Sweat – English Lyrics

• By: The All-American Rejects
• Album: Sweat

Lyrics & Translation

Dive into The All-American Rejects' "Sweat" to not only enjoy its infectious pop-rock energy but also to explore rich lyrical themes of empowerment and identity. This song, with its compelling narrative and bold artistic statements in its accompanying short film, offers a vibrant entry point into English, revealing how music can express complex emotions and personal evolution. Discover how the band uses language to convey defiance and the nuanced struggles of self-discovery, making it a unique and engaging piece to learn from.

[English]

Drive in a car with both eyes closed.

Got a busted heart and a broken nose.

Need a good night's sleep, need to change your clothes.

And you think you know me.

Nobody knows.

And because I'm running.

Away from my demons.

They keep on chasing.

But no one can see them.

Don't make fun of my shitty rose garden, man.

I don't know why I can't get 'em to like fall in love.

But they I I like do everything I need to,

but I guess I don't do everything I need to.

This is real life.

Feels like a museum.

That's where my head's at.

There's no turning back.

turning 33.

I'm a budding artist that's actually finding myself for the first time in,

you know, you get lost in your little bubble, man.

Like I I stay in my house,

I play my piano.

I don't ever leave, man.

That's where my head's at.

That's where my head's at.

Five years ago, there was like this moment where I was like,

"Yo, man, let's put this on ice for a second.

Let's go live a little life."

You don't realize it but you hide from yourself often,

just to sort of appease others or just to be able to function in this world at a as a normal person.

Surprise, surprise.

that's kind of everyone often.

You know, people people people are always shedding skin to find something else underneath it.

There's a lot you can find out about yourself by putting on someone else's shoes.

Especially when they're high heels.

I looked up Tyson to see how what he was looking like.

And I just remember thinking, "Oh, he's got good cheekbones.

I bet he'd be up for playing a woman."

Obviously, I didn't do enough squats.

But you can't change your nudes.

Jamie wrote a treatment and it said,

I see Tyson as a woman.

I said, "I don't wanna do that."

Yeah, that sounds great.

I really love it, I've seen It's so fun.

It's uh, it's Betsy, man.

I walked out and the Jamie, the director was just like

"Don't try on another thing."

I was like, "Okay."

It's funny, people like, "Why do you wanna be a female prostitute in your music video?"

Like I need a reason.

Like I can't just say because.

It's about a guy named Bob.

Betsy is this siren that came upon his life at one point

and ruined the perfect family that he could have had.

Simply put, you know, the film is

a story about this

functioning identity crisis,

just expectations of how we are supposed to be in a public place.

Like when we were younger, everybody was so concerned about,

"Do I look good in this?

Does this is this what I would wear?"

And, "Is this cool?"

All these like sort of like program concepts that we had to like govern ourselves by, which was from the top down.

We listened the tonic of you once again.

We connected so much together on a stage.

But then when we would go to do the monkey suit bullshit,

it always felt like we were self-sacrificing in so many ways.

I needed to find my independent moment with this music.

I needed to find like myself with this music.

That's why getting this record together was so hard.

Because we always have done music together, you know?

We never didn't get along or anything, but I think it's just nice that we got to kind of a fucking break from each other for a minute.

We were pretty tied up by umbilical cords to each other for, you know, over 10 years.

I think we just had to step away and figure out where to go next.

And we wanted to do things differently but didn't know quite how.

And it really took me like just kind of absorbing like

some artists that like did it by themselves like Bowie.

He always served the music in his head.

He didn't serve a dynamic.

And now I'm just now for the I'm 33 and for the first time I'm serving

the music in my head as opposed to like trying to make it fit within some archetype that makes it an All-American Rejects song.

It's like I always felt like I had this sort of like checklist for a Rejects song.

Has to be super catchy, has to have two guitars and drums and this.

And I'm like, wait, no way, man.

I don't know fucking rules.

That's all.

Never smiling.

This is the first time we did one producer for every song.

So, you get kind of this

experimentive experience where you feel like every song is like this kaleidoscopic view of like having this band find itself.

And now finally, the identity crisis is over.

And we're getting to take this back.

And in doing so, we're breaking the mold of the archetypical music video and the archetypical band.

Yeah, do that.

You play it in a minute, you Yeah, great.

Let's go!

By sort of discovering things with Betsy,

I'm actually more comfortable in my skin than I've ever been, which I'm so grateful for the whole project for that.

Man, wait 'til you see this dance number we got.

It's uh, it's probably one of the hardest things I've ever put my body through.

There's something about dancing and pulling your body off the ground,

you mean you know.

It's like the most physically taxing thing because your muscles are only used to straight movements.

Like you're like, oh, I just go up and I go down or

I I get my ass off the toilet and that's standing straight up.

But this is like,

I mean I'm having to do things that my little sort of unathletic body has have never been asked to do.

Here we go.

Moment of truth.

Eight hours of dancing in stilettos and heels.

Yeah, man, ready when you are.

There we go.

Let me know when you're set.

Lay back.

And action!

I've told you. I've told you. I will make you. I will make you.

It's like the most freeing sort of thing to like get up above everyone.

For like two weeks, every morning I wake up before my wife,

and then I just get completely naked and put on the heels and just do my make my oatmeal,

and just walk around.

I've never worked with anyone that has worked this hard on a character.

It's just phenomenal.

He's a really talented, wonderful guy.

He just embraced it so much.

I've told you.

I've told you.

I will make you.

I will make you.

I've told you.

I've told you.

I will make you.

I will make you.

I've told you.

I've told you.

I will make you.

I will make you.

I love that we're delivering this to Interscope.

Thinking like what the fuck are we doing?

Why do we give them the keys to?

Everybody I've ever worked with, whether it's, you know, musically or whether it's professionally,

I felt like I was always there to serve them.

And now I'm like,

no, man, this is music.

This is like the only thing that drives my being into feeling like it has purpose.

And you're gonna wait until it's right.

Hey, this is Tyson from The All-American Rejects.

Check out our new EP.

Probably the greatest thing that we've ever done as a band.

If you've followed us at all,

you'll understand the evolution of it all.

And if you haven't and you're just now discovering us,

then welcome to The All-American Rejects.

Finally.

send her to Heaven.

She's better in Heaven.

Could you send her to Heaven?

Oh, whoa.

She's drink and she's trying to quit her but she just can't stop.

She goes to a lover,

say, her to Heaven.

Say the way she hides behind.

Oh, little lies that she tells her amazing life up in her.

Key Vocabulary

Vocabulary	Meanings
heart /hɑːt/ B1	noun - the organ that pumps blood; also the centre of emotions
demon /ˈdiːmən/ B2	noun - an evil spirit; a personal inner trouble
identity /aɪˈdɛntɪti/ C1	noun - the set of characteristics that defines a person or thing
crisis /ˈkraɪsɪs/ C1	noun - a time of intense difficulty or danger
artist /ˈɑːrtɪst/ B1	noun - a person who creates art
music /ˈmjuːzɪk/ A2	noun - organized sound that expresses ideas and emotions
song /sɒŋ/ A2	noun - a short musical composition with lyrics
body /ˈbɒdi/ A2	noun - the physical structure of a person or animal
sweat /swɛt/ B1	noun - moisture excreted from the skin due to heat or exertion verb - to produce sweat
chase /tʃeɪs/ B1	verb - to run after in order to catch
hide /haɪd/ B1	verb - to conceal or keep out of sight
break /breɪk/ B1	verb - to separate into pieces; to interrupt
find /faɪnd/ A2	verb - to discover or locate
feel /fiːl/ A2	verb - to experience an emotion or sensation
struggle /ˈstrʌɡəl/ B2	verb - to try hard to overcome difficulties noun - a difficult effort or fight
reveal /rɪˈviːl/ C1	verb - to make known or visible
transform /trænsˈfɔːrm/ C1	verb - to change in form, appearance, or character
experiment /ɪkˈsperɪmənt/ C1	noun - a test carried out to discover something unknown verb - to try out new ideas or methods

Key Grammar Structures

• Drive in a car with both eyes closed.

  ➔ Imperative sentence with present‑participle clause

  ➔ The verb "Drive" is used as a command. The phrase "with both eyes closed" is a present‑participle clause describing how to drive.

• Got a busted heart and a broken nose.

  ➔ Elliptical clause (subject omitted) with past‑participle adjectives

  ➔ The subject "I" is omitted (elliptical). "busted" and "broken" are past‑participle adjectives describing "heart" and "nose".

• Need a good night's sleep, need to change your clothes.

  ➔ Bare infinitive used after an implied verb (imperative) – parallel structure

  ➔ The omitted subject "You" makes the bare infinitives "Need" function as commands. The two clauses are linked by a comma for parallelism.

• They keep on chasing.

  ➔ Verb + keep on + gerund (continuous action)

  ➔ "keep on" is a phrasal verb meaning "continue"; it is followed by the gerund "chasing" to show an ongoing activity.

• But no one can see them.

  ➔ Modal verb "can" + bare infinitive (ability/possibility)

  ➔ "can" expresses ability or possibility. It is followed directly by the bare infinitive "see".

• I don't know why I can't get 'em to like fall in love.

  ➔ Indirect question with "why" + modal "can't" + infinitive phrase

  ➔ "why" introduces an indirect question. "can't" (cannot) is a modal verb, followed by the infinitive phrase "get 'em to like fall in love".

• I'm a budding artist that's actually finding myself for the first time.

  ➔ Relative clause with "that" + present progressive

  ➔ "that" introduces a relative clause describing "artist". The verb "finding" is in the present progressive, showing an ongoing process.

• There's a lot you can find out about yourself by putting on someone else's shoes.

  ➔ Modal "can" + bare infinitive + gerund phrase (by‑ing) for means

  ➔ "can" expresses possibility. The gerund phrase "by putting on someone else's shoes" explains how you can discover new things about yourself.

• That's why getting this record together was so hard.

  ➔ Gerund subject "getting" + past simple "was" – nominalisation

  ➔ "getting this record together" functions as a noun (subject). The past simple verb "was" links the subject to the complement "so hard".