The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite and laughs at his own inability to pronounce that correctly, which Mike Mills kept trying to get him to do. Stipe says he loved Dr. Seuss as a kid but always pronounced his name the wrong way. The song's complete title is not featured in the lyrics, but there is the line "the sidewinder sleeps in a coil" as well as the later line "the sidewinder sleeps on its back". A sidewinder is a species of rattlesnake ("Crotalus cerastes"), and also an antique style of telephone, with a winding handle on the side. The lyrics frequently refer to making and
Sidewinder (slot car) Sidewinder (slot car) Sidewinder is a type of slot car or motorized model car in which the motor shaft is parallel to the driven axle (usually the rear), and power is transmitted through spur gears or, sometimes, a belt, friction or even by direct drive. The word also refers to the transversely mounted motor of such a car. A similar type of slot car that has the motor shaft mounted at an angle to the driven axle is the anglewinder. In general, the sidewinder and anglewinder are less common arrangements than the inline motor, in which the shaft is perpendicular