My Gen X Playlist: You Can’t Walk in Your Sleep (If you Can’t Sleep) – The Go Go’s

If you didn’t need sleep, what would you do with the extra time?

I have this strange relationship with sleep. It’s a mix of deep sleep and insomnia. Not wanting to waste the day away in slumber, but also enjoying being deep within a dream. I naturally wake up at 6 am regardless when my head hits the pillow. I love it and want it, but at the same time avoid falling asleep as long as I can.

If sleep wasn’t necessary, I guess I’d lose this strange relationship. A break up? Well, maybe not that dramatic. I would miss it though. I do like the feeling of waking up from a solid restful sleep. Arms above the head stretch, feeling the remnants of sleep drain from your brain. That’s a great feeling. I think I’d miss that feeling.

This creates a number of questions. Would we still need beds or bedrooms? Will kids no longer experience the joy of jumping on beds? What happens to nap time in kindergarten? Would bedtime stories cease to exist? Would we no longer dream? Would yawns fall by the wayside? No more bed head, that’s a good thing. Running around doing stuff in the middle of the night would be odd. I wonder if everything would be open 24 hours? What would infants do all day? What happens to sleepwalkers?

The more I think about it, the more questions come to mind. I’m beginning to wonder if the good outweighs the bad. It certainly would be a different world.

You Can’t Walk in Your Sleep was released on the Go Go’s debut album back in 1981. Beauty and the Beat is such a great album before they went mainstream. More guitars and rock. The Go Go’s broke through the wall and was one of the first successful female bands. I know people love them for their mainstream stuff, but this is my favorite album from them by far. It’s great from head to toe. If you haven’t heard it yet, I highly recommend it.

The Go-Go’s are lauded, accurately, as the first group of women musicians to write their own songs and play their own instruments on a number one debut album.

The Go-Go’s were innovators who crafted their own unique sound. They wrote great songs and played them exceptionally well. In the end, that’s why we love them, and why on October 30, 2021, they were finally, at long last, inducted into the Rock n’ Roll Hall of Fame.

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You can’t walk in your sleep
If you can’t sleep

Downed that pill hours ago
And time is passing oh so slow
Watch the clock – you’re waiting
It’s five o’clock and the world is waking

I guess there’s a few things that would disappear: sleepwalking, sleeping pills and insomnia. OK, the scales may be tipping.

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For a complete playlist, please click here.

For the Spotify playlist, please click here.

Last night you slept, you slept in fits
You smashed your windows bit by bit
You cried out - a bad dream
Horror pictures - what a scene!

Which way will things go tonight
Toss and turn or sleep tight
You can't win you wonder why
That sleep is one thing you can't buy

[Chorus:]
You can't walk in your sleep
If you can't sleep
You can't walk in your sleep
If you can't sleep

Downed that pill hours ago
And time is passing oh so slow
Watch the clock - you're waiting
It's five o'clock and the world is waking

That's the way things went tonight
Tossed and turned though you were tight
Exhaustion brings on desperation
Well there's still some consolation

[Chorus]