My Slumbering Heart

My Slumbering Heart is the the fifth song on the Rilo Kiley album The Execution of All Things, first released with the album on 2002-10-01. The song was composed by Jenny Lewis and Blake Sennett and is sung by Lewis with backing vocals by Sennet. Pierre de Reeder plays bass, Jason Boesel plays drums, Lewis plays Rhodes piano and keyboards, Rick Ricker plays french horn, Sennett plays guitar,

The song seems to be about Jenny remembering some wonderful scenes from her past, although they may be fantasies rather than dreams, but each is interrupted by her feeling bad about herself. I really love the lyric, "Tracing the lines in my face for something more beautiful than is there," which is a way we all feel from time to time. The song also mentions a person who Jenny is enamored with (a friend, a family member?) who being around always makes her feel good, but ultimately, she feels like she's let that person down; "I'm not a failure I swear. I wish you could see it from over there. I've got a lot over here without you."

Musically, I love the alternating beeping intro with the long synthesizer notes, and how it turns into a very poppy beat. Jenny's vocals manage to capture a slight amount of sleepiness and patheticness in them. Blake's guitar work is also really nice through the whole song.

Lyrics

In my dreams,
I see myself hitting a baseball
In a green field somewhere near a freeway.
I'm all tan and smiling and running from third base.

It's hot and
The kids keep on playing the driving game
And they're singing the same goddamn refrain,
And the sky's a bluish-gray.

It's become just like a chemical stress,
Tracing the lines in my face for
Something more beautiful than is there.
I've barely been gone.

And in my dreams,
I see you at the foot of some mountains
And we're taking some pictures or something,
And we'd better hurry up.

And it's late and
The sun keeps shooting through pine trees
And the grass stains are wet on your new jeans,
And we'd better hurry up.

And I've become just like a terrible mess.
Searching the lines in my face for
Something more beautiful than is there,
But the crowds keep me coming back,
Cheering.

In my dreams,
I see you asleep in a twin bed,
The covers pulled up over your head.
Am I asleep or awake?

And it's morning
And the captain is playing the radio,
And he's just put the paint on his new boat.
Am I asleep or awake?

And it just feels good when we're waking up.
And it just feels good when you're next to me.
And it just feels good when you're coming home.
And it just feels good when it's waking up.
(My slumbering heart.)

And I've become just like a chemical stress,
Tracing the lines in my face for
Something more beautiful than is there.
I've barely been gone.

And I'm not a failure I swear,
I wish you could see it from over there.
I've got a lot over here without you.
I've barely been gone,
Gone, dreaming.

Videos

• youtube.com/watch?v=ziX-fZV5y24 - Album version (includes a portion of That's How I Choose to Remember It).
• youtube.com/watch?v=qJXrIlg9GH4 - Live in Baltimore, 2002.
• youtube.com/watch?v=ywTaa1JJS-E - Live.

Links

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• en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Execution_of_All_Things - Wikipedia page for The Execution of All Things.