‘Stay In Bed, Float Up Stream . . .’

 by whiteray

I woke up a while back with the strains of the Beatles’ “I’m Only Sleeping” running through my head. They stayed there most of that day. The next morning – no doubt because I’d been thinking of the tune – those strains were still there. 

I made a note or two, promising myself to dig into the track sometime, and well, here we are. We’ll start with one of the better books on my shelf about the Fab Four, Beatlesongs by William J. Dowlding. 

First, though, I should note that American Beatle fans of similar vintage as I will remember the track as coming from the album Yesterday . . . and Today, an album cobbled together by Capitol from various sources, as was the company’s practice through 1966. Yesterday . . . and Today was made up of three singles and B-sides previously unreleased on LP in the States, two tracks that had been withheld from the U.S. version of the album Rubber Soul, and three from the upcoming Revolver. The three tracks thus displaced from Revolver in the American market – at least until the advent of CDs and the restoration of the Beatles’ catalog – were “Doctor Robert,” “And Your Bird Can Sing,” and “I’m Only Sleeping.” 

Thus, notes Dowlding, the U.S. version of Revolver had more of a Paul McCartney flavor than did the longer British version, as the three tunes shifted to Yesterday . . . and Today came mostly from the pen of John Lennon. “I’m Only Sleeping” and “And Your Bird Can Sing,” Dowlding notes, were entirely Lennon’s creations. As for “Doctor Robert,” Dowlding offers a quote from Lennon: “I think Paul helped in the middle.” 

Dowlding says that “I’m Only Sleeping,” was recorded in late April and early May 1966. Perhaps the most notable thing about the record – beyond its utterly drowsy atmosphere – is the backward guitar section. Dowlding offers a lengthy quote from producer George Martin about how that was accomplished: 

In order to record the backward guitar on a track like “I’m Only Sleeping,” you work out what your chord sequence is and write them down in the reverse order of the chords – as they are going to come up – so you can recognize them. Then you learn to boogie around on that chord sequence, but you really don’t know what it’s going to sound like until it comes out again. It’s hit or miss, no doubt about it, but you do it a few times, and when you like what you hear you keep it. 

It wasn’t as easy as Martin makes it sound, according to a note from another volume on my shelf: Here, There and Everywhere by long-time Beatle engineer Geoff Emerick and collaborator Howard Massey. Emerick writes that getting that solo for “I’m Only Sleeping” made him wish “we had never come up with the concept of backwards sound.” 

And then Emerick takes aim at Beatle George Harrison’s musical abilities (something he does regularly throughout the book): 

At the best of times, [Harrison] had trouble playing solos all the way through forwards, so it was with great trepidation that we all settled in for what turned out to be an interminable day of listening to the same eight bars played backwards over and over again. . . . I can still picture George – and later, Paul, who joined him to play the backwards outro in a bizarre duet – hunched over his guitar for hours on end, headphones clamped on, brows furrowed in concentration. 

Assessing the finished track, Dowlding offers a comment from Lennon’s long-time friend, Pete Shotton, who said the song “brilliantly evokes the state of chemically induced lethargy into which John had . . . drifted.” 

When I wake up early in the morning
Lift my head, I’m still yawning
When I’m in the middle of a dream
Stay in bed, float up stream (float up stream) 

Please, don’t wake me
No, don’t shake me
Leave me where I am
I’m only sleeping 

Everybody seems to think I’m lazy
I don’t mind, I think they’re crazy
Runnin’ everywhere at such a speed
’Til they find there’s no need (there’s no need) 

Please, don’t spoil my day
I’m miles away
And after all
I’m only sleeping 

Keepin’ an eye on the world going by my window
Takin’ my time

Lyin' there and staring at the ceiling
Waiting for a sleepy feeling 

Please, don’t spoil my day
I’m miles away
And after all
I’m only sleeping 

Keepin’ an eye on the world going by my window
Takin’ my time 

When I wake up early in the morning
Lift my head, I’m still yawning
When I’m in the middle of a dream
Stay in bed, float up stream (float up stream) 

Please, don’t wake me
No, don’t shake me
Leave me where I am
I’m only sleeping

Having known the track for more than fifty years – I got Yesterday . . . and Today as a high school graduation present in 1971, nearly five years after it came out – and having had it run through my head for a couple of days not long ago and again today as I worked on this, I concur with Shotton’s assessment.