Sarah Blasko (born September 23, 1976) is an ARIA Award winning Australian … Read Full Bio ↴Sarah Blasko (born September 23, 1976) is an ARIA Award winning Australian musician. She was born in Sydney soon after her family returned from French-speaking Réunion where her parents had been missionaries. An original and largely self-reliant musical artist, Blasko is known for her writing and production skills, as well as her unique voice and stage presence.

Blasko was first heard in the mid-1990s fronting Sydney band, Acquiesce, after an initial tour of France with founding members Dave Hemmings, Paul Camilleri, and her sister Kate Halcrow. With material written by Blasko and Camilleri, they recorded a single and an EP with producer Hugh Wilson, receiving some local attention.

In 2002, Sarah decided to go solo. Material for the Prelusive EP - a result of initial explorative collaborations with Wilson but fully realised with Nick Schneider and Steve Francis - was originally recorded as demos. However, after becoming disillusioned with the indecisiveness and lack of solid commitment from the labels she met with, Blasko decided to release and promote the material independently. With the financial assistance of then-manager Craig New, she also produced a music video for the leading track, "Your Way".

The track was picked up by local community stations such as 2SER, as well as the national youth broadcaster, Triple J – who also gave light rotation to two other EP tracks, "Will You Ever Know" & "Be Tonight". "Your Way" was also featured on the test loop of fledgling Sydney community radio station 2FBi, when the station began to broadcast full-time.

After this initial success, Sarah was approached by and eventually signed to Brisbane-based label, Dew Process, who repackaged and re-released the EP. There are minor variations to the packaging of the major label release, which make the independent release slightly more valuable to collectors.

In late 2004, Blasko released her debut album, The Overture & the Underscore, recorded in Hollywood at the studio of engineer Wally Gagel. She co-produced the album with Gagel and fellow songwriter, Robert F Cranny.

The album was met with critical acclaim and received gold accreditation in Australia, despite limited commercial radio play. In 2005 Blasko was rewarded for her work with four ARIA nominations. Of particular note was her nomination for Album of the Year.

Sarah spent most of April 2006 recording her second album in Auckland, New Zealand at Roundhead Studio, the studio of Crowded House frontman Neil Finn.

Sarah produced the album with Robert F Cranny , and "Flame Trees" collaborator and Midnight Oil guitarist and keyboard player, Jim Moginie . The recording session was engineered by Paul McKercher, who has worked with numerous Australian bands including Glide, The Cruel Sea , You Am I and more recently Augie March.

The final addition to this all-Australian team was New York-based producer/engineer, Victor Van Vugt, who mixed the record. Van Vugt has worked on a number of Beth Orton records and has a long association with Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds , mixing a number of their albums as well as some Mick Harvey solo work and production efforts such as PJ Harvey’s Stories From the City, Stories From the Sea.

The album was nominated for the 2006 J Award, and debuted at number 7 on the ARIA Albums Chart. It led to her first ARIA win for Best Pop Release at the 2007 ARIA awards and a nomination for Sarah for Best Female Artist.

After some posts detailing on her blog that Sarah would be soon releasing new material on a third album, on July 10, 2009 she released 'As Day Follows Night'. Produced by Bjorn Yttling of Peter, Bjorn & John and recorded in Stockholm, Sweden, the album was performed with a band of local Swedish musicians with comparatively little electronic production in contrast to her previous works. The end result was an album retaining Sarah's signature style of pop and trip hop, while adding some jazz influences to the mix. This release, along with her extensive touring across Australia resulted in her receiving the ARIA award for Best Female Artist and being nominated in two other categories.

Diverging from previous efforts, Sarah made a conscious effort on her third album to make her songs more intimate, closing the distance between herself and the listener. In an interview to The Brag magazine by Mike Gee, she states 'Generally the songs are more open and I didn't want to obscure them too much... I wanted the songs to be straight to the point. I wanted them to be like classic old pop songs in that they had that structure.'

In 2011, Sarah collaborated with two other artists, Sally Seltmann and Holly Throsby, to form a group named Seeker Lover Keeper. They released a namesake album in June of that year and promoted the record by touring churches around Australia.

October 2012 saw the return of Sarah's solo work in which she released her fourth independent record, 'I Awake'. In an effort to explore her family's heritage, she recorded the songs with the Bulgarian Symphony Orchestra. However, she was aware that recording such an album was risky. Sarah stated in an interview that she did not want the album to be 'watered down' or 'unnecessary'.

She is currently promoting the record by touring Australian cities in which she invited their respective orchestras to provide backing music. Most recently, she performed live in the Sydney Opera House where the concert was streamed live via Youtube. Soon, Sarah will embark on a European tour to promote her album overseas.

Sleeper Awake
Sarah Blasko Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Some of us don't know why
We were born into this world
Sometimes can't sleep at night
Worrying 'bout the world fearing it as it turns

Use your hands, you know that they are worthy
Use your hands, you know you love to get them dirty

You've been lying on a bed
Seeing no way
Crying all the time
Nearly dead
Secrets are lies
Lying in vain
Sleeper awake
Sleeper awake

Some of us don't know that
We were born and sold a lie
Sometimes can't speak, we try
But our voice cannot be heard

Use your hands, don't be afraid of standing up for something
Use your hands, I know you love to get them dirty

You've been lying on a bed
Seeing no way
Crying all the time
Living dead
Secrets are lies
You're lying in pain
Sleeper awake
Sleeper awake

You've been lying on a bed
Seeing no way
Crying all the time
Living dead
Secrets are lies
You're lying in vain
Sleeper awake
Sleeper awake

You've been lying on a bed
Seeing no way
Crying all the time
Living dead
Secrets are lies
You're lying in vain

Sleeper awake
Sleeper awake

Overall Meaning

The song 'Sleeper Awake' by Sarah Blasko speaks about the feeling of being lost and disconnected from the world around us, and the idea that we can break free from this by awakening to our true purpose. The lyrics suggest that some of us may struggle to find meaning and purpose in life, and may feel trapped by the world and its problems. The lines "Some of us don't know why we were born into this world, sometimes can't sleep at night, worrying 'bout the world fearing it as it turns" captures this sentiment perfectly.

However, the song suggests that in order to find our place in the world and make a difference, we must use our hands and get them dirty. This is a call to action, to take an active role in shaping the world rather than simply being a passive observer. The lines "Use your hands, you know that they are worthy, use your hands, you know you love to get them dirty" encourage people to take action and make a difference.

The chorus "You've been lying on a bed, seeing no way, crying all the time, nearly dead, secrets are lies, lying in vain, sleeper awake" is a powerful call to wake up to reality, to stop being passive and start standing up for what we believe in. It is a reminder that we have the power to make a difference, but we need to take action and use our hands to make change happen.

Line by Line Meaning

Some of us don't know why
Some individuals are unaware of their purpose in life

We were born into this world
We were brought into existence

Sometimes can't sleep at night
Occasionally unable to rest peacefully

Worrying 'bout the world fearing it as it turns
Concerned about the state of the world and its unpredictability

Use your hands, you know that they are worthy
Your hands are capable and should be used for constructive purposes

Use your hands, you know you love to get them dirty
You enjoy doing practical work that involves getting your hands dirty

You've been lying on a bed
You have been inactive and unproductive

Seeing no way
Unable to perceive any viable solutions or alternatives

Crying all the time
Persistently distressed

Nearly dead
Close to losing all hope and motivation

Secrets are lies
Keeping secrets can be deceitful and damaging