Sleep... Hopefully

Tonight i decided to put together a new playlist for my iPod to fall asleep to. i do so enjoy falling asleep to music. i only wanted a 30 minute playlist because that is the perfect amount of time to help you fall asleep. Sometimes when i listen to a full album i find myself not quite falling asleep so that i can semi-consciously listen to it until the end. With 30 minutes i will either fall asleep by the conclusion through the aid of music or realize that i am unable to sleep as of yet and should go do something more productive like write or draw until i am more tired.

i ended up with 32.3 minutes which is pretty damn close to my goal. Of course, had i made the list yesterday or if i were to make one tomorrow it would vary slightly but for the most part it would have come out quite similar. The beauty of iPod playlists is how easy it is to adjust them with your mood(s).

Looking the list over i notice it exposes the fact that i was of college age during the 90's. i listen to many periods of music and have kept up with new music as i age, but when it comes to sleep i realize i side heavily with 90's era music, which of course got me thinking: why? (this is magically when this post decides it will no longer acknowledge the use of the 'enter' key... sorry for the technological glitch keeping the rest of these paragraphs crammed together)

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Now unlike the children of the 60's i will not claim that the music of my generation is the best to have been made (how typical of that generation). As far as i can tell, ever since the advent of music artists have been making incredible sounds that reflect the times that they are living in, the experiences that they are living through, the moods of the era in which they compose.

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For me, i find it easy to find music from the 90's catalog that was gentle, sincere, and hopeful. Maybe it was the era, maybe it was that time in my life but there was a significant amount of hope in that decade, particularly in the early to middle segment of it. Sure there was also angry, sad, pop, and sexy music being written during those days but there was room for that gentle hope.

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Today's music (the good stuff at least) keeps up the responsibility of art and reflects the mood and feeling of our current times. It makes perfect sense that some of the most talented artists today are using the genre labeled Emo to express themselves. These are aggressive times and these are very emotional times (not that any time wasn't emotional... well the 80's maybe). Just as Bebop represented the restless souls of it's era; music today, as it always has, represents the restless souls of the now.

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When i fall asleep i want to find myself hopeful of what's to come while simultaneously reminded of the beauty of what has now passed. Musical excerpts from the 90's seems to do this quite well. So here is my SLEEP playlist (as of right now):

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Star Sail- The Verve: The heavily effected single guitar strum that opens this song is enough to get my eyes closed in almost any situation. Beautifully haunting, this song is not of the conscious world.

Street Spirit (fade out)- Radiohead: This outtro from The Bends album helps me do just that, fade out.

Drive- Blind Melon: This sleepy swagger of a song finds itself at peace enough to ask questions in the late night. Jimi, what would you do?

Play Crack The Sky- Brand New: The best artists know that you want to end a performance with high energy leaving them wanting more, but you end an album with a quieter, sincere, open heart to remind us why we love them.

I'm Not Worried At All- Moby: Possibly the king of music to fall asleep to, one could make a sleepy playlist of his songs alone but this song is a good one to put you at ease before sleep gets the better of you. You can't fall asleep if you are worried at all.

Immortality- Pearl Jam: i have fallen asleep to Vitalogy so many times as it winds down with this proper album ender only to be awoken but the somewhat scary bonus track sexyfoxhandlemomma. This is how it should have ended, and i would have slept much better if it had.

The Son Never Shines (on closed doors)- Flogging Molly: i know i have gone on at great length about this sweet song, and i know that the Irish blood in my veins may play some role, but no matter what happens over the span of a day it's nice to end with the reminder that we all find the same way home. We do indeed have more in common than we don't.