''Leave Your Sleep'' is the fifth

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

by American singer-songwriter

Natalie Merchant Natalie Anne Merchant (born October 26, 1963) is an American alternative rock singer-songwriter. She joined the band 10,000 Maniacs in 1981 and was lead vocalist and primary lyricist for the group. She remained with the group for their first se ...

. Produced by Merchant and Andres Levin, the double

concept album A concept album is an album whose tracks hold a larger purpose or meaning collectively than they do individually. This is typically achieved through a single central narrative or theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, or lyrical. Som ...

is "a project about childhood" and is a collection of music adapted from 19th and 20th century British and American poetry about childhood. ''

BBC Music BBC Music is responsible for the music played across the BBC. The current director of music is Bob Shennan, who is also the controller of BBC Radio 2, BBC Radio 6 Music, and the BBC Asian Network. Officially it is a part of the BBC's Radio o ...

'' describes it as "200 years of lyrical and musical history, washing beautifully by."

Tracks

Inspiration

The sleeve notes credit inspiration for the songs of this album as follows: * ''Adventures of Isabel'' –

Ogden Nash Frederic Ogden Nash (August 19, 1902 – May 19, 1971) was an American poet well known for his light verse, of which he wrote over 500 pieces. With his unconventional rhyming schemes, he was declared by ''The New York Times'' the country's best ...

* ''Autumn Lullaby'' – Anonymous * ''Bleezer's Ice-Cream'' –

Jack Prelutsky Jack Prelutsky (born September 8, 1940) is an American writer of children's poetry who has published over 50 poetry collections. He served as the first U.S. Children's Poet Laureate (now called the Young People's Poet Laureate) from 2006–08 ...

* ''Calico Pie'' –

Edward Lear Edward Lear (12 May 1812 – 29 January 1888) was an English artist, illustrator, musician, author and poet, who is known mostly for his literary nonsense in poetry and prose and especially his limerick (poetry), limericks, a form he popularised. ...

* ''Crying, My Little One'' –

Christina Rossetti Christina Georgina Rossetti (5 December 1830 – 29 December 1894) was an English writer of romantic, devotional and children's poems, including "Goblin Market" and "Remember". She also wrote the words of two Christmas carols well known in Brit ...

* ''If No One Ever Marries Me'' –

Laurence Alma-Tadema Laurence Alma-Tadema (August 1865 – 12 March 1940), born Laurense Tadema, was a British writer of the late 19th and early 20th centuries who worked in many genres. Early life Alma-Tadema was born in Brussels in 1865. She was the eldest da ...

If No One Ever Marries Me
poem by Laurence Alma-Tadema, ArtMagick Illustrated Poetry Collection * ''Indian Names'' –

Lydia Huntley Sigourney Lydia Huntley Sigourney (September 1, 1791 – June 10, 1865), ''née'' Lydia Howard Huntley, was an American poet, author, and publisher during the early and mid 19th century. She was commonly known as the "Sweet Singer of Hartford." She had a ...

* ''I Saw a Ship A-Sailing'' – Anonymous * ''It Makes a Change'' –

Mervyn Peake Mervyn Laurence Peake (9 July 1911 – 17 November 1968) was an English writer, artist, poet, and illustrator. He is best known for what are usually referred to as the '' Gormenghast'' books. The four works were part of what Peake conceived ...

* ''Equestrienne'' –

Rachel Field Rachel Lyman Field (September 19, 1894 – March 15, 1942) was an American novelist, poet, and children's fiction writer. She is best known for the Newbery Award–winning ''Hitty, Her First Hundred Years''. Field also won a National Book Award, ...

* ''Griselda'' –

Eleanor Farjeon Eleanor Farjeon (13 February 1881 – 5 June 1965) was an English author of children's stories and plays, poetry, biography, history and satire. Several of her works had illustrations by Edward Ardizzone. Some of her correspondence has also be ...

* ''Maggie and Milly and Molly and May'' –

E. E. Cummings Edward Estlin Cummings, who was also known as E. E. Cummings, e. e. cummings and e e cummings (October 14, 1894 - September 3, 1962), was an American poet, painter, essayist, author and playwright. He wrote approximately 2,900 poems, two autobi ...

* ''Nursery Rhyme of Innocence and Experience'' –

Charles Causley Charles Stanley Causley CBE FRSL (24 August 1917 – 4 November 2003) was a British poet, school teacher and writer. His work is often noted for its simplicity and directness as well as its associations with folklore, legends and magic, especi ...

* '' Spring and Fall'' –

Gerard Manley Hopkins Gerard Manley Hopkins (28 July 1844 – 8 June 1889) was an English poet and Jesuit priest, whose posthumous fame placed him among leading Victorian poets. His prosody – notably his concept of sprung rhythm – established him as an innovato ...

* ''Sweet and a Lullaby'' – Anonymous * '' The Blindmen and the Elephant'' – John Godfrey Saxe * ''The Dancing Bear'' –

Albert Paine Albert Bigelow Paine (July 10, 1861 – April 9, 1937) was an American author and biographer best known for his work with Mark Twain. Paine was a member of the Pulitzer Prize Committee and wrote in several genres, including fiction, humor, and ...

* ''The Janitor's Boy'' – Nathalia Crane * ''The King of China's Daughter'' – Anonymous * ''The Land of Nod'' –

Robert Louis Stevenson Robert Louis Stevenson (born Robert Lewis Balfour Stevenson; 13 November 1850 – 3 December 1894) was a Scottish novelist, essayist, poet and travel writer. He is best known for works such as ''Treasure Island'', ''Strange Case of Dr Jekyll a ...

* ''The Man in the Wilderness'' – Anonymous * ''The Peppery Man'' – Arthur Macy * ''The Sleepy Giant'' –

Charles E. Carryl Charles Edward Carryl (December 30, 1841 – July 3, 1920 Contains information from the ''Dictionary of Literary Biography''.) was an American children's literature author. Biography Born in New York, Carryl became a second-generation successfu ...

* ''The Walloping Window Blind'' –

* ''Topsyturvey-World'' –

William Brighty Rands William Brighty Rands (24 December 1823, Chelsea, London, Chelsea, Middlesex — 23 April 1882 at the age of 58, East Dulwich, London) was a British writer and one of the major authors of nursery rhymes of the Victorian era. He studied from a ...

* ''Vain and Careless'' –

Robert Graves Captain Robert von Ranke Graves (24 July 1895 – 7 December 1985) was a British poet, historical novelist and critic. His father was Alfred Perceval Graves, a celebrated Irish poet and figure in the Gaelic revival; they were both Celtic ...

Charts

Album

Reception

'' gave a review following the album's release:

What’s astonishing is how cohesive it all is: from the fire-eyed, Celtic-tinged chamber music of Nursery Rhyme of Innocence and Experience, through to the stark, troubled strings of the closing Indian Names, Leave Your Sleep never feels over-extended. The sheer ravishing beauty of the arrangements, combined with the tasteful, organic aesthetic (no synths here), prevents things ever jarring, and Merchant’s voice flows constant throughout, supple and hard as silken steel. Indeed, everything sounds so good from a purely musical perspective that the record perhaps doesn’t showcase its lyricists as well as it could. It’s hard to really see that it cumulatively says anything about childhood, except perhaps that it's the lurid bits that stick with you – Charles E. Carryl’s faintly traumatic The Sleepy Giant is a piece of grotesque that's hard to ignore. But most of these poems simply sink into the verdant whole – 200 years of lyrical and musical history, washing beautifully by.

References

External links

Natalie Merchant, "Leave Your Sleep"
by

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* {{Authority control Concept albums 2010 albums Natalie Merchant albums Nonesuch Records albums