When You Sleep

Cake

When you sleep
Where do your fingers go?
What do your fingers know?
What do your fingers show?
Where do your fingers go?

When you sleep
Do they tremble on the edge of the bed
Or do you fold them neatly by your head
Do they clench like claws against your own skin
When you're living your day all over again

When you sleep (when you sleep)
Where do your fingers go? (when you sleep)
What do your fingers know? (when you sleep)
What do your fingers show? (when you sleep)
Where do your fingers go, yeah? (when you sleep)

Do they play guitar in a Latin bar
Are they strangers or lovers
Do they drive your car
Are they swimming submissively
Sex acts of life
Or just cutting through jello with a very sharp knife

Now Zeus was a womanizer
Always on the make
But Hera usually punished her that Zeus was one to take

When you sleep
Where do your fingers go?

Are they pulling out weeds from the dusty soil
But then never rewarded with the fruits of their toil
Are they scratching their nails on the chalkboards of death
Only seeking attention when everyone in the room has left

(When you sleep) where do your fingers go?
(When you sleep) what do your fingers know?
(When you sleep) what do your fingers show?
(When you sleep) where do your fingers go?
(When you sleep)

When you sleep
Do they tremble on the edge of the bed
Or do you fold them neatly by your head


Lyrics submitted by Ice, edited by Chrysolopus spectabilis

When You Sleep Lyrics as written by John M Mccrea

Lyrics © Wixen Music Publishing

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When You Sleep song meanings
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14 Comments

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  • +1
    General Comment
    well first off this is one of my personal favorites from cake. fingers are a motif representing your inner self. you may not know who you are but cake says to reference your fingers while you sleep. who are you really? "do they tremble on the edge of the bed or do you fold them neatly by your head do they clench like claws against your own skin when you're living your day all over again"? what's your real personality... not your words, not even your actions. just something much more subtle like your fingers while asleep. whenever someone wakes up he/she's in a most natural position. you can control the position you fall asleep but cannot control your posture when you wake up. so you're forced to witness your real self. i think the end part is the most revealing: "when you sleep do they tremble on the edge of the bed or do you fold them neatly by your head"? are you scared to go to sleep or are you confident that you know who you really are. in other words do you know what your fingers are doing while your asleep??
    mavs41on July 14, 2005   Link
  • +1
    General Comment
    yea but even so... don't you ever get the feeling when artists voluntarily tell someone what their songs are about they just screw around half the time to see if that person would believe it?
    supernukeon June 16, 2007   Link
  • +1
    My Interpretation
    I suspect that any song interpretation occurs at different levels: literal and metaphorical/allegorical. Part of the reason it is so fun is that the song often takes on a life of its own without regard to the artist's original intent. This song doesn't seem to literally apply to anything except masturbation, but the metaphors used lend themselves to a variety of more expansive interpretations. I just love the song for the musical quality and the metaphors. I care less about the fact that it may relate to masturbation. My favorite two metaphors are: pulling weeds from dusty soil and scratching nails on the chalkboard. I have to admit, however, that I misunderstood the chalkboard lyric. My misinterpretation of it made a lot more sense to me! I thought it said "are they scratching their nails on the chalkboards of DEAF." That lyric made more sense to me from a "futility" standpoint because the following phrase about "seeking attention when everyone in the room has left" suggested futility and desperation.
    ontoicon March 26, 2009   Link
  • +1
    General Comment
    now Zeus was a womanizer always on the lake but Hera usually punished her that Zeus was *wont* to take "wont" rather than "one"
    Shapokliyakon October 30, 2013   Link
  • +1
    General Comment
    I think this song is about a guy asking his partner what her sex was like when she cheated on him. I think "sleep" refers to sex in this instance. He asks if they are strangers or lovers, which is basically him asking if it's a long term thing or just a one night stand. The Zeus and Hera lines refer to what their relationship is like (the singer being Hera and his partner being Zeus). This also seems to illustrate that this isn't the first time this happened. I think the second verse is more spiteful. "Never rewarded for the fruits of their toil" I think this is a jab at his lover because he is constantly putting work into their relationship. I think the next two lines refer to him desperately needing love and attention which his partner never gives him.
    Holabellaon November 30, 2017   Link
  • 0
    General Comment
    This song seems to be describing a dream. The song takes a sudden turn when he talks about Zeus but then returns to talking about fingers. I have had dreams that twist and turn like that. The lines "are they pulling out... but then never rewarded.." sound like what is done in a dream is lost once you wake up. God Bless Victor Damiani :D
    MorningStaron March 27, 2002   Link
  • 0
    General Comment
    that brian zelinski is a deush bag
    a0g0e7nt86on March 21, 2003   Link
  • 0
    General Comment
    I'm pretty sure it's about how you can tell what a person is like, and what kind of life they have, by the way their fingers move, and the positions they're in, while the person is sleeping.
    Immortal113on December 30, 2004   Link
  • 0
    General Comment
    could be. And Zeus/Hera could represent different kinds of people.
    rationalevilon January 18, 2005   Link
  • 0
    General Comment
    I read in an interview Vince feeling the lyrics of this song being about masturbation, as he mentioned how people generally sleep with their hands near the genital area anyway...I kid you not!
    pharmageekon May 12, 2006   Link

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