When I was younger, I used to find this song very calming and relaxing for some reason and would sometimes listen to it right before sleep to help make me more sleepy.
I don’t need music to sleep, I prefer silence. But anything without lyrics from Enya is quite soporific. Not in a negative sense, I really like Enya’s music.
But I actually used to put on the soundtrack to the video game Myst:Riven to help me relax.
Perhaps a bit cliche, but Barber’s Adagio for Strings. Although honestly it’s hard for me to sleep to music anyway; I usually end up analyzing it instead.
I used to listen to Enya to relax. Anything without lyrics, like you, or with a mainly choral sound. Nothing with her vocals out front, as it would occupy my mind and keep me awake. Also listened to a lot of Kitaro years ago.
These days, I like, “Sounds of Nature” type stuff, like rainstorms, forest, babbling brooks, ocean surf, etc. Though, there are still some songs that are relaxing to me.
The guitar carries me away.
When she’s not hawking horrible pictures of abused animals, I’ve always found Sarah McLachlan singing “Blackbird” to be so peaceful that it makes me sleepy. Her voice invokes fields of daisies and slightly sunny days with warm breezes. Who couldn’t nap under those conditions?
Well, that was a soothing tune right there. And I agree w/ you… I typically pay a lot of attention to the music I listen to. If i’m tired, I could probably sleep through an Iron Maiden concert, though. I did lull-out for a few minutes at both the Herbie Hancock and Al Dimeola shows I went to, but that’s a different thread.
For insomnia, nothing soothes better than the song of a V8 Formula One car:
Music typically amps me, even the slow stuff as I listen to the lyrics and that gets my brain going, so I don’t listen while trying to fall asleep. I’ll go for relaxing instead. I find Ebudae soothing but Enya’s been mentioned a couple times already, so I’ll add some Loreena McKennitt:
More Loreena: Dante’s Prayer
In addition to being what I feel is Heart’s most underrated song, I actually loved putting this one, with its beach sounds and gentle acoustic guitar, on repeat play and minimum volume for my ‘naps’ (I stayed up late on many a non-school night, and therefore only slept for anywhere from three-six hours tops depending upon how ‘early’ I’d actually retire to bed) during my teens.
This is another hard one, since I don’t typically listen to music to fall asleep. But, interpreting the task as ‘a song that kind of lulls you into a pleasant relaxed calmness’, the first thing that came to my mind was How Wonderful you Are by Gordon Haskell. It’s kinda slow jazzy, Haskell’s voice just exudes laid-backness, and it’s got a sax solo. So yeah, that’ll do.
I can’t sleep to any music; I just get too involved with it. So I’ll have to say:
4’33", by John Cage, performed flawlessly by William Marx (though I think the piano is a little out of tune).
All That Will Be Has Become, All That Has Come Is Not Gone
Arbouretum
You’d think the inane lyrics would cancel out the song’s calming abilities but I have very clear memories of being lulled to sleep by (omigosh I can’t believe I’m admitting this) Captain and Tenille’s Muskrat Love :o Oy.
Like many mentioned before, music isn’t exactly easy for me to fall asleep to. However, I can easily doze while Deep Blue Day by Eno is playing. Even sitting here, fully conscious, I’m lulled into a relaxed state by it.
But to be totally honest, I sleep best while WWII documentaries are playing quietly on the TV. It’s probably a side effect of my father’s heavy interest in the subject coupled with his poor hearing at the time, while I was trying to go to bed on the other side of the house.
I have a later album of ballads by Sarah Vaughn that can lull me to sleep easily. I don’t have a cite at the moment, as I am at work and can’t remember the name of the album, but that deep, rich, voice just surrounds me like a cocoon. I feel safe and warm and I just drop right off. It’s great for those insomniac nights I have far too frequently.
Blondie - Sound-A-Sleep. Pretty self-explanatory, this one.
This song relaxes me. Elizabeth Fraser is whispering in my ear as I doze off.
Teardrop - Massive attack
This song puts me to sleep to escape the horrible repetitiousness and boring lyrics. It’s never-ending and makes me want to knock myself into unconsciousness.
Well clearly I am in good company when I say that I don’t like falling asleep to music. But in terms of a song that relaxes me and gets me sleepy, I will submit Incubus’s Aqueous Transmissions.
Ack! you stole my thunder! (Marx also coulda used more damper pedal)
ummmm…
King Crimson - “Cadence and Cascade”
and this caught my interest while watching “Traffic”:
(another Eno ditty…hmmm lol seems his style lends itself to nappy-waps?)…“An Ending (Ascent)”