“I’ll Sleep When I’m Older”, Bruno Major

“Meet God on a mountain top along with the stars Find love somewhere, anywhere, fall deep from the start Misplace my mind and follow my heart See the cosmos unfolding and know I'm a part”

“I’ll Sleep When I’m Older” by Bruno Major

Album: To Let A Good Thing Die

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This Time It All Started With…

the Freckles Radio on Spotify. Earlier this year, Lawrence, the band released a song called “Freckles” (more on that in a later blog post) and I just HAD to click on the radio function on Spotify to discover more music like that!

Enter: Bruno Major - A singer/songwriter and guitarist from London.

The first song I ever heard of him is called “Nothing”.

It was his lyrics that caught my attention:

“Track suits and red wine Movies for two We'll take off our phones And we'll turn off our shoes

We'll play Nintendo Though I always lose 'Cause you'll watch the TV While I'm watching you

There's not many people I'd honestly say I don't mind losing to But there's nothing Like doing nothing With you”

- Excerpt of lyrics by Bruno Major in “Nothing”

I, of course, immediately had to download ALL his albums. Safe to say all I listened to for days to come was Bruno Major.

But this is not about “Nothing”. This is about how he was able to take the idea of “so many things to see and do and not enough time to do it in” and captured it in a song.

As Christy Chua described it: “Paring together bittersweet, melancholic lyrics that hit close to home and a harmonically rich soundscape, [Bruno Major] never ceases to paint a reality that exists outside a figment of listeners’ minds”.

I think it was the title that drew my attention to the song. “I’ll Sleep When I’m Older”. A song with a title like that can ONLY be lyrically beautiful.

It’s a story of everything one can add to one’s bucket list. It’s a story of how there are so many things to do, see and experience before you die that the only option is to sleep when you are older.

To smoke a cigarette in Paris, to experience the wisdom of an elder, to move all your worries and “what-ifs” to the back of your mind and just follow your heart.

To me, this song isn’t just a beautiful song with lyrics painting a picture. This song encompasses the mindset we should all be living with. Don’t you think we should live with the mindset of misplacing your mind and only following your heart?

That way, you can experience the party without worrying about remembering everyone’s names or whether your dress is too fancy.

In an interview, Bruno was asked what his favorite song was off of this album. And he of course mentioned “I’ll Sleep When I’m Older”. Duh. It’s a great song. As a musician, I am inclined to be jealous of this song because it’s one that I wish I wrote.

I dare you to go listen to this album. Disappear into a quiet room or escape to your favorite coffee shop. Just sit and listen to his ability to paint a bittersweet, harmonically rich soundscape that makes you want to go and book an impromptu trip to Paris.

To listen to this song, click here.

The Lyrics:

The taste of a cigarette in Paris in spring Conversation with elders and the wisdom they bring Sunrise in Georgia as holy choirs sing The view from an aeroplane at twelve thousand feet

Meet God on a mountain top along with the stars Find love somewhere, anywhere, fall deep from the start Misplace my mind and follow my heart See the cosmos unfolding and know I'm a part

I'll sleep when I'm older When the world's got me weathered I'll finally find my way home I'll sleep when I'm older Sleep when I'm older

I'll be a firework, not a flickering flame Treat life all around me like a one-player game I'll go to the party and forget all the names Should it climb back to haunt me, it ends all the same

I'll sleep when I'm older When the world's got me weathered I'll finally find my way home I'll sleep when I'm older (Older)

I'll sleep when I'm older I'll sleep when I'm older I'll sleep when I'm older Sleep when I'm older