‘. It’s a tough life but no one gets rewarded for that ‘Nobody get rank for this military‘. The pidgin English that he uses reveals his slum background and adds authenticity to his narrative. He tells that he has been living this unforgiving life as long as he can remember “Way before Michael Jackson sing Billie Jean/From 19′ Bilidi /Way before Patoranking sing Wilmer.) Moreover, that life has made him see horrors that ordinary people have not witnessed in their lives “See, my eyes don see the things /Ordinary person like you no go believe it.” In this way, music serves are therapy enabling to effectively hide his suffering “I hide my pains, my blow, my misery.”
[Chorus]
Boy Alone Lay, oh (ahhh)
Boy Alone Lay
Boy Alone Lay, oh
Boy Alone Lay (ahhh)
Gbashi nim ere ngwa-ngwa
Gbashi nim ere kwai-kwai
If you’re hearing my voice, I want you to know
I will not (oh-whoa), I will not (oh-whoa), I will not (oh-whoa)
I will not forget you (oh-oh)
I will not (uh-uh), I will not, I will not
I will not forget you
[Outro]
Hey, hey, hey
(I hide my pains, my blow, my misery)
Uh-huh, hey
(I hide my)
Hey, hey
Meaning: The last part of the song repeats the message: he will never forget. ‘Never Forget’ is a powerful song about grief and remembering. When I first held this song, I immediately knew that I would love it. Its themes resonate with me since there are many people I have lost in my life and somehow, this tune and the beat alleviate the suffering. These people are gone but they are not lost in our memories. I will end with this beautiful quote:
The reality is that you will grieve forever. You will not ‘get over’ the loss of a loved one; you will learn to live with it. You will heal and you will rebuild yourself around the loss you have suffered.
~Elisabeth Kubler-Ross
Track Title: Never Forget
Artist: Omah Lay
Album: Boy Alone
Date of Release: 15th July, 2022
Songwriters: Stanley Didia / Oluwasemilogo Banjo
Record Company: KeyQaad/ Sire Records
Sources: MusixMatch.com and Genius.com
Afrobeat: An urban popular music genre that mixes West African and black American musical influences such as jazz, funk and soul music. Fela Kuti is known as the founder of Afrobeat.
Nigerian Pidgin English: This is a mixture of Nigerian dialects with English and is used as a way to facilitate communication in the country which has about 250 languages.
Further Exploration: English Grammar—Omah Lay, NEVER FORGET, Future Simple with WILL, Learn English With African Songs, Level A2-B1-B2
Download Worksheets:
- English Grammar—Omah Lay, NEVER FORGET, Future Simple with WILL, Learn English With African Songs, Level A2-B1-B2, October 2024
- ‘Never Forget’, Lyrics, Omah Lay, July 2022, Learn English With African Songs, Level A2-B1-B2, October 2024
- ‘Never Forget’ Grammar Worksheet, Omah Lay, July 2022, Learn English With African Songs, October 2024
Read:
- Last Tribute: Manasseh, my Dear Brother, Why? (04 October, 2018), Learn English With Africa
- English Grammar (Modal Verbs): Lesson 4-WILL and WOULD (with excellent examples!)
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About the Author
Thandi Ngwira Gatignol is the founder of Learn English With Africa. She was born on June 11th, 1981 in Blantyre, Malawi. When she was 19, she left her country of birth for France. She currently lives with her two daughters and husband in Poland.
Thandi holds a Bachelor’s degree in English studies obtained at the Université Paris X Nanterre in France and a Certificate in Journalism from Malawi. She has taught English as a French Ministry of Education certified teacher both in France and in Poland. She speaks six languages fluently, including French, Polish and Italian. She is now learning Kiswahili, German and Spanish. Salt No More is her debut novel and you can find her other books here on the website or on Amazon.
Blog Article: English Grammar—Omah Lay, NEVER FORGET, Future Simple with WILL, Learn English With African Songs, Level A2-B1-B2 © Learn English With Africa, October 2024
