"The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite" is a song by the American alternative rock

Alternative rock

Alternative rock is a genre of rock music and a term used to describe a diverse musical movement that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1980s and became widely popular by the 1990s...

 band R.E.M.

R.E.M.

R.E.M. was an American rock band formed in Athens, Georgia, in 1980 by singer Michael Stipe, guitarist Peter Buck, bassist Mike Mills and drummer Bill Berry. One of the first popular alternative rock bands, R.E.M. gained early attention due to Buck's ringing, arpeggiated guitar style and Stipe's...

 It was influenced by the song "The Lion Sleeps Tonight

The Lion Sleeps Tonight

"The Lion Sleeps Tonight", also known as "Wimoweh" and originally as "Mbube", is a song recorded by Solomon Linda and his group The Evening Birds for the South African Gallo Record Company in 1939. It was covered internationally by many 1950s pop and folk revival artists, including The Weavers,...

", both in the title of the song and through the song's opening refrain. The band used "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" as the B-side to this song.

The song was released on the band's 1992 album Automatic for the People

Automatic for the People

Automatic for the People is the eighth album by the American alternative rock band R.E.M., released in 1992 on Warner Bros. Records. While R.E.M...

and was later released as a single in 1993, reaching #17 in the UK singles chart

UK Singles Chart

The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...

.

The song was placed on R.E.M.'s Warner Bros.

Warner Bros.

Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...

 "best of" album In Time - The Best of R.E.M. 1988-2003 in 2003, although Peter Buck's personal sleeve notes on the song were not complimentary. It was one of four songs from Automatic for the People to make the compilation, more than from any other album.

The song's complete title is not featured in the lyrics, but there is the line, "the sidewinder sleeps in a coil" as well as the later line "the sidewinder sleeps on its back".

The lyrics are famously easy to mishear. A 2010 survey found that the chorus line "Call me when you try to wake her" was the most misheard lyric in Britain, beating "Purple Haze

Purple Haze

"Purple Haze" is a song written in 1966 and recorded in 1967 by The Jimi Hendrix Experience and released as a single in both the United Kingdom and the United States. It appeared on their 1967 album Are You Experienced...

" into second place. The most common mishearing of the chorus line is "Calling Jamaica". What is perceived to be an audible laugh by Michael Stipe can be heard at 2:33 of the track on the Best Of and Automatic for the People CD's.

Track listing

All songs written by Bill Berry

Bill Berry

William "Bill" Thomas Berry is a retired American musician, multi-instrumentalist, best known as the drummer for the alternative rock band R.E.M. In addition to his drumming duties, Berry played many other instruments including guitar, bass guitar, and piano, both for songwriting and on R.E.M....

, Peter Buck

Peter Buck

Peter Lawrence Buck , is an American rock guitarist who is best known for playing in and co-founding alternative rock band R.E.M....

, Mike Mills

Mike Mills

Michael Edward "Mike" Mills is an American multi-instrumentalist and composer who was a founding member of the alternative rock group R.E.M.. Though known primarily as a bass guitarist, backing vocalist, and pianist, his musical repertoire includes also keyboards, guitar, and percussion instruments...

 and Michael Stipe

Michael Stipe

John Michael Stipe is an American singer and lyricist. He was the lead vocalist of the alternative rock band R.E.M.Stipe is noted and occasionally parodied for the "mumbling" style of his early career as well as his social and political activism. He was in charge of R.E.M.'s visual image; often...

 except as noted.

US CD Single

1. "The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite" – 4:06
2. "The Lion Sleeps Tonight
   The Lion Sleeps Tonight
   "The Lion Sleeps Tonight", also known as "Wimoweh" and originally as "Mbube", is a song recorded by Solomon Linda and his group The Evening Birds for the South African Gallo Record Company in 1939. It was covered internationally by many 1950s pop and folk revival artists, including The Weavers,...
   
   " (Solomon Linda
   Solomon Linda
   Solomon Popoli Linda , also known as Solomon Ntsele , was a South African Zulu musician, singer and composer who wrote the song "Mbube" which later became the popular music success "The Lion Sleeps Tonight", and gave its name to the Mbube style of isicathamiya a cappella popularized later by...
   
   , Luigi Creatore
   Luigi Creatore
   Luigi Creatore is a American songwriter and record producer.From a musical family, Creatore began his career as a writer. After serving with the United States military during World War II, in the 1950s he became a writer then partnered with his cousin Hugo Peretti to form the songwriting team of...
   
   , Hugo Peretti
   Hugo Peretti
   Hugo E. Peretti was an American songwriter and record producer.Born in New York City, Hugo Peretti began his career as a teenager, playing the trumpet in the Borscht Belt in upstate New York...
   
   , George David Weiss
   George David Weiss
   George David Weiss was an American songwriter and former President of the Songwriters Guild of America.-Career:...
   
   ) – 2:41

UK "Collector's Edition" CD Single 1

1. "The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite" – 4:06
2. "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" (Linda, Creatore, Peretti, Weiss) – 2:41
3. "Fretless"¹ – 4:51

UK "Collector's Edition" CD Single 2

1. "The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite" – 4:06
2. "Organ Song" – 3:25
3. "Star Me Kitten" (demo) – 3:05

DE CD Maxi-Single

1. "The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite" – 4:06
2. "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" (Linda, Creatore, Peretti, Weiss) – 2:41
3. "Fretless"² – 4:51
4. "Organ Song" – 3:25

UK and DE 7" and Cassette Single

1. "The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite" – 4:06
2. "Get Up
   Get Up (R.E.M. song)
   "Get Up" was the fourth and final single to be released by R.E.M. from the band's sixth studio album Green. It was included in the limited edition Singleactiongreen box set released in November 1989. The song was released as a single only in the U.S. but failed to chart on the Billboard Hot...
   
   " – 2:39

Charts

Chart (1993)	Peak position
Canadian Hot 100 Canadian Hot 100 The Canadian Hot 100 is a music singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine which ranks songs in Canada. The chart debuted in the Billboard issue dated June 16, 2007 and was made available for the first time via their online services on June 7, 2007...	60
Irish Singles Chart	13
UK Singles Chart UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...	17
U.S. Billboard Modern Rock Tracks Modern Rock Tracks Alternative Songs is a music chart in the United States that has appeared in Billboard magazine since September 10, 1988. It lists the 40 most-played songs on modern rock radio stations, most of which are alternative rock songs...	28
U.S. Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks Mainstream Rock Tracks Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks is a ranking in Billboard magazine of the most-played songs on mainstream rock radio stations, a category that includes stations that play primarily rock music. Modern rock tracks are counted in the Alternative Songs chart.This chart began with the March 21, 1981, issue...	24