The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite
This here is the place where I will be staying.
There isn't a number. You can call the pay phone.
Let it ring a long, long, long, long time.
If I don't pick up, hang up, call back, let it ring some more.
If I don't pick up, pick up... The sidewinder sleep, sleep, sleeps in a coil
Call me when you try to wake her up. Call me when you try to wake her.
Call me when you try to wake her up. Call me when you try to wake her.
Call me when you try to wake her up. Call me when you try to wake her.
There are scratches all around the coin slot
like a heartbeat, baby trying to wake up,
but this machine can only swallow money.
You can't lay a patch by computer design.
It's just a lot of stupid, stupid signs.
Tell her,
tell her she can kiss my ass, then laugh and say that you were only kidding.
That way she'll know that it's really, really, really, really me.
Call me when you try to wake her up. Call me when you try to wake her.
Call me when you try to wake her up. Call me when you try to wake her.
Call me when you try to wake her up. Call me when you try to wake her.
Baby, instant soup doesn't really grab me.
Today I need something more sub-stub-sub-sub-substantial.
A can of beans or black-eyed peas, some Nescafe and ice,
a candy bar, a falling star, or a reading from Doctor Seuss;
Call me when you try to wake her up. Call me when you try to wake her.
Call me when you try to wake her up. Call me when you try to wake her.
Call me when you try to wake her up. Call me when you try to wake her.
The cat in the hat came back, wrecked a lot of havoc on the way,
always had a smile and a reason to pretend.
But their world has flat backgrounds and little need to sleep but to dream.
The sidewinder sleeps on his back.
Call me when you try to wake her up. Call me when you try to wake her.
Call me when you try to wake her up. Call me when you try to wake her.
I can always sleep standing up. Call me when you try to wake her.
Call me when you try to wake her up. Call me when you try to wake her.
Call me when you try to wake her up. Call me when you try to wake her.
I can always sleep standing up. Call me when you try to wake her.
Call me when you try to wake her up. Call me when you try to wake her.
I can always sleep standing up. Call me when you try to wake her.
I can always sleep standing up. Call me when you try to wake her.
We've got to moogie, moogie, move on this one.
- This song topped a 2010 poll, which sought out the song with the most misunderstood lyrics. Four out of ten people polled thought "Call me when you try to wake her up" was "Call me in Jamaica" or "Calling Jamaica."
- The song was influenced by the song "The Lion Sleeps Tonight", both in the title of the song and through the song's opening refrain
- When R.E.M. asked permission to use "The Lion Sleeps Tonight," they were asked to do a cover of the original which was released as the B-side to this song on the single release in February, 1993.
- John Paul Jones‘ string arrangement for “The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite” may be surplus to the needs of a tune already bursting with peppy hooks, but his additional melodies do absolutely nothing to spoil the composition. His arrangement is not lacking in boldness, but the most brilliant bit — the gently plucked pizzicato part that accompanies the final verse — is so subtle that many don't catch it even after repeat listens.
- When trying to name check Dr. Seuss in this song, lead singer Michael Stipe kept saying "Zeus." The laughing that can be heard on the track is Stipe laughing at his own inability to pronounce that correctly, or for the fact that in the string where he purposely stutters the word "substantial", he says "stub" once instead of "sub."
- The song's complete title is not featured in the lyrics, but there is the line, "the sidewinder sleeps in a coil" as well as the later line "the sidewinder sleeps on its back."
- Stipe was quoted in the R.E.M. Behind the Mask book as saying that this song is an "homage to redneck life." The payphone receiver-to-phone coil that often gets tangled probably refers to the Sidewinder. The lyric strings "Baby, instant soup doesn’t really grab me, today I need something more sub-sub-substantial like a can of beans or black eyed peas," " some Nescafe and ice" and "a candy bar, a fallen star or a reading from Dr. Seuss" are extended metaphors drenched in irony that the protagonist believes he's worldly and sophisticated.
- One may assume parallels between the lyrics to this song and Stipe's recording with Kristen Hirsch, "Your Ghost", which also deals with telephones and lost loves.
- Don't look too hard for a deeper meaning, Stipe has also stated that this song was purely written in jest, and sometimes he just likes the way certain words sound together. However, Musical Quarterly published an article in 2005 called “Stupid, Stupid Signs”: Incomprehensibility, Memory, and the Meaning (Maybe) of R.E.M.’s “Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite” which can be purchased for $25.00, if you REALLY want to find a possible hidden meaning, at this link: http://mq.oxfordjournals.org/content/88/3/456.full.pdf+html
- Stipe's trademark is and always has been an undecipherable vocal annunciation that leaves the listener guessing as to what was said or meant. Mike Mills described this song perfectly when he stated something to the effect of, “On the one hand there’s Everybody Hurts, and everyone knows what it means, and then there’s Sidewinder, where nobody knows what Michael is talking about.”
- Peter Buck says the following in the sleevenotes to The Best of REM: “We included this song on Automatic in order to break the prevailing mood of the album. Given that lyrically the record dealt with mortality, the passage of time, suicide and family, we felt that a light spot was needed. In retrospect, the consensus among the band is that this might be a little too lightweight.”
- That being said, in my opinion, the song actually matches the album’s dour mood because the lyric under the optimistic arrangement is sad. Those big strings suggest the grandiosity of the character’s delusion: that the person missed will be in touch soon. Whoever he is, he’s still waiting.
Available at Amazon.com
Of similar interest: Vacation In Athens: The Top 20 R.E.M. Songs
Previous In This Series:
- Misunderstood Lyrics: I Am The Walrus by The Beatles
- Misunderstood Lyrics: #9 Dream by John Lennon
- Misunderstood Lyrics: Show Me The Way by Peter Frampton
- Misunderstood Lyrics: All Those Years Ago by George Harrison
- Misunderstood Lyrics: One Night In Bangkok by Murray Head
- Misunderstood Lyrics: Ball Of Confusion (That's What The World Is Today) by The Temptations
- Misunderstood Lyrics: Killer Queen by Queen
- Misunderstood Lyrics: Hide In Your Shell by Supertramp
- Misunderstood Lyrics: Stayin' Alive by The Bee Gees
- Misunderstood Lyrics: Miracles by Jefferson Starship
- Misunderstood Lyrics: It's The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine) by R.E.M.
- Misunderstood Lyrics: Long Cool Woman In A Black Dress by The Hollies
0 comments:
Post a Comment