In the Arms of Sleep

I can really relate to this song. It's really painful when the girl you love also loves you back, but not in the same intense way, and then even though you try not to mess things up, trying not to care so much, I think it's just impossible (for the first love) and eventually it will push her away. "'Cause I'll always miss her wherever she goes And I'll always need her more than she could ever need me"

And then, when you're not together anymore, you rapidly try to find someone to fill that empty hole she left in you, but you can't find anyone like her. "I need someone to ease my mind But sometimes a someone is so hard to find"

Unrequited love is real. People have a tendency these days to dismiss it as a "crush" gone bad, but you know, there ARE people who can't just substitute an endless series of lesser mates for the one who would make their lives worth living.

Go read about Dante and Beatrice and read these lyrics again.

And onegirl_army can go fuck herself. The rich have always loathed the ambitions of the poor. It's ALL too common and acceptable to throw around the labels of "weird", "creepy", "stalker" these days. I guess if you don't have the ability or desire to take a new lover every week that makes you a loser, worthy of only disgust and contempt. Marx was right. Rich in gifts, poor in gifts...rich in love, poor in love...it all ties together.

I read the majority of these comments, but I don't think anyone is seeing it as I have:

I interpret this song to be a very sweet take on the urge for the sin of "surprise sex," of taking advantage of a partner while they sleep.

The title "In the Arms of Sleep" is personifying Sleep, and expressing the narrator's jealousy that the lover has gone to be with Sleep instead.

"I'll miss her wherever she goes" refers to the lover being away in dreamland, and that missing a sleeping partner can be as lonesome as their physical absence.

The idea of "shadow moves" or ghost moves could mean that the narrator is so eagerly watching the still body, that he questions whether he actually saw the body move or not. And he "kisses" those shadow moves, probably trying to gently confirm if awake or not.

By the end of the song, the longing is too great. While expressing conflicted feelings about it, willing to beg and pray as a "saint," to "do anything" if necessary, the narrator commands the lover to "suffer" his "desire." This indicates he's given into some impulse to take advantage of the lover or at least awaken the sleeping lover. "There are some things" he can "live without," but he needs the lover "right now."

We can debate the implications of consent, but the sentiment is definitely there.

This song's themes and tone seem similar to some of the explorations of dysfunctional female relationships you'd see Corgan bare later on 'Adore.'

And, from a detached perspective, it is far better to have known true love and let it slip away, than it is to spend your entire life fucking around like an animal because you can't possibly comprehend what it means to love another human being as much as you love yourself...or more.

Think it over.

He is so right when he says that "sometimes a someone is so hard to find",, each line of this song might kill me, each one is so sad.. :c

haha, i don't mean to make fun, but "putten?" heehee. I like that. it sounds like something my brother would say.

this is my favorite punkins song...for sentimental reasons mostly. i do feel it is about elusive sleep, as well as the pain of unrequited love and the resulting lonliness. have you ever been involved with someone, but in love with another? another who did not return your affections? meanwhile, the one you're with adores you much the same as you adore the other? ouch.

So, after listening to song a lot in the fast few days (haven't been sleeping much... therefore I listen to a song with 'sleep' in the title, it makes perfect sense to me...)... I guess I'm finally able to figure out what it means. At first, I thought 'she' was a metaphor for sleep. It can still be taken that way though.

But since he can't sleep... and he isn't relaxed or at peace... he needs the person he's looking for... he isn't able to sleep restfully. Until the girl loves him, he is in sleep's arms, instead of the girl's arms. Sleep is where he goes at night, because she won't stay with him. There's a part of him that believes she won't want to be with him, so he wants her to feel his pain. He almost regrets this, because the "for you" at the end is sung so sweetly. He doesn't want just anyone, but her.

Other than that, this is the perfect unrequited love song. As many people said before, no matter how tempting the thought may be, never let the one you love listen to this song. Well, they can listen to it on their own, just don't make them listen to it. It's just an all-around bad idea.

Oh wow, this song.. i fell for a girl who was into the Pumpkins and she got me into them. I discovered this song and not long after i told her i liked her but it was unrequited unfortunately. This song was my anthem for a long time, daily listens etc. I haven't heard a better song about longing and unrequited love. Billy can really touch a nerve. Bless him.

I LOVE this song! One of my all time SP favourites. It's just so painfully beautiful......a masterpiece i reckon. Anyone who's been in the situation of unrequited can relate to every line in the lyrics. You just want that one person so bad, you'd be everything for them, to impress them.......if only they knew

ha i know this feeling all too well