I’ve recently created a fun, original song for your English pronunciation practice called The Short Vowel Blues.

Yep, it’s me singing the lead, and I also wrote the lyrics. Additional credit goes to the amazing Pai Nai Project (the band pictured above), my talented son Ben Haitsma (background vocals), and the very skilled Peter German (producer).

The song tells a fun story, and includes pronunciation drills for practicing the 5 short vowel sounds.

Below are the complete lyrics, including some notes and definitions for the underlined words.

Lyrics	Definitions/notes
I’ve got the short vowel blues. Maybe you do too. (Be)cause short vowel sounds in English show up in everything we do.	– I’ve got the blues –> I’m sad or depressed – short vowel sounds –> 5 important English sounds explained here – show up –> appear
With the short a sound, (ae ae ae ae) I can laugh at the fact that my dad never traveled. He was bad at maps. After Grandma passed  they found a basket filled with maps. And at the back of the basket  was a handwritten letter for me.	– laugh has the same short a sound as dad. – bad at maps –> not good at using maps. – maps –> drawings of the earth’s surface showing where things are – passed –> died – a basket –> a type of container
With the short e sound (eh eh eh eh) I read the letter  The letter said intend to be better Grandma begged me to pledge to never ever, ever let  My inherited sense of direction  prevent me from getting anywhere	– read (past tense) and said both have a short e like “red” – intend –> plan to try to do something – begged –> asked passionately – to pledge –> to make a promise – let –> allow – inherited –> received from parents/ancestors – sense of direction –> ability to find places – prevent –> stop or block
So with the short i sound (ih ih ih ih) since I was a little kid, I envisioned a big trip with a wish to visit big international cities  and distant hills with villages, in which I imagined that children  were living a little bit differently  than little me.	– envisioned –> saw a possibility in the mind – a wish –> a hope for something to happen – distant –> far away – hills –> small mountains – villages –> very small towns – imagined –> thought something could be true
Short a says ae – ae, ae – ae, ae short e says eh – eh, eh – eh, eh short i says ih – ih, ih short o says ah – ah, ah short u says uh – uh, uh, uh
Well, with the short o sound, (ah ah ah ah) I got lost a lot. I was my father’s daughter. Mom was often distraught. Later on, I thought I ought to become an astronaut, (be)cause the onboard maps  would probably all be automatic.	– got lost –> became confused trying to find places – distraught –> worried and upset – later on –>  following an earlier time, but not immediately – ought –> should – astronaut –> a space traveler – onboard –> available on a ship, airplane, or other vehicle – automatic –> working by itself without human control.
So with the short u sound (uh uh uh uh) up and up I’ve come,  in a space shuttle now stuck somewhere, somewhere above the sun.  There was fun navigation.  Then suddenly there was none.  (Be)cause I dumped a cup of rum,  and mucked up the shuttle’s communications. Uh-oh!	– space shuttle –> a kind of space ship – stuck –> unable to move or change a situation – navigation –> a system for finding the way – dumped –> turned over or spilled – rum –> an alcoholic drink – mucked up –> messed up, made something stop working normally – shuttle’s communications –> the system for connecting with the earth – uh-oh! –> a word to say when something goes wrong
I hope grandma’s not sad (ae ae ae ae) I kept my pledge (eh eh eh eh) It’s been a little bit different (ih ih ih ih) Than she probably thought (ah ah ah ah) Now I’m wondering what  I’m gonna do for fun (uh uh uh uh) I guess for now,  I’ll just keep singing the short vowel blues.

I hope you enjoy the song, and find it useful to learn!