Sleep On The Floor – English Lyrics

• By: The Lumineers
• Album: Cleopatra

Lyrics & Translation

Learning a language is a journey of discovery, much like the one depicted in The Lumineers' “Sleep On The Floor.” This song, with its clear, narrative-driven lyrics, offers a fantastic opportunity to learn English through storytelling. You can explore themes of adventure, decision-making, and the desire for a different life, all while picking up new vocabulary and understanding emotive expression in music. What makes this song special is its role as the starting point of a larger, cinematic story told across several music videos, allowing you to immerse yourself not just in the language, but in a compelling visual narrative as well.

[English]

[SOMBER PIANO MUSIC PLAYS]

[WOMAN]: I'm so sorry.

If you don't leave now, you may never make it out.

Wait.

Okay.

[♪♪♪]

I think that's it.

♪ Pack yourself a toothbrush, dear ♪

♪ Pack yourself a favorite blouse ♪

♪ Take a withdrawal slip ♪

♪ Take all of your savings out ♪

♪ 'Cause if we don't leave this town ♪

♪ We might never make it out ♪

♪ I was not born to drown ♪

♪ Baby, come on ♪

[CHUCKLES]

♪ Forget what Father Brennan said ♪

♪ We were not born in sin ♪

♪ Leave a note on your bed ♪ - Are you serious?

♪ Let your mother know you're safe ♪

I'm so tired. - ♪ And by the time she wakes ♪

♪ We'll have driven through the state ♪

♪ We'll have driven through the night ♪

♪ Baby, come on ♪

Heads north, tails south?

Sure. - Fair enough.

♪ If the sun don't shine ♪

Stop!

♪ On me today ♪

♪ And if the subways flood and bridges break ♪

♪ Will you lay yourself down and dig your grave ♪

♪ Or will you rail against the dying day? ♪

♪ And when we looked outside ♪

♪ Couldn't even see the sky ♪

♪ How do you pay the rent? ♪

♪ Is it your parents? ♪

♪ Or is hard work, dear ♪

♪ Holding the atmosphere? ♪

♪ I don't wanna live like that, yeah ♪

♪ If the sun don't shine on me today ♪

♪ If the subways flood and the bridges break ♪

♪ Jesus Christ can't save me tonight ♪

♪ Put on your dress, yes, wear something nice ♪

♪ Decide on me, yeah, decide on us ♪

♪ Oh, oh, oh, Illinois, Illinois ♪

♪ Pack yourself a toothbrush, dear ♪

♪ Pack yourself a favorite blouse ♪

♪ Take a withdrawal slip ♪

♪ Take all of your savings out ♪

♪ 'Cause if we don't leave this town ♪

♪ We might never make it out ♪

Key Vocabulary

Vocabulary	Meanings
leave /liːv/ B1	verb - to go away from a place
make /meɪk/ A1	verb - to create or cause something to happen
pack /pæk/ A2	verb - to place items together in a container
withdrawal /wɪðˈdrɔːəl/ C1	noun - the act of taking money out of a bank account
savings /ˈseɪvɪŋz/ B2	noun - money that is saved, especially through a bank account
town /taʊn/ A2	noun - a populated area that is larger than a village but smaller than a city
drown /draʊn/ B2	verb - to die because one is submerged in water and cannot breathe
baby /ˈbeɪbi/ A1	noun - a very young child
father /ˈfɑːðər/ A1	noun - a male parent
sin /sɪn/ B1	noun - an act that is considered morally wrong
note /noʊt/ B1	noun - a brief written record verb - to write a brief record
mother /ˈmʌðər/ A1	noun - a female parent
night /naɪt/ A1	noun - the period of darkness between sunset and sunrise
sun /sʌn/ A1	noun - the star that gives the Earth light and heat
flood /flʌd/ B1	noun - an overflow of water that covers land that is usually dry verb - to cover or submerge with water
bridge /brɪdʒ/ A2	noun - a structure built to span a physical obstacle
grave /ɡreɪv/ B1	noun - a place where a dead body is buried
dying /ˈdaɪɪŋ/ B2	adjective - approaching death; fading away

Key Grammar Structures

• If you don't leave now, you may never make it out.

  ➔ First conditional

  ➔ The clause uses the present simple ""don't"" with the modal ""may"" to express a possible future result.

• Pack yourself a toothbrush, dear.

  ➔ Imperative with reflexive pronoun

  ➔ The verb "Pack" is in the imperative form and is followed by the reflexive pronoun ""yourself"" as the indirect object.

• Take all of your savings out.

  ➔ Imperative with transitive verb

  ➔ The command ""Take"" is a transitive verb that directly takes the object "all of your savings" and the particle "out".

• We might never make it out.

  ➔ Modal verb for possibility (might)

  ➔ The modal ""might"" expresses a low degree of certainty about the future action "make it out".

• Let your mother know you're safe.

  ➔ Causative verb "let" + base verb

  ➔ The causative construction ""Let"" is followed by the object "your mother" and the base verb "know".

• If the sun don't shine on me today.

  ➔ Subject‑verb agreement error (singular third person)

  ➔ The singular subject "the sun" should be paired with "doesn't"; the song uses the colloquial "don't".

• Will you lay yourself down and dig your grave?

  ➔ Future simple interrogative with reflexive pronoun

  ➔ The auxiliary "Will" forms a yes/no question; "lay" is followed by the reflexive pronoun ""yourself"".

• Heads north, tails south?

  ➔ Elliptical rhetorical question (inversion)

  ➔ The sentence omits a verb and uses inversion; it functions as a rhetorical choice between two directions.