It Wasn't Me
by Shaggy
The reason to take this card is the accent, not the vocabulary. Shaggy sings in Jamaican-inflected English and the card preserves it: seein' is believin' keeps the dropped final g that standard spelling hides. English speakers do this constantly in speech and almost never in writing, and learners trained only on textbook audio find real conversation impossible as a result. A controlled dose here helps more than another list of words would. The nouns form a domestic crime scene — camera, evidence, witness, counter, sofa, bathroom — and hang together as a set. B2+ is honest, and most of the difficulty is delivery rather than the words themselves.
How to study this song
The card for “It Wasn't Me” is built from 80 study entries at B2: 44 English words, 14 adjectives and 22 verb forms. Work through the glossary first: camera, counter and evidence are the words you will lean on most. It is unusually descriptive — 14 adjectives alongside 44 everyday words — so expect colour rather than plot. At this level the words on their own are not the problem — it is the way they are put together that takes the work.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| camera | cámara | macchina fotografica | caméra | câmera |
What this song teaches you
Level · B2
- Vocabulary words
- 44
- Adjectives
- 14
- Word combos
- 9
- Expressions
- 9
- Verb forms
- 28
- Quiz questions
- 35
Background
About the song
“It Wasn’t Me” is the breakout global smash by the Jamaican-American reggae artist Shaggy, released in 2000 and featuring the singer Rikrok. Set to a laid-back reggae-pop groove, it is a comic he-said conversation in which a man caught cheating is advised, absurdly, to simply deny everything.
Its cheeky humour and irresistibly relaxed hook made it one of the most inescapable songs of its year. Shaggy wrote it with Rikrok (Rickardo Ducent), Shaun Pizzonia and Brian Thompson, with Pizzonia producing.
It reached the radio by an unusual route: a Hawaiian DJ played a leaked copy months before any single was planned, and the volume of listener requests pushed the label into releasing it.
Did you know?
The single topped the US Billboard Hot 100 and reached number one in the UK and many other countries, powering Shaggy’s album “Hot Shot” to enormous sales. Its blend of reggae sunshine and knowing comedy has kept it a party and karaoke favourite for more than two decades.
Charts & streaming
“It Wasn’t Me” was one of the best-selling singles of its era, topping charts worldwide and turning Shaggy into a household name far beyond reggae audiences. It remains his signature song and a durable fixture of feel-good radio and streaming.
It held the American summit for two weeks and stayed 25 weeks on the Hot 100, and was also number one in Australia, France, Ireland, the Netherlands and Poland. In Britain it sold more than 1.15 million copies during 2001 alone, had passed 1.42 million by 2017 and is certified 4× platinum.