No Sleep Blues lyrics

Song information

Artist: The Incredible String Band
Album: The 5000 Spirits Or The Layers Of The Onion

Lyrics

Cracks rack the windows
Howls hold the floor;
Rains rot the rafters
And do you just have to snore?
It's a most inclement climate
For the season of the night
Is that mouse playing football, oh
I thought they didn't like the light?

And the dawn comes sneaking up
When it thinks I'm not looking;
I am starting to grieve, man
I used to know but now I believe, man
They tell me sleep is a gas
And if I want to lay down
But I'm sorry I woke you
I mean I've got the no sleep blues

There's mayhem in this mansion
Since the cows were coming home
With delirium no sleepum
In a cloud of nylon foam
But release scours the outhouse
And a hard rain sears the sky
But if you let the pigs decide it
They will put you in the sty

And the dawn comes sneaking up
When it thinks I'm not looking;
I am starting to grieve, man
I used to know but now I believe, man
They tell me sleep is a gas
And if I want to lay down
But I'm sorry I woke you
I mean I've got the no sleep blues

I think I'll get a picture
And I think I'll put it on a nail
I think I'll get another one
And put it in a pail
But the pail got so rusty
I called it red, red, red for fun
And I laughed like a leaver
Till you ought to seen it run

And the dawn comes sneaking up
When it thinks I'm not looking;
I am starting to grieve, man
I used to know but now I believe, man
They tell me sleep is a gas
And if I want to lay down
But I'm sorry I woke you
I mean I've got the no sleep blues

The size of the future declared itself no part
Aloof like a sultan in the autumn of your heart
But the heart got so hearty
That it pulled for the shore
And the sailors fired a big salute
And it made my ears quite sore

And the dawn was sneaking up
When it thinks I'm not looking;
I am starting to grieve, man
I used to know but now I believe, man
They tell me sleep is a gas
And I want to lay down
But I'm sorry I woke you
I mean I've got the no sleep blues

I mixed stones and water
Just to see what it would do
And the water it got stoney
And the stones got watery too
So I mixed my feet with water
Just to see what could be seen
And the water it got dirty
And the feet they got quite clean

And the dawn comes sneaking up
When it thinks I'm not looking;
I am starting to grieve, man
I used to know but now I believe, man
They tell me sleep is a gas
And if I want to lay down
But I'm sorry I woke you
I mean I've got the no sleep blues