I Don't Want to Miss a Thing (Reggae Version)
Various Artists · Sexy Love - R'n'b Meets Reggae Lovers
Watch you smile while you are sleeping
While you're far away and dreaming
I could spend my life in this sweet surrender
I could stay lost in this moment forever
Where every moment spent with you
Is a moment of treasure
I don't wanna close my eyes, I don't wanna fall sleep
Cause I miss you babe and I don't wanna miss a thing
Cause even when I dream of you, the sweetest dreams would never do
I still miss you babe and I don't wanna miss a thing.
Lying close to you,
Feeling you're heart beating
And I wonder what you're dreamin,
Wondrin' if it's me you're seeing
And then I'd kiss your eyes
And thank God were together
I just wanna stay with you
In this momment forever, forever and ever
I don't wanna close my eyes I don't wanna fall asleep
Cause I miss you babe and I don't wanna miss a thing
I don't wanna close my eyes, I don't wanna fall asleep
Cause I miss you babe and I don't wanna miss a thing
Cause even when I dream of you, the sweetest dreams would never do
I'd still miss you babe and I don't wanna miss a thing ehhahhhehahh
I'd still miss you babe and I don't wanna miss a thing
The sweetest dreams would never do I'd still miss you babe
And I don't wanna miss a thing
I don't wanna miss a thing
I don't wanna miss a thing
I don't wanna miss a thing!
Aerosmith’s power ballad gets a lovers-rock treatment
Lee Francis’s reggae version of ‘I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing’ keeps the song’s central promise intact: the narrator would rather stay awake beside a loved one than miss even a moment. The shift is in how that promise moves. Aerosmith’s original is a widescreen power ballad, shaped for an arena-sized crescendo; this version places the same lyrics over a reggae groove, softening the song’s forward drive into a more relaxed, intimate sway. The contrast is part of the cover’s premise: the declaration remains maximal, but the musical setting invites listeners to hear it as a lovers-rock serenade rather than a rock climax.
The track is credited to Lee Francis on streaming catalogs and appears on the 2008 compilation *Sexy Love – R’n’B Meets Reggae Lovers*, released by Smart Move Records. Francis is associated with reggae interpretations of well-known pop and R&B songs, and later included this cover on his *Presents Covers* collection. The compilation format matters: this is a reinterpretation within a themed set, not a single release campaign that should inherit Aerosmith’s chart numbers or public reception. Diane Warren wrote the original song for the film *Armageddon*, where Aerosmith’s recording became a major international hit; that original’s blockbuster status supplies context, not a chart history for the reggae cover.
The arrangement’s central challenge is to retain the original’s devotion while changing its emotional scale. The lyric’s close-up details—breathing, sleeping, a heartbeat—fit naturally with a slower, softer groove, and the reggae version brings those domestic images closer to the listener than an arena-sized chorus might. Publicly available source material establishes the recording’s compilation placement and artist credit, but no reliable chart peak or substantial track-specific review for Francis’s version is documented. Its interest is as a genre translation: a late-1990s rock ballad recast within the late-2000s reggae-cover compilation market, where familiar songs were reshaped for a different mood and audience.