THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.

890-Faithless-Insomnia.

1995-Number 27 single. When it was re-released in 1996, it peaked at Number 3.

Best Bit-At 6.52.’Sweet dreams are made of this.’

Faithless (see also best songs 207) are an ‘Electronic Dance Music’ group who were formed in London, England, in 1995, by Maxwell Frazer, (Maxi Jazz) (1957-2022) who was the lead vocalist, Alalah Bentovim, (Sister Bliss) who plays keyboards, and produces, Rowland Armstrong, (Rollo) who is a music producer, and is also the brother of the singer Dido (see also best songs 936.) James Catto, who provided vocals was also a founding member, but left in 1999 to form the ‘Electronic Music’ duo ‘1 Giant Leap,’ with Duncan Bridgeman. The groups other member was Aubrey Nunn, (bass guitar) who joined late in 1995, and stayed until leaving in 2006.

‘Insomnia’ was co-written by Maxi Jazz, Sister Bliss, and Rollo, with the production credited to Rollo. The song was the second of four singles released from Faithless’ debut studio Album ‘Reverence,’ from April 1996, which later in 1996 was re-released as ‘Reverence / Irreverence,’ which contained an extra CD with remixes of the original songs. ‘Insomnia’ was first issued in November 1995, when reaching Number 27 in the UK, but over the next few months the song proved very popular in Europe, and it was the BBC Radio 1 DJ Pete Tong who campaigned for the songs re-release, which saw it peak this time in the UK at Number 3, in 1996.

As the songs title suggests, ‘Insomnia’ is about the medical condition of not being able to sleep. The subject is resonant with fans of ‘Dance Music,’ as stimulant use is common in club, and rave culture, and insomnia is a common side effect. Sister Bliss has spoken about the development of the song, ‘We wrote Insomnia in a garden shed, since that was where our producer Rollo Armstrong had his studio. Being in there all day and then DJ-ing all night was like having permanent jetlag. So I came up with the title ‘Insomnia’ because I couldn’t get to sleep. Rollo didn’t really play an instrument. He has a condition called ‘synaesthesia,’ where you see music as colours, so he’d just describe how he wanted something to sound. We were very stoned a lot of the time.

The lyrics for ‘Insomnia’ were written by Maxi Jazz who has said,’I got a call from Rollo asking if I could write some words for a new Dance track called ‘Insomnia.’ I spent 20 minutes with a pad jotting down my thoughts, finished the lyrics in the studio the following evening, then spent about 25 minutes putting the vocals down. That was that. The lyrics are from personal experience. I didn’t suffer from insomnia, but I’d just had an abscess on my tooth. It was so painful it would keep me awake. That first line, ‘Deep in the bosom of the gentle night,’ is not me channelling Dylan Thomas. That was forced on us by ‘MTV’ because they felt the original first line, ‘I only smoke weed when I need to,’ was too graphic. There were eyebrows raised about the lines ‘Making mad love to my girl on the heath, tearing off tights with my teeth,’ but they managed to stay in.’ Maxi Jazz has also said,’If I had a quid for every time someone’s come up going, “I can’t get no sleep”, I’d be living on the space station.’

As with many songs of the ‘Dance Music’ genre, there are a countless amount of official, and unofficial remixes that flood the market, for ‘Insomnia’ there are three main ones to concentrate on. The original ‘Reverence’ Album version at 8.46, the radio edit at 3.38, and the ‘Monster Mix’ at 8.38. The Album version contains some bells chiming at the start of the song, which were sampled from a BBC Sound Archive disc. The Album version also features a sample from the 1994 song ‘Novelty Waves,’ by the Norwegian ‘Electronic’ musician Geir Jenssen, who records under the stage name ‘Biosphere.’ The best known version of ‘Insomnia’ is the ‘Monster Mix,’ which is the mix that is also featured on Faithless’ greatest hits album ‘Forever Faithless,’ which was released in 2005. This mix was created by Bill Padley in 1995, with the edit being picked up by BBC Radio 1, and helped turn the song into a hit single.

‘I used to worry, thought I was going mad in a hurry. Gettin’ stressed, makin’ excess mess in darkness. No electricity, something’s all over me, greasy insomnia, please release me, and let me dream of makin’ mad love to my girl on the heath, tearin’ off tights with my teeth.’