11 Great Songs About Sleep

Who doesn’t enjoy sleeping after a long day? 

Certainly, most artists do, and even some of them write songs about it.

Whether it is actually sleeping, the lack of it, or a metaphor for something deeper, there are many great songs about it.

Here is a list of 11 great songs about sleep I’m sure you will enjoy:

1. (Last Night) I Didn’t Get To Sleep at All – 5th Dimension

I’m pretty sure this happened to you at some point:

Have you ever stayed up all night thinking about a special someone?

As I mentioned earlier, this song is about the lack of sleep induced by the impossibility to shut our brains down at night when there’s something so important to think about.

I hope you are getting better sleep these days!

2. I Go to Sleep – The Pretenders

In contrast with the first entry of this list, “I Go to Sleep” talks about what happens when you sleep, specifically when you dream.

Dreamland for the main character in this story is full of joy and allows her to spend time with his lover there.

When the morning comes, reality sets them apart, and she spends the day longing for another night’s sleep.

A timeless classic that has been covered by a ton of bands.

3. Insomnia – Daya

And back to the theme of losing sleep, in “Insomnia” Daya describes how she feels when being apart from her lover after what seems like a breakup or a big fight.

She just can’t get a good night’s sleep without throwing her arms around him or her, and she goes about it throughout the song.

4. A Pillow of Winds – Pink Floyd

Who better to talk about sleep and dreams than the psychedelic masters of Pink Floyd themselves?

A Pillow of Winds lays down a dreamy acoustic soundscape and describes a night’s sleep alongside a loved one.

Just beautiful!

5. The Lion Sleeps Tonight – The Tokens

It’s impossible that you haven’t heard this one before.

Perhaps you did in the episode about Marcel, Ross’ monkey from the sitcom Friends.

But not limited to this one, this song has had many appearances in media and is a part of pop culture.

It’s a sweet song about how everything is calm in the jungle because the lion is sleeping.

6. How Do You Sleep? – Sam Smith

Sam Smith has a few songs about infidelity, and this is one of them.

The main character here is the one asking himself how is that his partner can even sleep at night knowing that he or she is being unfaithful in their relationship.

How does he know about that?

He just checked his partner’s phone!

Really a trainwreck of a relationship about to blow up.

7. Golden Slumbers – The Beatles

After finding the original song’s lyrics in his step-sister Ruth’s piano book, Paul McCartney fell in love with them. 

Since he couldn’t read music, he wrote his own take on it but kept most of the words the same.

The song is based on a poem by Thomas Dekker called Golden Slumber Kiss Your Eyes which reads like a nursery to put children to sleep.

8. Talking in Your Sleep – The Romantics

The main character here is interpreting the heartbeats of his love interest when she sleeps.

He says that he can hear the things she is dreaming about and that she is telling him that she loves him.

A pretty bold evaluation, nonetheless, but such a confident one!

9. I Guess I Should Go to Sleep – Jack White

Sometimes sleep is just an escape from the hardships of day-to-day life.

Jack White in this song sings about longing for some sleep to get away from his current troubles.

10. Sleepwalk – Brian Setzer

You probably heard this one even if you don’t know its name.

It’s a classic instrumental that somehow captures the feeling of what sleepwalking could be.

11. Sleep On The Floor – The Lumineers

This is a song about trying to make it in the big city with no resources and living day by day.

Literally sleeping on the floor of someone else’s apartment as long as they allow it.

Probably The Lumineers are writing about themselves here, considering how fame caught them by surprise.