My Gen X Playlist: Sleep to Dream – Fiona Apple

Absent any new WordPress daily prompts, I pulled one from thecoffeemonsterzco.

If you could choose not to sleep without any consequences of sleep deprivation, would you stay awake forever?

If you asked me this as a kid, the answer would have been No f-ing way! Well, I didn’t cuss as a kid, so that’s not entirely true, but you get the picture. I remember sleeping long, hard and late on weekends. I may have even slept till noon on occasion. I can’t imagine doing that today.

I love sleep. My life has the tendency to fall apart when I’m awake.

Ernest Hemingway

If you asked me now, I’d take you up on it in a heartbeat. First of all, I don’t sleep much to begin with. I don’t crave a good night’s sleep like I used to. Secondly, time is moving too fast. I’ll take the extra 5 hours to stretch out the days as long as I can. So, where do I sign up? But then again, I might miss having dreams.

Dreaming reminded me of a Fiona Apple song. At the age of 14, Apple wrote Sleep to Dream. It’s a mature and complex song for a preteen to write. Her relationship with sleep also played a hand in her song writing.

Sleep has tormented Apple her whole life, and her insomnia often shows up in her songs . . . Apple often had nightmares, which explains why she didn’t sleep to dream.

We both share a battle with insomnia. That’s where the overlap stops. While Apple was creating lyrics beyond her years, I was still attempting to string a few coherent sentences together – unsuccessfully, I might add. Boy, what a difference.

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For a complete playlist, please click here.

For the Spotify playlist, please click here.

I tell you how I feel but you don't care
I say tell me the truth but you don't dare
You say love is a hell you cannot bear
And I say give me mine back and go there for all I care

I got my feet on the ground and I don't go to sleep to dream
You got your head in the clouds and you're not at all what you seem
This mind this body and this voice cannot be stifled by your deviant ways
So don't forget what I told you don't come around
I got my own hell to raise

I have never been so insulted in all my life
I could swallow the seas to wash down all this pride
First you run like a fool just to be at my side
And now you run like a fool but you just run to hide
I can't abide

I got my feet on the ground and I don't go to sleep to dream
You got your head in the clouds and you're not at all what you seem
This mind this body and this voice cannot be stifled by your deviant ways
So don't forget what I told you don't come around
I got my own hell to raise

Don't make it a big deal, don't be so sensitive
We're not playing a game anymore
You don't have to be so defensive

Don't you plead me your case, don't bother to explain
Don't even show me your face 'cause it's a crying shame
Just go back to the rock from under which you came
Take the sorrows you gave and all the stakes you claim
And don't forget to blame

I got my feet on the ground and I don't go to sleep to dream
You got your head in the clouds and you're not at all what you seem
This mind this body and this voice cannot be stifled by your deviant ways
So don't forget what I told you don't come around
I got my own hell to raise

I got my feet on the ground and I don't go to sleep to dream
You got your head in the clouds and you're not at all what you seem
This mind this body and this voice cannot be stifled by your deviant ways
So don't forget what I told you don't come around
I got my own hell to raise