I'm having trouble sleeping
You're jumping in my bed
Twisting in my head
Leave me

I'm having touble breathing
You're sitting on my chest
I sure could use the rest
Leave me

It's you
Why's it always you and never me
Never dared to let my feelings free
Why's it always you and never me
Never cared too much for honesty

I'm having trouble sleeping
I'm thinking of what you said
Of all the tears being shed
Leave me

It's you
Why's it always you and never me
Never dared to let my feelings free
Why's it always you and never me
Never cared too much for honesty

It's you
Now and always you but never me
Never dared to let my feelings free
Why's it always you and never me
Never cared too much for honesty


Lyrics submitted by boomslang20117

Trouble Sleeping Lyrics as written by John Douglas Francis Reader

Lyrics © Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.

Lyrics powered by LyricFind

Trouble Sleeping song meanings
Add Your Thoughts

36 Comments

sort form View by:
  • +3
    My Interpretation

    after a while of thinking, for some reason i came up with my own interpretation: he's the "other man" in this girl's relationship. { i'm having trouble sleeping you’re jumping in my bed twisting in my head leave me } she's leaving him before the night's over, disrupting his sleep in her hurry to gather her clothes or something. he knows she's going, but instead of doing anything he just lays there and lets her leave.

    { i’m having trouble breathing you’re sitting on my chest i sure could use the rest leave me } he's falling in love with her, which isn't good because she's still someone else's lover. he can't handle the thought, and wants to rest instead of having to put up with her and the guilt every night. wishes she would leave because he can't. { it’s you why’s it always you and never me? } he's complaining about how her boyfriend/whomever always gets her in the end, while she just disappears after too-short nights and it's never him who has her heart.

    { i've never dared to let my feelings free } how he's never said "i love you" because she might just leave him, or something.

    { ... i’ve never cared too much about honesty } he doesn't care about the lying and cheating she does, i guess.

    { i'm having trouble sleeping i’m thinking of what you said about the tears been shed leave me } they might have had a fight or something, and he lashed out.

    { it’s you now and always you but never me ... } he's ended it with the girl, maybe, and now it's always her lover who'll have her, without him being in the way.

    (i have another interpretation, where his lover got into an accident and died after an argument. he blames himself and keeps having nightmares where she dies in them, but it's never him in her place.)

    fareon December 28, 2013   Link
  • +1
    General Comment

    i really hate how people seem to classify this song as an "O.C" song. Sure the show had some good music, but really this song is more then just an O.C song.

    Token.M.on January 18, 2009   Link
  • +1
    General Comment

    i think its about unrequited love, and the devastation you feel when they tell you they love someone else. and you can never tell them because you are scared of rejection and wishing with all you're heart that you didn't love them...

    "I’ve never cared too much about honesty"

    ... but hey, thats just from experience.

    pureimaginationon April 05, 2010   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    The OC Mix is really good! All the songs have meanings. As for this song... This guy is trying to sleep but he keeps letting things bother him. I think him and his girlfriend might have broken up, "i'm thinking of what you said.."

    _unpredictable_on January 02, 2005   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    wow i have a good idea about what this song is about. ok this guy who is singing has just lost a loved one, probably his wife or girlfriend. when he says "I’m having trouble sleeping You’re jumping in my bed Twisting in my head Leave me

    I’m having trouble breathing You’re sitting on my chest I sure could use the rest Leave me" i think this means that he feels her prescence with him, sitting on his chest and jumping on his chest. when he says "It’s you Why’s it always you and never me? I’ve never dared to let my feelings free Why’s it always you and never me? I’ve never cared too much about honesty" i think he feels responsible for her death. especially when he says "why is it always you and never me" i think he wishes that he could have taken her place. just a thought, it makes sense though.

    jenazababon February 12, 2005   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    hmm... here's one possibility about a line in this song....

    "whys it always you and never me"

    u know that classic break-up line - 'it's not you, its me'? well i think mayb it could be a reference to that - and the singer is asking why he is always the one that ppl are leaving....

    "its you, now and always you, but never me"

    just a thought :)

    [girl]on February 26, 2005   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    its so boring

    ehfuckuon March 01, 2005   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    Really gorgeous song. I heard it on the O.C. Mix 2 aswel, I have the first mix too, and there are some songs between the two of them that i listen to non-stop. This is one of them...

    Perfect Foolon March 24, 2005   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    There\'s a little bit at the end of this song - the little refrain of guitar during the last minute or so that reminds me of \'This Time\' by The Verve. Just an odd thought....

    Perfect Foolon March 24, 2005   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    I think the person is having 'trouble sleeping' is that his girlfriend or whatever are having trouble and are breaking up. 'your jumping in my bed' could mean the thought of that other person or there argument is 'jumping in his bed.' and he 'sure could use the rest' because it's been bothering him and he wants it to leave, or for them to settle the problem. "It’s you Why’s it always you and never me?" most likely means what [girl] said, they used the line 'it's not me it's you' and he's wondering why he's never the problem it's always the other person.

    kim_x44on March 26, 2005   Link

Add your thoughts

Log in now to tell us what you think this song means.

Don’t have an account? Create an account with SongMeanings to post comments, submit lyrics, and more. It’s super easy, we promise!

More Featured Meanings

Album art
The Night We Met
Lord Huron
This is a hauntingly beautiful song about introspection, specifically about looking back at a relationship that started bad and ended so poorly, that the narrator wants to go back to the very beginning and tell himself to not even travel down that road. I believe that the relationship started poorly because of the lines: "Take me back to the night we met:When the night was full of terrors: And your eyes were filled with tears: When you had not touched me yet" So, the first night was not a great start, but the narrator pursued the relationship and eventually both overcame the rough start to fall in love with each other: "I had all and then most of you" Like many relationships that turn sour, it was not a quick decline, but a gradual one where the narrator and their partner fall out of love and gradually grow apart "Some and now none of you" Losing someone who was once everything in your world, who you could confide in, tell your secrets to, share all the most intimate parts of your life, to being strangers with that person is probably one of the most painful experiences a person can go through. So Painful, the narrator wants to go back in time and tell himself to not even pursue the relationship. This was the perfect song for "13 Reasons Why"
Album art
Dreamwalker
Silent Planet
I think much like another song “Anti-Matter” (that's also on the same album as this song), this one is also is inspired by a horrifying van crash the band experienced on Nov 3, 2022. This, much like the other track, sounds like it's an extension what they shared while huddled in the wreckage, as they helped frontman Garrett Russell stem the bleeding from his head wound while he was under the temporary effects of a concussion. The track speaks of where the mind goes at the most desperate & desolate of times, when it just about slips away to all but disconnect itself, and the aftermath.
Album art
I Can't Go To Sleep
Wu-Tang Clan
This song is written as the perspective of the boys in the street, as a whole, and what path they are going to choose as they get older and grow into men. (This is why the music video takes place in an orphanage.) The seen, and unseen collective suffering is imbedded in the boys’ mind, consciously or subconsciously, and is haunting them. Which path will the boys choose? Issac Hayes is the voice of reason, maybe God, the angel on his shoulder, or the voice of his forefathers from beyond the grave who can see the big picture and are pleading with the boys not to continue the violence and pattern of killing their brothers, but to rise above. The most beautiful song and has so many levels. Racism towards African Americans in America would not exist if everyone sat down and listened to this song and understood the history behind the words. The power, fear, pleading in RZA and Ghostface voices are genuine and powerful. Issac Hayes’ strong voice makes the perfect strong father figure, who is possibly from beyond the grave.
Album art
Page
Ed Sheeran
There aren’t many things that’ll hurt more than giving love a chance against your better judgement only to have your heart crushed yet again. Ed Sheeran tells such a story on “Page.” On this track, he is devastated to have lost his lover and even more saddened by the feeling that he may never move on from this.
Album art
Plastic Bag
Ed Sheeran
“Plastic Bag” is a song about searching for an escape from personal problems and hoping to find it in the lively atmosphere of a Saturday night party. Ed Sheeran tells the story of his friend and the myriad of troubles he is going through. Unable to find any solutions, this friend seeks a last resort in a party and the vanity that comes with it. “I overthink and have trouble sleepin’ / All purpose gone and don’t have a reason / And there’s no doctor to stop this bleedin’ / So I left home and jumped in the deep end,” Ed Sheeran sings in verse one. He continues by adding that this person is feeling the weight of having disappointed his father and doesn’t have any friends to rely on in this difficult moment. In the second verse, Ed sings about the role of grief in his friend’s plight and his dwindling faith in prayer. “Saturday night is givin’ me a reason to rely on the strobe lights / The lifeline of a promise in a shot glass, and I’ll take that / If you’re givin’ out love from a plastic bag,” Ed sings on the chorus, as his friend turns to new vices in hopes of feeling better.