"As I Lay Me Down" is written and performed by singer/songwriter Sophie B. Hawkins and is her second-highest charting Billboard hit right behind "Damn, I Wish I Was Your Lover." The contrast between the songs is quite pronounced, showing off Hawkins' broad thematic range. "As I Lay Me Down" is actually a ballad in memory of her father. As told in the 1998 film documentary The Cream Will Rise, Hawkins has struggled to overcome problems with her dysfunctional relationship with her mother and brother. With that in mind, her father might have been her main source of stability in her home.
This tender ballad was a surprise hit for Hawkins. Her second album, Whaler, was released in October 1994 with the uptempo "Right Beside You" issued as the first single. It peaked at #56 in the US and the next single, "Don't Don't Tell Me No," didn't chart at all. Released as the third single, "As I Lay Me Down" didn't seem like a hit, but radio stations in the Top 40 and Adult Contemporary formats loved the song because it was such an accessible, non-threatening tune without a trace of grunge or hip-hop. The phones weren't exactly lighting up with requests for the song, but it fit nicely on the playlists. It reached #6 in October 1995, a year after the album was released.
"As I Lay Me Down" is familiar not only from heavy radio airplay, but from soundtrack usage in the TV series Dawson's Creek and Party of Five. It was also used in the 1995 film Now and Then, a chick flick about girls bicycling around the neighborhood to (mostly) 1969-1970 music.
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