I Can't Breathe – English Lyrics

• By: H.E.R.

Lyrics & Translation

Dive into 'I Can't Breathe' by H.E.R., a powerful R&B protest song that offers a profound understanding of the English language through its direct and emotionally charged lyrics. This Grammy-winning track not only highlights critical social issues but also showcases how music can be a potent tool for conveying deep human experiences and driving conversations around justice and equality. Exploring its verses will allow you to grasp impactful vocabulary and expressions used in discussions about civil rights and social change.

[English]

Nah

Starting a war, screaming, "Peace" at the same time

All the corruption, injustice, the same crimes

Always a problem if we do or don't fight

And we die, we don't have the same right

What is a gun to a man that surrenders?

What's it gonna take for someone to defend her?

If we all agree that we're equal as people

Then why can't we see what is evil?

I can't breathe

You're taking my life from me

I can't breathe

Will anyone fight for me?

...

How do we cope when we don't love each other?

Where is the hope and the empathy? (Yeah)

How do we judge off the color?

The structure was made to make us the enemy (yeah)

Prayin' for change 'cause the pain makes you tender

All of the names you refuse to remember

Was somebody's brother, friend

Or a son to a mother that's crying, singing

I can't breathe

You're taking my life from me

I can't breathe

Will anyone fight for me? (Yeah)

...

Will anyone fight for me?

...

(For me)

Trying times all the time

Destruction of minds, bodies, and human rights

Stripped of bloodlines, whipped and confined

This is the American pride

It's justifying a genocide

Romanticizing the theft and bloodshed

That made America the land of the free

To take a black life, land of the free

To bring a gun to a peaceful fight for civil rights

You are desensitized to pulling triggers on innocent lives

Because that's how we got here in the first place

These wounds sink deeper than the bullet

Your entitled hands could ever reach

Generations and generations of pain, fear, and anxiety

Equality is walking without intuition

Saying the protector and the killer is wearing the same uniform

The revolution is not televised

Media perception is forced down the throats of closed minds

So it's lies in the headlines

And generations of supremacy resulting in your ignorant, privileged eyes

We breathe the same and we bleed the same

But still, we don't see the same

Be thankful we are God-fearing

Because we do not seek revenge

We seek justice, we are past fear

We are fed up eating your shit

Because you think your so-called "Black friend"

Validates your wokeness and erases your racism

That kind of uncomfortable conversation

Is too hard for your trust-fund pockets to swallow

To swallow the strange fruit hanging from my family tree

Because of your audacity

To say all men are created equal in the eyes of God

But disparage a man based on the color of his skin

Do not say you do not see color

When you see us, see us

We can't breathe

...

Key Vocabulary

Vocabulary	Meanings
breathe /briːð/ B1	verb - to take air into the lungs and then expel it
fight /faɪt/ B1	verb - to use physical force to harm someone or to defend oneself
hope /hoʊp/ A2	noun - a feeling of expectation and desire for a certain thing to happen
change /tʃeɪndʒ/ A2	noun - the act or instance of making or becoming different
justice /ˈdʒʌstɪs/ B2	noun - the quality of being just or fair
pain /peɪn/ A2	noun - physical suffering or discomfort
corruption /kəˈrʌpʃən/ B2	noun - dishonest or fraudulent conduct by those in power
enemy /ˈɛnəmi/ B1	noun - a person who is actively opposed or hostile to someone or something
freedom /ˈfriːdəm/ B2	noun - the power or right to act, speak, or think as one wants
surrender /səˈrɛndər/ B2	verb - to cease resistance to an enemy or opponent and submit to their authority
equal /ˈiːkwəl/ B1	adjective - being the same in quantity, size, degree, or value
fear /fɪr/ A2	noun - an unpleasant emotion caused by the belief that someone or something is dangerous
blood /blʌd/ A1	noun - the red liquid that circulates in the arteries and veins of humans and animals
media /ˈmiːdiə/ B2	noun - the main means of mass communication
privilege /ˈprɪvɪlɪdʒ/ C1	noun - a special right or advantage granted to a person or group
anxiety /æŋˈzaɪəti/ C1	noun - a feeling of worry, nervousness, or unease about something

Key Grammar Structures

• Starting a war, screaming, "Peace" at the same time

  ➔ Gerund as a subject

  ➔ The phrase uses **Starting** (the gerund of 'start') as the **subject** of the sentence, describing an ongoing action.

• All the corruption, injustice, the same crimes

  ➔ Noun list with commas for enumeration

  ➔ Uses a list of nouns separated by commas to describe multiple related concepts or items.

• And we die, we don't have the same right

  ➔ Independent clauses joined by coordinating conjunction 'and'

  ➔

• What's it gonna take for someone to defend her?

  ➔ Future-in-the-informal with 'gonna' + infinitive

  ➔ Uses the informal contraction **gonna** (going to) with the base form of a verb to express a future intention or action.

• The revolution is not televised

  ➔ Passive voice: 'is not televised'

  ➔ Uses the passive voice to emphasize that the action **televised** is not happening, often implying that important events are hidden or ignored.