Insomniac Mood

[billroper]

This song has been rolling around my head since before Windycon with various bits and pieces scrawled on a sheet of paper and bits of tune coming out of the guitar. The problem was getting the bits to fit together, which they were stubbornly refusing to do. I finally bashed the tune over the head and figured out how to shift the melody and tempo back to what I'd originally been thinking of. After that, things started coming together and I finally finished it up today.

The protagonist is having a distinctly unpleasant night.

But not you. Sleep well. :)

Words and Music: Bill Roper
Copyright 2025

Insomniac Mood

Night has come, the shadows creep.
You’re in bed, it’s time to sleep.
All you need to do is close your eyes.
Sleep won’t come, your mind abstains.
The Sandman’s locked Sleep up in chains
Leaving you to hear her anguished cries.

(Chorus)
There’s no way to recover.
Mr. Sandman’s being rude.
Under covers you’ll discover
You can’t sleep – in your insomniac mood.

Tossing, turning, lost in bed.
Memories swirl within your head,
Every error that you ever made.
Sleep would take the pain away,
But Sleep in chains can’t come today,
Crying out of how she’s been betrayed.

(Bridge)
Sandman laughs and Sleep cries out.
“You don’t know what it’s all about.
I’ve left her as I found her
In chains I can’t undo.
The question of the night remains:
Who’s the one who cast these chains?”
She knows the one who bound her
And her finger points at you.

The chains you forged can’t be undone.
There’s nothing left here to be won
As Sleep and Sandman vanish in the night.
And were these shadows what they seem
Or did you sleep, perchance to dream
For even a short time before the light?

(Chorus twice)

In your insomniac mood.
In your insomniac mood.