Steel Still Rusts – English Lyrics

• By: Nickelback
• Album: Get Rollin'

Lyrics & Translation

Embark on a meaningful journey with Nickelback's "Steel Still Rusts," a powerful song that not only showcases the band's emotional depth but also tells a compelling story. By exploring its lyrics and context, you can gain insight into colloquial expressions related to military service, hardship, and societal issues, enriching your English vocabulary and cultural understanding through a truly impactful narrative about veterans' experiences.

[English]

Best of days livin' a simple life

There's nowhere to go when there's only one stop light

His grandmother told him, "Don't you dare sign up

They'll ship you away to places we ain't heard of

Get a degree, and maybe be a doctor

Just ask your daddy, it won't matter once they got ya"

Lifetimes you could spend to find out what she meant

Her final dyin' breath, this is what she said

"Long gone is the praise for those who fought for us

Ashes to ashes, turns out steel still rusts

Stone carved in your name, no one can really trust

Shoulder another soldier they stole from us

Don't ever bend, don't ever crawl

Supposed to stand and never fall

Long gone is the praise for those who fought for us

Ashes to ashes, turns out steel still rusts"

(Ashes to ashes and dust to dust)

Steel still rusts

(Ashes to ashes and dust to dust)

A third of his life off in a foreign land

Thanks for your service, sincerely, Uncle Sam

Lost the best of friends he'd ever known

And no line of welcome signs once he got back home

He got a job, a doorman at a dive bar

Became a bodyguard, protecting famous rock stars

Lost count of the times he's been around the world

Promised grandmama he'd never lose these words

Long gone is the praise for those who fought for us

Ashes to ashes, turns out steel still rusts

Stone carved in your name, no one can really trust

Shoulder another soldier they stole from us

Don't ever bend, don't ever crawl

Supposed to stand and never fall

Long gone is the praise for those who fought for us

Ashes to ashes, turns out steel still rusts

(Ashes to ashes and dust to dust)

Steel still rusts

(Ashes to ashes and dust to dust)

And dust to dust

Forever feel the wounds that never heal

When fallen friends are now a line of crosses in a field

Long gone is the praise for those who fought for us

Ashes to ashes, turns out steel still rusts (steel still rusts)

Stone carved in your name, no one can really trust

Shoulder another soldier they stole from us

Don't ever bend, don't ever crawl

Supposed to stand and never fall (and never fall)

Long gone is the praise for those who fought for us

Ashes to ashes, turns out steel still rusts

(Ashes to ashes and dust to dust)

Steel still rusts (steel still rusts)

(Ashes to ashes and dust to dust)

Steel still rusts

Key Grammar Structures

• They'll ship you away to places we ain't heard of

  ➔ Informal Negation with 'Ain't'

  ➔ "ain't" replaces "haven't" in informal speech, showing colloquial negation. Common in spoken English but avoided in formal writing.

• Long gone is the praise for those who fought for us

  ➔ Subject-Verb Inversion

  ➔ Inversion of "Long gone" (adjective phrase) before "is the praise" emphasizes the vanished state. Common in poetic/literary contexts.

• Don't you ever bend, don't you ever crawl

  ➔ Negative Imperative with Emphatic 'You'

  ➔ "Don't you" adds emotional intensity to commands. The inclusion of "you" makes the prohibition more personal/direct.

• Supposed to stand and never fall

  ➔ Ellipsis of Modal Verb

  ➔ Omission of "are" before "supposed to". Full phrase: "(You are) supposed to...". Ellipsis creates rhythmic conciseness.

• Lost count of the times he's been around the world

  ➔ Present Perfect Continuous Implied

  ➔ "he's been around" implies repeated/ongoing action (Present Perfect Continuous). Context suggests unfinished experiences over time.

• Forever feel the wounds that never heal

  ➔ Reduced Relative Clause

  ➔ Relative clause "that never heal" modifies "wounds" without a relative pronoun + verb (full form: "wounds that never heal").

• Turns out steel still rusts

  ➔ Phrasal Verb + Universal Truth

  ➔ "Turns out" (phrasal verb = is discovered/revealed) introduces a universal truth ("steel rusts") in present simple tense.

• Shoulder another soldier they stole from us

  ➔ Imperative Verb Conversion

  ➔ "Shoulder" (normally a noun) used as imperative verb meaning "carry the burden". Shows creative verb conversion for emotional impact.