Hands All Over – English Lyrics

• By: Soundgarden

Lyrics & Translation

Explore Soundgarden's potent environmental anthem, "Hands All Over," a song that combines grunge with a crucial message about protecting our planet. Discover how this track uses vivid imagery and raw emotion to convey the urgent need for environmental stewardship, making it an engaging way to learn about music and social responsibility.

[English]

Can't touch me

...

Hands all over the Eastern border

You know what I think we're falling

From composure

Hands all over Western culture

Ruffling feathers and turning eagles into vultures

Yeah, Into vultures

Got my arms around baby brother

Put your hands away

You're gonna kill your mother, gunna kill your mother

And I love her

Yeah, and I love her

...

Hands all over the coastal waters

The crew men thank her

Then lay down their oily blanket

Hands all over the inland forest

In a striking motion trees fall down

Like dying soldiers

Yeah, like dying soldiers

Got my arms around baby brother

Put your hands away

You're gonna kill your mother, gunna kill your mother

And I love her

Yeah, and I love her

Hands all over the peasant's daughter

She's our bride

She'll never make it out alive

Hands all over the words I utter

Change them into things you want to

Like balls of clay

Put your hands away

You're gonna kill your mother

...

And I love her

...

(She loves me)

...

Key Grammar Structures

• Can't touch me

  ➔ Modal verb 'can't' for inability/prohibition

  ➔ The modal verb "can't" (cannot) expresses inability or prohibition. Here, it means "I am unable to be touched" or "You are not allowed to touch me."

• You know what I think we're falling

  ➔ Noun clause as object ('what I think')

  ➔ The phrase "what I think" functions as a noun clause, acting as the direct object of the verb "know." It's an indirect way of expressing an opinion or thought.

• Ruffling feathers and turning eagles into vultures

  ➔ Parallel structure with gerunds and phrasal verb 'turn into'

  ➔ The gerunds "ruffling" and "turning" are used in parallel to describe continuous actions, showing a balanced grammatical construction. "Turn into" is a phrasal verb meaning to transform or become something else.

• Got my arms around baby brother

  ➔ Colloquial use of 'got' for 'have'

  ➔ In informal English, "got" is often used in place of "have" to indicate possession or a current state. This sentence means "I have my arms around baby brother."

• You're gonna kill your mother

  ➔ Informal future tense ('gonna')

  ➔ "Gonna" is a common informal contraction of "going to," used to express a future action or intention, often a prediction or a consequence. It is very common in spoken English.

• Then lay down their oily blanket

  ➔ Phrasal verb 'lay down'

  ➔ "Lay down" is a phrasal verb meaning to place something in a flat or resting position. It implies a deliberate action of putting something somewhere.

• Like dying soldiers

  ➔ Simile ('Like dying soldiers')

  ➔ A simile is a figure of speech that directly compares two different things, often using the words "like" or "as," to make a description more vivid. Here, the falling trees are compared to "dying soldiers."

• She'll never make it out alive

  ➔ Phrasal verb 'make it out' and future simple with 'will never'

  ➔ "Make it out" is a phrasal verb meaning to escape or survive a difficult or dangerous situation. "Will never" expresses a strong negative prediction or certainty about the future.

• Change them into things you want to

  ➔ Phrasal verb 'change into' and ellipsis with 'to'

  ➔ "Change into" is a phrasal verb meaning to transform something from one state or form to another. The "to" at the end indicates an ellipsis, where the verb phrase "change them into" is omitted for conciseness, implying "things you want to [change them into]."

• Put your hands away

  ➔ Imperative mood and phrasal verb 'put away'

  ➔ The imperative mood is used to give commands or instructions, often without an explicit subject. "Put away" is a phrasal verb meaning to return something to its proper place or to stop using it.