Sleepyhead

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.