Musitorial – Sleepwalking Strangers

musitorial n a mashup of music, musings and editorials, music and song that evokes thought and commentary.

Not so recently, I read a then new novel by the prolific Robert Harris called The Second Sleep (2019, Random House Canada) that should have intrigued me more than it actually did at the time. That’s not to say I didn’t like it, because it was okay – just not up to Harris’s enviable standards IMHO.

The premise of The Second Sleep, as I recall it, is inspired by a very real somatic (i.e., of the body) phenomenon experienced by a great many people – perhaps everyone. That is, the tendency to awake for a brief period (sometimes longer) during the night, thus breaking our overall sleep duration. This is not the same as sleepwalking. Some people actually rise during this wakeful period and even perform a task or two before returning to bed for their second sleep.

Harris’s fictional world is governed by a priestly class – some of whom may hold knowledge of clues that the novel present as another of earth’s incarnations. That’s what I remember as the gist of the thing.

But of the circumstances around that society’s demise and rebirth are, frustratingly, left to the reader to imagine. As a reader, I wanted more. Indeed, I rather thought there would be a sequel (or is that prequel?). Apparently, many readers were likewise hungry for more.

As it turns out, my wish has come true, though not in the form of another book. In reality, we may be living the prequel right now, as the world’s major powers (both economic and military) seize upon the implosion of reason, and ramp up ideas and fears of mutually assured destruction.

Today’s musitorial salutes The Five Man Electrical Band (known as The Staccatos from 1963 to 1968) – a Canadian band, at that! From their 1972 album Sweet Paradise comes, “I’m a Stranger Here.” The song hit No. 2 on Canadian playlists and No. 72 on U.S. lists (hmm).

The song’s lyrics speak for themselves (you can link to a recording below), so I’ll highlight just a couple of lines:

Oh, you crazy fools!

Don't you know you had it made?

You were living in paradise

Enjoy.

=30=

Link to lyrics of “I’m a Stranger Here” on Genius.com: https://genius.com/Five-man-electrical-band-im-a-stranger-here-lyrics

For Amazon Music subscribers, the same link gives you access to a recording of “I’m a Stranger Here” on Genius.com., or…

Tinyurl link to YouTube recording of “I’m a Stranger Here”:  https://tinyurl.com/5a74pcjs

Link to Wikipedia entry on the Five Man Electrical Band: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five_Man_Electrical_Band