Sleepyhead

This song is amazing and it makes me feel so free. I see the sex metaphor but to me it's something else. Besides just being awesome, it reminds me of after breaking down. You're tired and your eyes are burning. You've been on fire with sadness or rage. Now you're coming down and you're so sleepy. "You were one inch from the edge of this bed I dragged you back a sleepyhead" She's on the edge and he worries so he pulls her to bed and lets her sleep it off. In the morning her family and friends crowd her, proud and hungry for their own stable lifestyle. "They couldn't think of something to say the day you burst With all their lions and all their might and all their thirst They crowd your bedroom like some thoughts wearing thin Against the walls against your rules against your skin" They maybe suggest she gets help so they don't have to deal with it but it's not what she wants. It might feel like they're against her when all she needs is to sleep with the guy who protected her through her breakdown and all night. He loves her and he's going to stay. "My beard grew down to the floor and out through the doors"

I'm not sure, but this is how it feels to me sometimes. Sometimes it definitely feels like more of a sexual meaning.

The title "Sleepyhead" appears to me a description of someone who appears, quite literally, very sleepy: this person is suffering from an injury or terminal illness. He/she enters a coma, and is kept on life support against their wishes.

The first verse concerning fire is, to me, the sufferer describing the pain of the affliction, which seems to have a manifestation in the eyes ("brims"). At one point, the sufferer was "one inch from the edge of this bed," i.e., very close to death, but the speaker drags him/her back into this world as "a sleepyhead"--in a coma.

"They couldn't think of something to say the day you burst" No one ever knows what to say when someone dies, especially when that death is untimely. Bursting may mean some kind of heart failure or other literal bursting.

"With all their lions and all their might and all their thirst" People who are fighting for the sufferer to be kept on life support, thirsting for the him/her to one day wake up, involve doctors, lawyers, and clergy to fight with their scientific, legal, and holy might against the disease, and against people (the speaker) who better knew the sufferer's true wishes.

"They crowd your bedroom like some thoughts wearing thin" Friends and family crowd the bedroom of the afflicted -- the person is still alive, being prayed for. You don't usually crowd in the room of someone who's already dead. It is at this point that the grim possibility that death really is here becomes apparent through the thin thoughts of denial.

"Against the walls, against your rules, against your skin" People are literally pressed against the walls of the room and against the skin of their comatose loved one. They are there against the sufferer's wishes (rules), because if the sufferer had had it their way, the plug would have already been pulled and these people wouldn't be here.

"My beard grew down to the floor and out through the doors of your eyes" The speaker stays loyal and by the sufferer's side. Again, the eyes make an appearance.

"But go in disguise like a sleepyhead" The sufferer peacefully transitions from their comatose state into death, never shedding their outward "disguise" of simply being asleep.

And everything is going to the beat And everything is going to the beat And everything is going

And you said it was like fire around the brim Burning solid burning thin the burning rim Like stars burning holes right through the dark Flicking fire like saltwater into my eyes You were one inch from the edge of this bed I dragged you back a sleepyhead

They couldn't think of something to say the day you burst With all their lions and all their might and all their thirst They crowd your bedroom like some thoughts wearing thin Against the walls against your rules against your skin My beard grew down to the floor and out through the doors Of your eyes, begonia skies like a sleepyhead

Your head

This song makes me think of the bouts of depression that I have had to deal with in my life. There would be days that I felt so terrible, I was legitimately upset with people when they would wake me up from sleeping. Sleep was such a beautiful, perfect thing, and then someone would shake me to wake me up, smiling and laughing, saying something like, "Wake up, sleepyhead!"

Looking back it's almost sort of funny, but back then, I was enraged that people would act so happy about taking me out of the only good part of the day and bringing me back into dark reality.

I interpret that this song is about someone morning the death of someone who he (or she) loved, who was a heroin addict. After I read through the lyrics of this song, I had definite feelings of sadness, loss, and tragedy for the following reasons:

And you said, it was like fire around the brim Burning solid, burning thin the burning rim Like stars burning holes right through the dark

This heroin addict is describing the awesome sensation of being high to her lover, for whom I assume has never done the drug and he does not want her to do it. The fire being the sensation of the heroin flooding the body when it is first injected. Burning solid as is takes over the body, the mind; burning thin as is pulsates through the thin veins, especially at the burning rim or the spot where it was injected. The drug shocks the body; it's a new sensation that's intense and causes all other sensations to subside. In other words, all other sensations become lost like the black night sky and only the feeling of the drug can be felt like stars burning in the dark night.

Flicking fire like saltwater into my eyes You were one inch from the edge of this bed I dragged you back a sleepyhead, sleepyhead

He watches her take heroin and he sees the effects it's having on her. He can see the fire that is taking over her body and mind. He can see it in her eyes. She slowly becomes sleepy, loosing all conscious control of her body as she almost falls off the bed. In attempt to save her in some small way, he helps her by pulling her back onto the bed to a safer place. She is now completely taken over by the drug; she is now a sleepyhead.

They couldn't think of something to say the day you burst With all their lions, with all their might and all their thirst They crowd your bedroom like some thoughts wearing thin Against the walls, against your rules, against your skin

The lover could not save her from her heroin addiction and evenly she dies because of it. When some sort of authority, such as police, EMT, or forensics found her dead body, they couldn't think of something to say because it was simply a tragedy. With all their power (lions), science, and knowledge, no one could save her from her addiction. They take her body away, treating in ways that she would have never allowed, dissecting and analyzing it in attempt to understand the cause of death; all of which is taking place in her own room, against her walls.

My beard grew down to the floor and out through the doors Of your eyes, begonia skies like a sleepyhead, sleepyhead

The man mourns over the death of his lover. He cannot function in his daily life because he was not able to save her. His beard grows to floor as he is paralyzed in his morning. He is paralyzed and haunted by the image of her dead eyes, which is all too similar to what her eyes looked like when she was high on heroin, when she was a sleepyhead.

I could be completely wrong since I have never done heroin before, but this is my impression. Regardless of the upbeat tone of this song, it is definitely a song of a tragedy and some kind of loss. I also cannot break away from an episode of Breaking Bad, where Jesse's heroin addict girlfriend dies and he heavily mourns from her death. And the song came out around the same time....hmmm.

since this is the Littlebig planet2 theme song i believe that this song is about a kid who is having nightmares because his imagination is running too wild. when they talk about saltwater there probably talking about the kid crying and the tears burnings his eyes. then when they say you were one inch from my bed the kid probably frequently goes and sleeps at the foot of his parents bed because of his nightmares. finally when they say the sleepyhead part that might be talking about how the kid has to be bought back to his room by his mom a " sleepyhead ". the second part just reminds me of that elementary school story where the kid has nightmares and everytime he wakes up he sees like a different monster outside his window in a tree. where'd you guys get sex from im pretty sure the wouldn't make a song about sex the theme of a child's game.

I looked up the lyrics to this song because it's amazing but I couldn't understand some of the words. I can see a few phrases that maybe allude to sex or a sexual relationship but the central story is a drug overdose. I think this is a story of a lover finding the other dead of a drug overdose and being in pure shock as medics, police, etc. swarm the scene.

Everything is going to the beat Everything is going

The opening line is repeated, which indicates pattern or routine. Lalala life goes on and all that. The last line is cut off mid phrase indicating a sudden break in that normalcy. I think this is when the speaker of the song discovers his lover dead from a drug overdose.

You said it was like fire...

They must have discussed her drug abuse before. He likely has been trying to help her get clean or maybe even thought she was.

..Like saltwater in my eyes

He's comparing the sensation she described from the burning in his eyes as he cries over her dead body. He could even be angry with her or himself for not preventing what he saw as the inevitable outcome of her drug addiction.

They couldn't think of something to say the day you burst...

This phrase is describing the aftermath. What can anyone say to a man that found the love of his life dead, especially when it might have been prevented. There are no words to comfort him. I think there could be religious reference (lions) in here but it also sounds like medics, police etc.

My beard grew down to the floor and out through the doors Of your eyes...

I think he is trying to say that this emotional trauma has aged him.

Overall I think he has been in shock the second that fourth line of the opening phrase cuts off. He found her and has been sitting in the corner, watching police and medics swarm around her body, no one can comfort him, he is lost in a trance, staring into her drugged out, dead eyes and in that moment he feels like he aged a lifetime from his grief.

okay, i can totally see the metaphors and everything for a passionate night in bed...

but honestly... why the hell would you use the word "burning" so many times in a stanza about sex. it just made me think she had syphalis or something, as awful as that sounds.

oh well, i love this song, i love this band. i saw them play in boston around may of last year,k they were great and i can't see what else they have to offer.

do any of you realise this song has been out for over a year?

wow, i had never thought about it in the way of an emotional breakdown like DecemberSun said, but now it makes complete and total sense.

And everything is going to the beat And everything is going to the beat And everything is going

• I love that this song is so happy. It gives you almost a euphoric feeling while listening to it. when he says 'everything is going to the beat' i think of it as " let the beat of the music erase all of your worries" Almost as if, you'd be listening to this song while you're going to sleep and it's TELLING you, "let it go and enjoy the music". It's also beautiful the way that at the end the lyrics become almost unrecognizable, almost what it would probably sound like if you were actually drifting off into sleep. anyways sorry about the rant on that little bit, it's my favorite part of the song!

And you said It was like fire around the brim Burning solid, Burning thin, the burning rim. Like stars burning holes right through the dark Flicking fire, like saltwater, into my eyes You were one inch from the edge of this bed I drag you back a sleepyhead, sleepyhead

-I see this part of the song as a specific scene. A couple lying in bed, the lights are turned off, and the man hears his significant other crying. he asks her what's wrong and she describes to him what it feels like. The fire is a metaphor for the burning sensation she feels as tears form in her eyes. It's the slightly painful burning around the brim/rim of her eyelids. when he says "like stars burning holes right through the dark" he's talking about her tears spilling out from her closed eyes. saltwater is a reference to tears because that's what comes out from your eyes. He then describes how when she was finished crying/half asleep and at the farthest end of the bed, he pulls her sleepy body closer to his. So comforting and romantic.

They couldn't think of something to say the day you burst With all their lions and all their might and all their thirst They crowd your bedroom like some thoughts wearing thin Against the walls against your rules against your skin My beard grew down to the floor and out through the doors Of your eyes, begonia skies like a sleepyhead

Your head

• I see this part of the song as him describing how others reacted the day she broke down. no one was able to say the right thing to comfort her. when he says "with all their lion with all their might with all their thirst" i feel as though he hold some resentment towards these people. he says that they are lions, strong, and have a reason( thirst=desire) to say something reassuring to comfort her. He speaks as though these people hold some sort of responsibility to her (possibly her family?) and should have SOMETHING to say to her, yet they're silent. He then says that these people crowd her thoughts and everything around her (home, mind, skin) yet they're silent. He becomes the only one that can comfort her -so he lies with her in bed and passes the time with her ( "his beard grows, to the floor, and out the door"). Then they, together, drift away into their dreams.

That's my personal interpretation of the song. Hope that made sense.. Truly beautiful. As for what the girl is crying about, i feel like it might be the death of someone close to her/possibly a family member, and the the people that are "crowding" her may be her family and friends that are worried for her but can't seem to find any words to say to comfort her. that last bit might be a long shot. who knows? hope that helped!