Awake O Zion!

I go to bed at 10 pm, and I wake up around 5.30 to 6 am. Hopefully, that information won’t be of much use to all you identity thieves out there 😀.

I developed the habit of waking earlier when the kids were young. I’d like to shift it to 11 to 7, but it never works. When I was young, I’d consider it very unusual if I woke as early as 7. I usually woke around 8 and struggled to get out of bed. I think perhaps, having a delightful cup of coffee in the morning might be why I want to wake early.

I generally like to talk about music, hymns and the Scriptures on my blog. I don’t know how I can relate this topic to these subjects but here are some songs, hymns and verses on the subject that I’ve become familiar with over the years.

Pop Songs About Sleep

• And Dream of Sheep – Kate Bush: This opened the second side of Hounds of Love. I bought that album for my new girlfriend (now wife) back at Christmas 1985. I remember it playing in a laser show at the London Planetarium a couple of years later.
• Golden Slumbers – The Beatles: A very short song from the Abbey Road medley. I first heard it in 1976. It’s an old nursery rhyme put to song.
• Only When I Sleep – The Corrs: This reminds me of the autumn of 1997. I was often cynical about Irish groups, “a prophet isn’t without honour except in his own town” Mark 6:4. But The Corrs are one of the groups that I’d be proud of, along with Gilbert O’Sullivan, Horslips, Thin Lizzy and Undertones from the 70s, U2 and Microdisney from the 80s, and Ash from the 1990s. I’m sure that there are more, but these are the ones I think of off the top of my head. I can’t think of many since 2000. Hozier’s Take Me to Church (2014) isn’t a bad song, but it’s not really about him wanting to go to church. Maybe someone should take him to church😀.
• I’m Only Sleeping – The Beatles: This is on Revolver, an album I bought second-hand in K-Sons, a long forgotten second-hand book and record shop in Cork, back in 1975. And Madness singer, Suggs, had a hit with it in 1995. It’s a song about not wanting to be woken. I felt like that in the summer of 1969 when my family tried to wake me to see the moon landing. I waited to watch the repeat the next morning. They said that I’d be able to tell my grandchildren that I saw the moon landing. Well, I don’t have any grandchildren yet, and if I do, I’ll be able to tell them that I’m such a cool person that I didn’t even bother to get up to watch the moon landing 😀.
• Talking in Your Sleep – Crystal Gayle: A nice country song from 1978 about someone revealing their love for someone else while talking in their sleep. I generally just dream about getting lost or being on a high wall wondering how to get down 😀. Thankfully, I don’t talk in my sleep.

Pop Songs About Waking

• Wake Up Everybody – Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes: I’m only vaguely familiar with this one. You could almost think of it as a gospel song.
• Wake Up Little Susie – Everly Brothers: A song about falling asleep in the cinema. I have fallen asleep while watching the TV but never in the cinema.
• Wake Up Boo! – The Boo Radleys: I remember this one being reviewed by Zig and Zag on The Late Late Breakfast show back in 1995. I should have mentioned Zig and Zag above when I spoke of Irish artists to be proud of. We always loved them. Strictly speaking, they come from the planet Zog, so they’re not Irish 😀.
• Wake Me Up When September Ends – Green Day: Not much to say about this 2005 song apart from the fact that it’s better than their other song released that year, American Idiot.
• Wake Up and Smell the Coffee – The Cranberries: I was never a great fan, but they come from Limerick, and I liked a few of their hits. I think that I once saw their lead singer, Dolores O’Riordan in the Crescent Shopping Centre in Limerick, with a pram. She looked at me as if she recognized me. Perhaps she did, because I used to hand out leaflets outside the old Limerick Baptist Church building near her school, Laurel Hill. The Cranberries had a hit with Salvation, which was about recovering from drugs. She sang “Salvation is Free”. I sometimes wonder might that title have been inspired by one of my posters, but probably not 😀. I did like their first couple of songs, Linger and Dreams, and I greatly admired Zombies. Few people in the Republic supported Irish terrorists, and it was nice to hear a rock song voicing our opinion on them.

Hymns About Sleep

I’ll let these hymns and spiritual songs speak for themselves.

• Asleep in Jesus! Blessed Sleep
• Now the Day Is Over
• Abide with Me
• The Day Thou Gavest Lord Is Ended
• I Lay Me Down in Peace to Sleep

Hymns or Spiritual Songs About Waking

• Christ Be in My Waking
• Awake, My Soul, and with the Sun
• When Morning Gilds the Skies
• When You Gonna Wake Up: Bob Dylan
• Morning Has Broken: Yusef/Cat Stevens

The Bible Verses About Sleep

Psalm 4:8
“In peace I will lie down and sleep, for you alone, Lord, make me dwell in safety.”

Proverbs 3:24
“When you lie down, you will not be afraid; when you lie down, your sleep will be sweet.”

Ecclesiastes 5:12
“The sleep of a laborer is sweet, whether they eat little or much, but as for the rich, their abundance permits them no sleep.”

The Bible Verses About Waking

The first one relates to laziness. Even if you’re not lazy, you could be unaware of spiritual matters, so the next two are wake-up calls.

Proverbs 6:9
“How long will you lie there, you sluggard? When will you get up from your sleep?”

Ephesians 5:14
“Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”

1 Thessalonians 5:6
“So then, let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us be awake and sober.”

So, you can see that sleep and waking can be metaphors. We need to be alert and at the same time, we can rest easy when we trust in Jesus.

There was a time when the sun never set on the British empire. That’s no longer true. But the sun never sets on God’s work. Sleep hymns are often sung at funerals, because sleep is sometimes used as a metaphor for death. From the point of view of the bereaved, it’s a long sleep. But from the point of the view of the one who died, it’s the shortest sleep they’ll ever have. In fact, there’s no sleep at all. In a moment, they are before God. And if they are believers, they won’t need to worry about judgement, which is why the Apostle Paul was very keen to depart and be with Christ (Phil 1:23) Despite having been the chief of sinners, he wasn’t worried about judgement. He knew he was forgiven. And the thief on the cross knew he would be with Christ in paradise later that day Luke (23:32-24).