Laziness is generally not a good character trait to have if you have designs on being a rock and roll star. That’s why it’s somewhat amazing that John Lennon rose to the heights he achieved with The Beatles, despite enjoying his slumber maybe a bit more than the average bloke.
A few times throughout his career, Lennon referenced his predilection toward slumber in his songs. On the White Album track “I’m So Tired,” the title says it all, as Lennon wrote it while fighting both a bout of insomnia and his deep longing for his new love Yoko Ono, from whom he was separated by distance at the time.
The Sleepy Beatle
John Lennon liked to sleep. Profiles of him done in The Beatles’ era make mention of it. Occasionally, it came in handy, like the time Paul McCartney, while waiting for his songwriting partner to awaken so they could begin working, dashed off the classic “Here, There and Everywhere” in the meantime.
Lennon was unapologetic about this side of his character. He even wrote about it, most notably on the song “I’m Only Sleeping,” a drowsy defense of the need to get some shuteye found on Revolver. (There’s even some yawning audible on the record to really drive home the point.)
In 1968, Lennon joined the other Beatles on a trip to India for a retreat to study Transcendental Meditation with the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. The stipulations of the getaway called for all attendees to abstain from drugs and alcohol and focus on their meditations. It turned out to be a fertile songwriting period for the band, as many of the songs that would appear on the White Album later that year came from their stay in India.
Lennon found that he was getting very good at meditating, but he couldn’t get to sleep. Perhaps the clean living threw him, or, more likely, being without Yoko Ono, who could not join him in India, was the cause. Ono couldn’t be seen in such a public setting at that point with Lennon, considering he was still married to first wife Cynthia at the time. (Their divorce became final in November of ’68.)
Examining the Lyrics of “I’m So Tired”
“I’m So Tired” is a great example of a track whose lyrics might not seem like much on paper. But when you have Lennon giving him them life with his lead vocal, he kind of points you in the direction of their deeper meaning. The insomnia which the lyrics reference is only part of the story, and the desire and frustration that creeps into his voice tells the rest.
Lennon begins the song simply enough by stating his fundamental problem: I’m so tired, I haven’t slept a wink. My mind is on the blink, he confides, admitting how his fatigue has started to create a kind of ruthless cycle: Because he’s not sleeping, his mind is racing, which makes it even harder to get to sleep and solve this problem.
Because he can’t use alcohol to rectify the situation, he begins thinking about the lover who’s nowhere near: I’m so tired, my mind is set on you. He decides against calling her, likely because it will only make him feel the separation more distinctly. In the third verse, he tries cigarettes as a solution, which leads to one of the funnier lines in Lennon’s catalog: And curse Sir Walter Raleigh / He was such a stupid git. (Among his other feats, Raleigh was a pioneer of tobacco use in Great Britain.)
In the refrains, the tempo picks up and Lennon sings with budding intensity, no longer able to contain his angst over his lack of sleep. But it’s no joke, it’s doing me harm, he rages, trying to communicate the severity of his plight. He claims insanity is his next stop if he can’t get some relief.
Lennon’s final lines: I’d give you everything I’ve got / For a little piece of mind. That’s a bit of a different demand than wanting sleep, as it hints at a broader mental and emotional malaise. “I’m So Tired” comes on like a simple plea for zzz’s, but ends up revealing that maybe John Lennon wasn’t quite at peace even when he was well-rested.
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