A Sleepless Night

It is really annoying to have insomnia. It is also annoying to find yourself infected with an earworm that won’t go away—you know—that song that gets into your head and sticks with you all day or all night long. It is super annoying when the two combine and even more frustrating when the song that is keeping you awake is a 1960’s hit song about insomnia…

I joined my partner and his friends last night to celebrate a birthday of one of the people in the group. We went to one of the Brazilian restaurants that are very popular right now in the US where you are treated to a barrage of roasted meats, deliciously cooked on skewers and delivered to your table faster than you can eat. We didn’t begin eating until about 8:30 pm, so after eating servings of garlic beef, filet mignon wrapped in bacon, chicken breast wrapped in bacon, pork loin, roasted pineapple and a delicious number of items from a salad bar, I was just a tad bit overstuffed by 10 when we adjourned to another part of town for birthday cake. By the time the evening was over and I returned to Cary to my partner’s home, it was 12:30 and I faced another half hour drive home to Durham.

My dogs were super hyper on my arrival, so I had to calm them down before I could get to bed and it was about 2 am before my head first hit the pillow. From then on, my night went downhill fast. I quickly fell off to sleep for about 5 minutes only to wake up hearing the following in my head:

I couldn’t sleep at all last night

Yes, thank you, Bobby Lewis for your 1961 hit song. I never really knew the lyrics thoroughly, so my brain simply filled in the blanks with gibberish and I went back to sleep for about 5 more minutes. Then:

Because I was tossin and turning
Turning and tossin
Tossin and turning all night

Ok, yes, I was. It didn’t help to be reminded of my sleeplessness by the song running through my head. I woke up another few minutes later to find my pillow was hot to my face, so I turned it over…

I kicked the blankets on the floor
Turned my pillow upside down…

You get the idea. This went on for hours. At about 5, I sat up in bed and thought of getting up to write or watch television just to clear my head, but I soon fell back to sleep and the song torture began yet again. Finally, I awoke from a deep state of sleep after an annoying dream that involved multiple generations of my dad’s family, most of whom had long since departed this earth. No sooner had I opened my eyes than the song started up again.

Years ago, I learned that the way to get rid of an earworm is to tell someone else about it. They will then get the song stuck in their head and I will find myself freed of the tune, for a while at least. My friend Steph taught me this trick when she called me up one night about midnight and said

“You know that song that goes, la la da ta la?”

“Yes, why?” I replied.

“Well, its been stuck in my head all day. Hey wait! It is gone suddenly! Nevermind. Goodnight.” Click. Dial tone.

La la da ta la…all night long. I was tempted to drive to her house and wake her up at 4 in the morning as I sat in my bed hearing the la la da ta la in my head.

So here I sit this morning, sharing my ear worm with you, hoping that it will disappear and I can go back to bed on this sunny day to recover the sleep I lost last night.

Hey! The song is gone from my head now! See you around sunset, folks!

Categories: humor earworm insomnia Tossing+and+Turning Bobby+Lewis