Sleep Together

Taken with the rest of the album, it seems that its pretty blatently about suicide. I mean, between how dark the song is, and the line 'lets sleep forever', 'This means out', I think its hard to take it another way.

Also, the discussion about erasing the files, burning his clothes, etc... A depressing but fantastic ending to a great album. FoaBP tells a story, and unfortunetly this story (which represents thousands of kids in the US) is not a happy one.

Incredible end to an incredible album. "Sleeping" has always been a metaphor for death and dying. Even in the Bible, death is sometimes called sleep. I believe Porcupine Tree used this phrase as a deliberate double-meaning. It's talking about meaningless sex as an escape, but it also means suicide. Let's sleep together = let's die together. I believe the song implies meaningless sex and suicide are one and the same. Either way, there is a kind of spiritual death that takes place; the soul is extinguished. I believe this album will be remembered for many years to come.

To echo what an2000 said, Steven Wilson did mention this as a slightly happy ending...this song, like much of the album, was inspired by the book "Lunar Park." Wilson mentions that this song was inspired by a part in the novel where all the kids start disappearing. It seems that they are being abducted or killed at first, but then it is clear that they "escaped" themselves. They become aware of the banality of their own existence and somehow manage to disappear from this world.

Could the escape be suicide? It certainly seems so. But I think the song is intentionally ambiguous...maybe the escape can be falling in love, actually physically moving away from, and burning all that is relvant to, postmodern western culture, or finding some sort of real meaning (maybe starting a family or something). I still see it as suicide though, depressing as it may be.

There is a great deal of wordplay here. To me, sleep means at least 3 things. One of these is sex; based on the line in the album's title track "sex is kinda fun..." this song is referring to giving into the societal norms that make sex a much more casual thing. Another meaning (though this is double dipping a bit with the previous meaning) is that by allowing himself to fall into casual sex, the album's protagonist has given up the principles that define his identity relative to the drones around him. This can either be interpreted as a death of identity or literal death/suicide. (something similar to John savage from brave new world). Finally, it could represent sleep -- either a result of the haze of "the pills I'm taking" or just a quiet shutdown of the protagonist's inner drive to struggle against norms.

This all comes out in a rather cliche manner, which must be why we leave the songwriting to Steven Wilson.

Interesting.

I've just listened to Steve Wilson's interview on BBC Radio 6 (Bruce Dickinson's program; it might still be available for streaming - the interview starts at 21:15).

Sleep Together is played there, and SW says that he conceived the song as a "slightly happy ending". He goes on to say that the song was meant to say that an escape was after all possible, but he was deliberately vague. So it's possible that it's suicide after all, although in this context I can hardly see it as a happy ending.

I'm not sure why everyone thinks these issues are unique to the US.

This stuff happens in Asia and Europe, it just isn't as frequent or as publicized and unintentionally glorified.

A lot of great insight, but I tend to look on the side of optimism and Wilson's ambiguous suggestions. 'Way out of Here' sounds a lot like the "protagonist" going through the final stages of frustrations; his decision is imminent as he can toil in this state no longer and everything is bearing down on him as if a train. Now or never.

Why that matters is if you look at this song with that in mind than it looks like this is the decision made. "Do or drown, do or drown in torpor" is, to me, "it's now or never; take your chance or live with this hell". Torpor seems far too similar to suicide to be considered the alternative to "doing" suicide. The ambiguity of some spots of the album would suggest that suicide is a looming escape as well, though.

"Leave no trace" and it's respective stanza is him saying good-bye to the lifestyle he felt so trapped in before. It's time for a fresh start, no torpor carried on to risk bogging him down--don't take that chance.

The chorus does sound very much suicidal, but with the potential of a fresh future the other stanzas give I'm going to debate that. "Let's sleep together" could be a gate to his new life--that is, closing the gate to his old. He's putting rest to his old life along with tormented "love" that's hinted at earlier in the album; putting to rest all those worries, the hatred and depression associated with it, and switching "off the future": once again putting rest to old worries. His future in refreshed.

"This fate, this is your escape. Leave here now, leave here, now it's over" would--by this time, I hope--seem straight-forward enough: it's time to carry through with things and close that gate.

This entire album did a good job of making me feel guilty as hell and at the same time has given me great inspiration--something Wilson is great at doing time and time again. My interpretation may just be me trying to tell myself to do just this, but hopefully it appeals to other optimists out there.

I think it says "Burn my Prada trainers"...as in pants? No idea about the word after "do or drown in". This is a great song to end the album, anyway. Very groovy rhythms.

No, trainers as in the shoes. And it's "Do or drown in torpor"

I think it's about meaningless sex as an escape from life.

My bad, we don't call shoes "trainers" in Aus. Never, ever. But yes, you're right...and well done on picking up torpor