Call me when you try to wake her up.

[azurelunatic]

Sewing machines and I have a long history together. One of my earlier memories is Mama singing "No Sewing Machines for Babies" to me. I got my first sewing machine of my own when I was six, but other than some pretty basic sewing, I haven't developed my skills too particularly far. It's just the easiest way of attaching one piece of fabric to another.

So a while back I managed to drop my current sewing machine on the tiled bit of my floor. The bobbin winder post, and the plastic bobbin on it, broke. This was a bit of a problem, as winding bobbins by hand is entirely beyond my patience, and perhaps beyond my skill to do in a way that won't tangle the shit out of it later.

I realized that there must be some external device that does this thing. A little googling later, I was earwormed for three days.

http://youtu.be/mgiCechWNCo

R.E.M. - "The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite"
Lyrics

This here is the place I will be staying.
There isn't a number. You can call the pay phone.
Let it ring a long, long, long, long time.
If I don't pick up, hang up, call back, let it ring some more.
If I don't pick up, pick up... The sidewinder sleeps, sleeps, sleeps in a coil

Call me when you try to wake her up. Call me when you try to wake her.
Call me when you try to wake her up. Call me when you try to wake her.
Call me when you try to wake her up. Call me when you try to wake her.

There are scratches all around the coin slot
Like a heartbeat, baby, trying to wake up,
But this machine can only swallow money.
You can't lay a patch by computer design.
It's just a lot of stupid, stupid signs.

Tell her,
Tell her she can kiss my ass, then laugh and say that you were only kidding.
That way she'll know that it's really, really, really, really me.

Call me when you try to wake her up. Call me when you try to wake her.
Call me when you try to wake her up. Call me when you try to wake her.
Call me when you try to wake her up. Call me when you try to wake her.

Baby, instant soup doesn't really grab me.
Today I need something more sub-sub-sub-substantial.
A can of beans or blackeyed peas, some Nescafe and ice,
A candy bar, a falling star, or a reading of Doctor Seuss;

Call me when you try to wake her up. Call me when you try to wake her.
Call me when you try to wake her up. Call me when you try to wake her.
Call me when you try to wake her up. Call me when you try to wake her.

The cat in the hat came back, wrecked a lot of havoc on the way,
Always had a smile and a reason to pretend.
But their world has flat backgrounds and little need to sleep but to dream.
The sidewinder sleeps on his back.

Call me when you try to wake her up. Call me when you try to wake her.
Call me when you try to wake her up. Call me when you try to wake her.
I can always sleep standing up. Call me when you try to wake her.
Call me when you try to wake her up. Call me when you try to wake her.
Call me when you try to wake her up. Call me when you try to wake her.
I can always sleep standing up. Call me when you try to wake her.
Call me when you try to wake her up. Call me when you try to wake her.
I can always sleep standing up. Call me when you try to wake her.
I can always sleep standing up. Call me when you try to wake her.

We've got to moogie, moogie, move on this one.

I got a sidewinder, and I spent the better part of last night sewing things to other things. I may have mentioned that in the last several weeks, I got some chafing in places that should never be chafed? In any case, every attempt to mitigate the woe has made some other nearby bit a large fraction as woeful. Sewing machines make woe-mitigation in the form of custom clothing modifications a little easier.


It's good to be sewing again, even if it is for some not excellent reasons.

Comments

[trixieleitz]

...you mean that line is not "Calling Shuttle Baker" after all? :O

[azurelunatic]

It is only as reliable as the lyrics site.

[cleverthylacine]

Winding bobbins by hand is NEVER a good idea unless you are doing it with elastic thread (because the machine can't do that right). You will basically always get the tension wrong no matter how good you are. It's really not a personal problem :)