I’m Only Sleeping: Coversongs about Sleep
I was dreaming, but I should have been with you instead…
Here at Cover Lay Down, we pride ourselves on our diligent publishing schedule — twice a week every week, Wednesdays and Sundays without fail. Which makes it all the more embarrassing to have passed out on the couch just after supper last night, never to return to full-bore consciousness until the morning light hit the window, warning me of impending tardiness.
To be fair, it’s been a long week already: parent meetings and a full-period professional development session between classes on Monday; a day out in the rain Tuesday teaching a handful of young but eager underachievers about the laboring trades, including hands-on experience in welding, backhoe driving, glass cutting, carpentry and bricklaying, at Construction Career Day out in Hopkinton. Then tonight’s school committee meeting went long, and…well, you know how time gets away from you sometimes. Now here it is, just an hour or two before deadline, and I’m scrambling to stay on track.
I could let it go, I suppose — take the easy way out, maybe finally repost that long lost Mary Lou Lord coverset that Blogger deleted back before we moved on to our own domain, or dig up last year’s tribute to the teaching profession in honor of National Teacher’s Appreciation Week. But I believe in Seth Godin’s admonition that the best way to beat the rut is to do the work. Plus, I just did a partial repost on Sunday, and I’ve got a sneaking suspicion that there’s going to be a time and place for both schoolsongs and Lord’s grungefolk coming up in the next few months.
Which is to say: sorry for the eleventh hour post, folks, but never fear — there’s music here for everyone, from tradfolk to contemporary folk to the experimental side of the indiefolk world. In compensation for the mundania, the brevity, and the last-minuteness of the writing, here’s a full set of favorite folk coversongs about sleeping in, sleeping on, and dreaming the night away.
- Phosphorescent: Can I Sleep In Your Arms (orig. Willie Nelson)
(from To Willie, 2009) - Cindy Kallet & Grey Larson: Lull Myself Asleep (orig. Dillon Bustin)
(from Cross The Water, 2007) - Celine Mastrorelli: I Go To Sleep (orig. The Kinks)
(private 2008 demo via Filles Sourires; more Celine here) - Sia: I Go To Sleep (ibid.)
(from Sounds Eclectic: The Covers Project, 2006; more Sia here) - Tim & Mollie O’Brien: Hush While the Little Ones Sleep (orig. Lotus Dickey)
(from Remember Me, 1992) - Eliza Gilkyson: Sleeper (orig. Greg Brown)
(from Going Driftless: A Tribute to Greg Brown, 2002; more Eliza here) - Alison Krauss w/ Yo Yo Ma, Mark O’Connor and Edgar Meyer: Slumber My Darling (orig. Stephen Foster)
(from The Songs of Stephen Foster, 2004) - Bonnie “Prince” Billy and Cheyenne Mize: Beautiful Dreamer (ibid.)
(from the vinyl-only Among the Gold, coming May 19th, 2009 from Karate Body Records) - Lucy Kaplansky: Dreamland (orig. Mary Chapin Carpenter)
(from Down At The Sea Hotel, 2007; more Lucy here) - Crooked Still: Did You Sleep Well (orig. Nathan Taylor)
(from Still Crooked, 2008) - James Isaak: Where Did You Sleep (trad.)
(from Leper in Suburbia, 2006) - Shawn Mullins: Wake Me Up Before You Go Go (orig. Wham)
(from Triple M Musical Challenge Vol. 3 [out of print], 2004; more Shawn here)
As always, if you like what you hear here, please follow artist and album links to purchase their work. After all, I may have flaked out for the evening, but I’m an amateur. The artists we celebrate stay up late, working to get the tunes down for our benefit. For this, they deserve both our respect, and our support.
Category: Topical Coverfolk | Tags: Sleeping
May 6th, 2009 at 10:52 pm
I just wanted to say thank you for the lovely songs & posts, this blog is fabulous
I always look forward to your posts, because they’re ALWAYS great!
May 7th, 2009 at 6:16 am
No worries about being late - after all, you’re the one doing us all a favor. Thanks for the music! (and my son went to that career day…)
May 7th, 2009 at 1:36 pm
Pretty fab for last-minute! Thanks!
May 8th, 2009 at 1:17 am
Shawn Mullins covering Wham. There’s something beautifully twisted about that.
May 8th, 2009 at 7:23 pm
another great sleeping song is “Sleeping In” by the Postal Service.
I am a big fan of this blog BTW. Thanks for all your hard work for the benefit of others!
Zach
May 8th, 2009 at 8:21 pm
There’s a BUNCH of great ones, both covers and originals. I had more covers than I could fit, and my contact at Vanguard reminded me of a great, raw and stunning Duhks tune called Sleepin’ Is All I Wanna Do from last year’s Fast Paced World that rocks my world…
But feel free to send more if you got ‘em, folks; we’re looking at yet another (Re)Covered featurette in the next few days!
May 9th, 2009 at 6:39 pm
I love yo La Tengo’s “Dreaming”
May 12th, 2009 at 2:29 am
How could U wake up with the Kinks cover ???
So good man : I’ll stay under my pelow 10 min. more…
October 2nd, 2009 at 7:55 pm
Your blog slaps.