November Rain
Guns N' Roses
How to study this song
Learning “November Rain” means 81 entries at A1+ — 21 English words, 11 adjectives and 49 verb forms, every one taken from what the song actually says. The glossary is the place to begin — rain, november and candle are the song’s keywords. This one leans on its verbs: 49 distinct forms against 11 adjectives, so conjugation is where the effort goes. At this level the goal is recognition: hear a word, place it, keep going.
The words of this song, in several languages
Every word below is taken from this song and translated by us. Nothing here is the lyric itself — these are the individual words you need in order to follow it.
Vocabulary
| EN | ES | IT | FR | PT | NL | DE |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| rain | lluvia | pioggia | pluie | chuva | regen | Regen |
| november | noviembre | novembre | novembre | novembro | november | November |
| candle | vela | candela | bougie | vela | kaars | Kerze |
| eyes | ojos | occhi | yeux | olhos |
What this song teaches you
Level · A1+
- Vocabulary words
- 21
- Adjectives
- 11
- Word combos
- 4
- Expressions
- 10
- Verb forms
- 49
- Quiz questions
- 35
More English songs at this level
Background
About the song
From «Use Your Illusion I», «November Rain» is nearly nine minutes long, with an orchestral arrangement Axl Rose had been working on for years before the band recorded it. The lyric is less a story than a negotiation: two people who still love each other and cannot hold it steady, and a repeated insistence that everybody needs time alone. The video that accompanied it became one of the most-watched of its decade.
Did you know?
English has an idiom about holding a candle for someone — keeping a hope alive — and the song places it in the cold and the rain, which is why translating it word by word loses the sentence.
Charts & streaming
Released as a single on 24 February 1992, from «Use Your Illusion I» (1991). It remains one of the longest recordings ever to reach the upper reaches of the US singles chart.