Sunday, November 30, 2008

Endless Sleep, Endless Sleep





JODY REYNOLDS lyrics - Endless Sleep

(Jody Reynolds and Dolores Nance)

The night was black, rain fallin' down
Looked for my baby, she's nowhere around
Traced her footsteps down to the shore
‘fraid she's gone forever more
I looked at the sea and it seemed to say
“I took your baby from you away.
I heard a voice cryin' in the deep
“Come join me, baby, in my endless sleep.

Why did we quarrel, why did we fight?
Why did I leave her alone tonight?
That's why her footsteps ran into the sea
That's why my baby has gone from me.
I looked at the sea and it seemed to say
“I took your baby from you away.
I heard a voice cryin' in the deep
“Come join me, baby, in my endless sleep.

Ran in the water, heart full of fear
There in the breakers I saw her near
Reached for my darlin', held her to me
Stole her away from the angry sea
I looked at the sea and it seemed to say
“You took your baby from me away.
My heart cried out “she's mine to keep
I saved my baby from an endless sleep.

[Fade]
Endless sleep, endless sleep

Sometimes I miss things. Jody Reynolds died on November 7th, he had liver cancer and was 75. He was famous for a song called "Endless Sleep," which charted in the summer of 1958, and was one of the first truly great Teenage Death Songs. The title is sung the way waves would hit the shore, rising with END and dropping with LESS, sliding into SLEEP. Works for riding the subways, too. the el tracks get that whole metal in motion thing going, tt-chh, tt-chhtt, tt-chh. Its still not cold enough to dread the el train; a few years back, during our string of twenty below wind chill nights, someone asked me what we do on the train when its that cold. I replied it was like the end of the remake of THE THING, you stare at the person across from you and wait to see who falls asleep from the cold first. (Added memory bonus: Kurt Russell is in the remake and survives to the end!)

3 comments:

Charles Gramlich said...

Your mention of the ending of the THing, and associating it with the EL on cold nights really sent a chill down my spine. I can see that so well. What a great story image.

Capcom said...

Wow, I'd never heard that song before so I looked it up an Youtube. I like it, it reminds me of the Beasts of Bourbon clip that G.W. put on his blog for Halloween.

Is there any CD compilation with some of this kind of twangy depress-o-billy music done by various artists? The rest of the Jody Reynolds album isn't like that song.

James Robert Smith said...

Whenever I get cold, I think of Wayne Sallee.