Everybody thinking
Thinking pretty hard
Everybody thinking
'Bout singing from the heart
If you want my opinion
It doesn't mean a thing
If you haven't got that
Ability to swing
Yeah, the ability to swing

Everybody working
Working pretty hard
Everybody working
At singing from the heart
If you want my opinion
It isn't worth a bean
If you you ain't in possession
Of the ability to swing
Oh, the ability to swing

Dreams, take 'em away
Go it alone, honey Rome wasn't built in a day
But now it's a ruin, the joke has worn thin
And it isn't cool to abuse the ability to swing, ow

Everybody talking
Talking pretty loud
Everybody looking
To stand out from the crowd
Gonna break it to you, bucko
It doesn't mean a thing
If you you ain't in possession
Of the ability to swing
Oh, the ability to swing
Friends, send them away
Go it alone, honey Rome wasn't built in a day
Now it's a ruin, the joke has worn thin
And it isn't cool to abuse the ability to swing

But each beat send me deeper under
Each beat send me more to sleep
Heart melts ice and heart spells danger
Don't hold your breath boy
'Cause it don't come cheap

Everybody looking
Looking pretty hard
Everybody looking
For a meaning in my art
Gonna give it to you straight, boy
It doesn't mean a thing
If you haven't got that
Ability to swing, yeah

The ability to swing
The ability to swing
The ability to swing
The ability to swing
The ability to swing
The ability to swing, yeah
The ability to swing
The ability to swing