Top of the Country: Sleepless in a Hotel Room

This week’s Top of the Country post examines Luke Combs’ hit “Sleepless in a Hotel Room” (from his new album The Way I Am.)

Right off the bat, the title alone hits well. We have all been sleepless in a hotel room at some point, and it sucks. But this song gives more specific circumstances:

Not only is the singer “sleepless in a hotel room”, he is hurt and lonely. (And let’s be honest: this is definitely a “he.”) Tossing and turning waiting on morning while thoughts turn remorselessly to wondering “if you’re starin’ at our bedroom ceiling/Lyin’ right beside a glass of wine.”

One of the reasons this works as a great song (aside from Combs’ expected stellar performance) is that it is the right combination of specific and vague. On the one hand, the details are very visceral. The walls are all blue and and the TV is on and the whiskey is still burning. We can see and feel all those things. On the other hand, we have absolutely no idea why he is in the hotel room. Was there a fight? Is this a business trip?

Well, we’ve all been sleepless in a hotel room–but why is as varied as we are. (The last time it happened to me I had the flu. It was not fun.) This song lets us fill in the blanks, and so takes specific descriptions and lets us universalize them individually. The result is a song that works well for everyone.

As Christians, we are not exempt from this experience. We too can be sleepless and lonely. The good news is that we always have somewhere to turn. For that matter, most hotel rooms still have Bibles in them (not all, I’ve noticed a marked decline in numbers as I’ve traveled). So while we may be lonely and sleepless, we never have to be alone and can always turn to Christ for rest. And if this song is a common grace tool that puts words into your experience, well, you can be grateful for that as well.

Overall, this is an excellent addition to the body of Country music, and something I’d be happy to recommend you listen to.

Dr. Coyle Neal co-hosts the City of Man Podcast and is an Amazon Associate (which is linked in this blog). He teaches Political Science, Philosophy, and History in Southwest Missouri.