Petula Clark - Don't Sleep In The Subwa
Petula Clark - Don't Sleep In The Subway


Petula Clark - Don't Sleep In The Subway Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: These Are My Songs
Released: 1967

Don't Sleep In The Subway Lyrics


You wander around on your own little cloud
When you don't see the why or the wherefore
You walk out on me when we both disagree
'Cause to reason is not what you care for

I've heard it all a million time before
Take off your coat, my love, and close the door

Don't Sleep In The Subway, darlin'
Don't stand in the pouring rain
Don't sleep in the subway, darlin'
The night is long
Forget your foolish pride
Nothing's wrong
Now you're beside me again

You try to be smart, then you take it to heart
'Cause it hurts when your ego is deflated
You don't realize that it's all compromise
And the problems are so overrated

Goodbye means nothing when it's all for show
So why pretend you've somewhere else to go

Don't sleep in the subway, darlin'
Don't stand in the pouring rain
Don't sleep in the subway, darlin'
The night is long
Forget your foolish pride
Nothing's wrong
Now you're beside me again

Don't sleep in the subway, darlin'...

Writer/s: TONY HATCH, JACKIE TRENT
Publisher: Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Don't Sleep In The Subway
  • This is a tale of a couple, who like many, have lots of disagreements. The man tends to retreat into his own little world instead of engaging the issue. When threatens to walk out on her, the woman tells him that it's better to come up with a solution and make up. When she tells him, "don't sleep in the subway," she is asking him to spend the night with her instead of leaving.
  • Petula Clark's producer/songwriter Tony Hatch co-wrote this song with his wife Jackie Trent. Of all the songs that Hatch has written or co-written, this song is Clark's favorite. When we asked her about the song in our 2013 interview , she said, "It's a bit of a mystery to me, the song. But it's got to be one of my favorites, though I'm not quite sure what it's about. It doesn't matter."

    Petula added that when she starred opposite Fred Astaire in the 1968 movie Finian's Rainbow, he asked her what this song was about, and she didn't have a good answer.
  • The entire song is actually a combination of three different songs which Tony Hatch had written but did not complete. The segments of the unfinished songs were molded into one to create one song.
  • This was Petula Clark's last hit to reach the Top 10 in the States. (thanks, Jerro - New Alexandria, PA, for all above)
  • The "subway" in the song title is not a mode of transportation, but refers to the underground passages found throughout London to enable pedestrians to cross busy intersections with heavy traffic flow. Clark's other big hit, "Downtown," also had a different meaning across the Atlantic, as in America it means the center of urban activity, while in England it would mean a downtrodden area. That song was written with the American meaning, as its writer, Tony Hatch, was inspired by New York City.
  • Gordon McLendon, known as "The Old Scotchman," was an ultra-conservative owner of radio stations in Dallas, Houston, Chicago, San Francisco, Detroit and San Antonio in the 1960s -'70s. He refused to play this on his stations because he believed the words were: "...take off your clothes and close the door." (thanks, Frederick - Galveston, TX)