"I Can Sleep When I'm Dead" is a song co-written and recorded by American

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, o ...

artist Jason Michael Carroll. It was released in February 2008 as the third single from his album '' Waitin' in the Country''. It peaked at number 21 on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' country charts. The song was written by Carroll,

Rivers Rutherford Melvern Rivers Rutherford II (born June 17, 1967) is an American country music songwriter. Has been writing country songs since the mid-1990s as a songwriter, he has written several number one country hits, including " Ain't Nothing 'bout You" by ...

and Jim Collins.

Content

The song is an up-tempo accompanied largely by

electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar (however combinations of the two - a semi-acoustic guitar and an electric acoustic gu ...

, in which the central character is kept awake due to a lifestyle of constant nighttime partying. As a result, he does not have any time set aside for sleeping, thus claiming that he can "sleep when e'sdead". The song's title was inspired by a comment which Carroll made to a friend, describing his own attempts to maintain his career in country music while raising four children at the same time.

Reception

Engine 145 reviewer Matt C. gave the song a "thumbs up" rating. He described the song as "a rather surreal experience for me, as I’m used to hearing 'I can sleep when I'm dead' from workaholics who are referring to anything but painting up the town" but added, "It’s hard not to smile at the image of Jason Michael Carroll racing his paperboy home and his baritone voice sounds really great on this track. If we must have country rock, this is what it should be: this song's loud, but in a country kind of way."

Music video

A music video was made for the song in June 2008. It was directed by David McClister, who also directed the video for Carroll's 2007 single "

Livin' Our Love Song "Livin' Our Love Song" is a song co-written and recorded by American country music artist Jason Michael Carroll and was released in April 2007 as the second single from his album ''Waitin' in the Country''. Carroll co-wrote the song with Glen Mitc ...

Chart performance

References

{{authority control 2008 singles 2007 songs Jason Michael Carroll songs Songs written by Jim Collins (singer) Songs written by Rivers Rutherford Song recordings produced by Don Gehman Arista Nashville singles