I'm me
Me be
Goddamn
I am
I can
Sing and
Here me
Know me
If you want to destroy my sweater
Hold this thread as I walk away

Oh no
It go
It gone
Bye-Bye
Who I
I think
I sink
and I die
If you want to destroy my sweater
Hold this thread as I walk away
Watch me unravel I'll soon be naked
Lying on the floor, I've come undone

If you want to destroy my sweater
[I don't want to destroy your tank-top]
Hold this thread as I walk away
[Let's be friends and just walk away]
Watch me unravel I'll soon be naked
[It's good to see you lyin' there in your Superman skivvies]
Lying on the floor, I've come undone
[Lying on the floor, I've come undone]


Lyrics submitted by oofus, edited by walshywalsh1

Undone - The Sweater Song song meanings
Add Your Thoughts

154 Comments

sort form View by:
  • +15
    General Comment

    I'm tired of reading crap about this song. Here is what it REALLY is about! In 1992 a song called The Sweater by Meryn Caddell came out. It was about a girl who borrows a sweater from a boy on a camping trip. The girl spends hours with the sweater after getting home and develops an attraction for the boy. She wears it to school and another girl gives her a note saying the boy just wants his sweater back. The girl takes it off and noticing it is 100% polyester considers outing the boy as a cheapskate.

    KROQ the alternative FM station played that song a LOT as they have a habit of doing. Weezer made a demo of Undone as an answer to the song and sent it to the station as a joke. The songs got played back to back quite a few times. Weezer got signed to Elektra in 1993 and the rest is history.

    GedofMyazon July 13, 2012   Link
  • +9
    General Comment

    haha... yeah, it is funny. I can always tell a real weezer fan by this song... if you know the whole song (and by the whole song I mean the part w/ the guys and the party or reunion or whateve it is) then you listen to weezer way too much, which makes you a REAL weezer fan because as everyone knows, there is no such thing as way too much weezer.

    emo_SavestheDayon April 27, 2002   Link
  • +6
    General Comment

    I do indeed know what Rivers said about this song, so I guess that being that he wrote this song, he is the ultimate "song analyzer" but I still love to analyze this song. I think it is really about mental illness, or at least someone trying to hide their mental illness. The sweater is their comfort object, and it keeps the rest of the world from knowing about the mental illness of the character in the song. And people gradually remove bits and pieces of his sweater until it is fully gone and everyone recognizes it, or the character himself takes it apart by his mental illness gradually getting worse. And the sweater is fully gone when he gets diagnosed. Dig? And the parts like "I don't want to destroy your tank top" or the "Superman skivvies" line shows that while some people are clinging on to a "thread" and not going insane from the pressures of day to day life, they aren't letting anybody destroy their comfort object, and aren't destroying it themselves by revealing their near-insanity. The main character recognizes that these people have problems as well and doesn't want to destroy their comfort object because he realizes how painful it is when people do that to him.

    coolstorybro123on October 09, 2010   Link
  • +5
    General Comment

    i think the beauty of this song is it can mean many things

    NYRmark62on September 20, 2012   Link
  • +4
    General Comment

    trying to lose self consciousness and anxiety, and be free to live as themselves, undone from their social sweater

    moltoon May 25, 2008   Link
  • +4
    My Interpretation

    The guys in Weezer apparently have smoked a lot of weed.
    So I always assumed this song was about the weird social cocoon you find yourself in when you go to a party where everybody's drunk, but you're completely stoned. The short lines “I'm me — Me be — Goddamn - I am” represents disjointed existential thinking. The singer finds his 'center' of self assurance in the fact that he is, he can, and he can sing. In this manner, he avoids stoned paranoia, and is content to just chill out. However in this situation some people, especially drunk people, will find it funny to try and disturb a drug user. The sweater is therefore the comfy high the singer is enjoying at the party, but this could potentially be ruined by others. The ease with which this is possible is represented by the simplicity of pulling a thread while he walks away. Later on the singer mentions that after unraveling his sweater, he'll be naked, and I take this to mean his ego will be fragile.

    The relevance of the tank top and superman skivvies I thought was the dress of the antagonist who seeks to ruin the singer's vibe. There's hope of a peaceful resolution in that the singer doesn't want to “destroy your tank-top” (ruin his good time) and they should just be friends and walk away. The superman skivvies seems like something a 'lad' (or 'frat-boy' in the US I'd imagine) would wear to a party but be embarrassed of when he passes out drunk and his friends steal his trousers (for a joke). At the end of the song, the negative consequences of both drugs are mirrored when “Lying on the floor, I've come undone” is repeated.

    Of course, it could still be about a relationship, but being Weezer I'm not so sure.

    onetwothreefourfiveon June 28, 2012   Link
  • +3
    General Comment

    this is a song that is funnier then hell!! I have been a weezer fan since day 1.

    breeaaronon November 26, 2001   Link
  • +2
    General Comment

    I think it's about seeing old friends with whom you no longer identify with. You walk away, no remorse, they see you for the human-hater you are. Everyone wins, which is why it's funny. Man I hate everyone right now. Is that coloring my interpretation?

    smashinashwinon January 27, 2012   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    does anyone else think that this song has the weirdest lyrics ever? (Apart from Tourette's)

    foffofon January 07, 2002   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    lol i do...this is one of the strangest songs ever but damn, weezer rocks

    san_dimas_hs_ruleson January 07, 2002   Link

Add your thoughts

Log in now to tell us what you think this song means.

Don’t have an account? Create an account with SongMeanings to post comments, submit lyrics, and more. It’s super easy, we promise!

More Featured Meanings

Album art
The Night We Met
Lord Huron
This is a hauntingly beautiful song about introspection, specifically about looking back at a relationship that started bad and ended so poorly, that the narrator wants to go back to the very beginning and tell himself to not even travel down that road. I believe that the relationship started poorly because of the lines: "Take me back to the night we met:When the night was full of terrors: And your eyes were filled with tears: When you had not touched me yet" So, the first night was not a great start, but the narrator pursued the relationship and eventually both overcame the rough start to fall in love with each other: "I had all and then most of you" Like many relationships that turn sour, it was not a quick decline, but a gradual one where the narrator and their partner fall out of love and gradually grow apart "Some and now none of you" Losing someone who was once everything in your world, who you could confide in, tell your secrets to, share all the most intimate parts of your life, to being strangers with that person is probably one of the most painful experiences a person can go through. So Painful, the narrator wants to go back in time and tell himself to not even pursue the relationship. This was the perfect song for "13 Reasons Why"
Album art
Gentle Hour
Yo La Tengo
This song was originally written by a guy called Peter Gutteridge. He was one of the founders of the "Dunedin Sound" a musical scene in the south of New Zealand in the early 80s. From there it was covered by "The Clean" one of the early bands of that scene (he had originally been a member of in it's early days, writing a couple of their best early songs). The Dunedin sound, and the Clean became popular on american college radio in the mid to late 80s. I guess Yo La Tengo heard that version. Great version of a great song,
Album art
When We Were Young
Blink-182
This is a sequel to 2001's "Reckless Abandon", and features the band looking back on their clumsy youth fondly.
Album art
No Surprises
Radiohead
Same ideas expressed in Fitter, Happier are expressed in this song. We're told to strive for some sort of ideal life, which includes getting a good job, being kind to everyone, finding a partner, getting married, having a couple kids, living in a quiet neighborhood in a nice big house, etc. But in Fitter, Happier the narrator(?) realizes that it's incredibly robotic to live this life. People are being used by those in power "like a pig in a cage on antibiotics"--being pacified with things like new phones and cool gadgets and houses while being sucked dry. On No Surprises, the narrator is realizing how this life is killing him slowly. In the video, his helmet is slowly filling up with water, drowning him. But he's so complacent with it. This is a good summary of the song. This boring, "perfect" life foisted upon us by some higher powers (not spiritual, but political, economic, etc. politicians and businessmen, perhaps) is not the way to live. But there is seemingly no way out but death. He'd rather die peacefully right now than live in this cage. While our lives are often shielded, we're in our own protective bubbles, or protective helmets like the one Thom wears, if we look a little harder we can see all the corruption, lies, manipulation, etc. that is going on in the world, often run by huge yet nearly invisible organizations, corporations, and 'leaders'. It's a very hopeless song because it reflects real life.
Album art
Just A Little Lovin'
Dusty Springfield
I don't think it's necessarily about sex. It's about wanting to start the day with some love and affection. Maybe a warm cuddle. I'm not alone in interpreting it that way! For example: "'Just a Little Lovin’ is a timeless country song originally recorded by Eddy Arnold in 1954. The song, written by Eddie Miller and Jimmy Campbell, explores the delicate nuances of love and showcases Arnold’s emotive vocals. It delves into the universal theme of love and how even the smallest gesture of affection can have a profound impact on our lives." https://oldtimemusic.com/the-meaning-behind-the-song-just-a-little-lovin-by-eddy-arnold/