"Junk" by Paul McCartney: What a Song About Nothing Can Teach About Everything
A Song Mix&Match Lesson
I’ve chosen “Junk” as the next Song Mix&Match Lesson. “Junk” is a song written by Paul McCartney and released on his debut studio album in 1970. I chose this song because it’s one of my daughter’s favourite songs and she was just listening to it continuously the other day that it just started playing in my mind too and then I said why not — this beautiful, minimalistic, lesser known Paul McCartney song wouldn’t be my next song lesson to take into the classroom. I used it with my 1-on-1 student but created a whole lesson for class use. Here it is.
Level: Intermediate (B1) to Upper-Intermediate (B2)
Main Focus: To practise listening for specific information, expand vocabulary related to objects and consumerism, and critically analyse the concept of waste through reading and discussion.
Personal Aims: Meaning before form. Exploring the emotional weight of memory and consumerism before noticing the language structures.
Phase 1: Lead-in & Guided Imagery: Walking into an Antique Shop
“Close your eyes for a moment. Imagine you are walking down a quiet, narrow street on a rainy afternoon. You push open the heavy wooden door of an antique shop. A little bell rings. Inside, it smells of dust and wood. You look around.
On the left, there’s a shelf with old cameras, a broken clock, a pair of glasses. On the right, there are clothes: a coat, a pair of boots, a scarf. In the corner, there’s a box full of postcards, letters, old photographs.
You pick something up. It fits in your hand. You look at it.
What is it? Who owned it? How did it end up here?”
Follow-up:
Choose the set that best fits your class:
Set 1: Write a short paragraph:
Ask students to describe the object they chose and explain why they picked it. Ask if anybody volunteers to read.
Set 2: Discussion Questions:
How does this place make you feel? Peaceful, curious, or a bit sad?
Do you think the items in this shop are “treasures” or just “junk”? What makes the difference?
Have you ever bought something second-hand? What was the story behind it?
Set 3:Discussion Questions:
Have you ever been to a second-hand shop, a flea market, or an antique market? What did you find there?
Do you find it easy or difficult to throw things away? Why?
Can you think of something you own that you no longer use but can’t get rid of?
Phase 2: Key Vocabulary:
Introduce these key words to help students engage with the song and imagery.
Junk (n.): Things that are considered useless, old, or of little value.
A yard / junk yard (n.): An outdoor area where old cars, machinery, or discarded items are kept.
To scrap (v.): To discard or throw away something because it is no longer useful.
Bruised (adj.): Damaged or marked (usually used for skin or fruit, but here used poetically for an object).
Consumerism (n.): The constant desire to buy manufactured goods, often driven by trends and advertising.
Phase 3: The Song: “Junk” by Paul McCartney
A) While-Listening
Tell students they are going to listen to a song written by Paul McCartney. Give them the following checklist of items. As they listen, they should tick only the items they actually hear mentioned in the song.
B) Post-Listening
Distribute the lyrics or display them on the board. Have students listen again and read along.
Song-Related Discussion:
Choose one of the sets that suits your class
Set 1
Look at the chorus. Who is arguing? What is the contrast between the shop window and the junk yard?
McCartney uses the phrase ‘broken-hearted jubilee.’ What do you think this means? Can a celebration be broken-hearted?
What is the mood of this song? How does it connect to our modern lives?
Set 2
What atmosphere does the song create?
Which emotions do you feel?
Is the singer telling a story?
What message do you think the song contains?
Set 3
What did you notice about the way the song is written?
What do all the objects have in common?
What do you think “Buy, buy says the sign in the shop window” means?
And “Why why, says the junk in the yard” — who is speaking here?
McCartney uses almost no sentences, only lists. Why might that be more powerful than a long explanation?
Phase 4: Reading Comprehension: Consumerism Today
For this stage, I used a reading text I generated with TeacherForge, an AI material composer built specifically for EFL and ESL teachers. I set the level to B1, gave it the topic — consumerism, buying unnecessary things, connecting to the song — and it produced a clean five-paragraph passage with comprehension tasks included.
I’ve written about TeacherForge in detail over on the blog: https://evasimkesyan.com/teacherforge-review-ai-tool-efl-teachers/
The reading lesson can be downloaded from here or you can ask an AI Tool to create an exercise using a reading text you already have:
Phase 5: Creative Tasks
Choose the one that fits your class:
Task 1:
Choose one specific object from the song or one item mentioned in the text (like a discarded smartphone from three years ago). Write a short paragraph (50–80 words) from the first-person perspective of that object.
Who bought it?
What was your favourite memory when you were useful?
How did you end up in the junk yard?
Task 2:
Students choose one object they own.
They write:
what it is
how long they have had it
why it matters
what memories are connected to it
Then share in pairs.
Task 3:
Creative Speaking: If Objects Could Talk...
Choose one object.
Examples:
an old teddy bear
a bicycle
a school bag
a watch
a phone
Students speak as the object:
“I’ve been with my owner for fifteen years...”
This activity links nicely to the personification found in the song.
Task 4:
Choose an old object in your home. Write a short diary entry from its perspective. Describe the people it has belonged to, the memories it has witnessed, and how it feels about being forgotten.
Task 5
Write your “Junk” Poem
Look back at how Paul McCartney wrote the lyrics to Junk. He doesn’t write long sentences; instead, he uses short chunks of words, lists items, and uses imagery to describe them (e.g., “Motor cars, handlebars, bicycles for two”).
Write your own version of the song/poem about the modern world.
Step 1: Brainstorm 4–5 items we buy and throw away quickly today (e.g., old smartphones, clothes, plastic coffee cups).
Step 2: Write your poem using the same style as the song: short lines and simple lists.
Step 3: Try to include a 2-line chorus that contrasts what the advertisements say versus what the objects actually feel.
Phase 6: Exit Ticket / Wrap Up
This lesson deserves a conclusion. Choose one of the sets that is suitable for your students:
Option 1
On a sticky note or a slip of paper or a Padlet wall, ask students to write:
One word from today’s lesson they want to remember.
One idea from the song or reading that stayed with them.
One question they still have.
Option 2
Complete the sentence
One thing I will think about differently after today’s lesson is ...
Option 3: Rating Line
Students complete the statement:
“Something becomes valuable when...”
Option 4: Statement Rating
Ask them to rate their agreement (1–5):
Memories are more important than possessions.
1 2 3 4 5
Old objects tell stories.
1 2 3 4 5
People throw things away too easily today.
1 2 3 4 5
Junk is a simple song. On the surface, it is a list of old objects, but beneath those images lie questions about memory, value, and the way we consume. That combination makes it an excellent classroom text. Students can engage with it at different levels: as a listening activity, a discussion starter, a creative writing prompt, or a springboard into wider conversations about consumerism and modern life. As always with the Song Mix&Match series, feel free to adapt, combine, or replace activities to suit your learners.
You can download the handouts:
