What does Sleepwalking mean?

Bring Me the Horizon: Sleepwalking Meaning

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Album cover for Sleepwalking album cover

Song Released: 2013


Sleepwalking Lyrics

My secrets are burning a hole through my heart
And my bones catch a fever
When it cuts you up this deep
It's hard to find a way to breathe

Your eyes are swallowing me
Mirrors start to whisper
Shadows start to see
My skin's smothering...

  1. 1TOP RATED

    #1 top rated interpretation:
    anonymous
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    Aug 22nd 2014 !⃝

    Oli was actually addicted to ketamine and went to rehab before he wrote this, its a tranquilizer that does some messed up stuff to your imagination -"mirrors start to whisper, shadows start to sing" may be reference to this.. The secrets being his addiction, and "fell into another hole again, its like i'm sleep walking" i think is to do with when a user falls into whats called a "K hole" when they take too much and this drug can make you feel like you're in a dream. I think its far much more to do with this than simply depression or self harm.

  2. 2TOP RATED

    #2 top rated interpretation:
    anonymous
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    Oct 7th 2015 !⃝

    The song is clearly about Oliver's ketamine addiction. In the beginning of the music vid, the girl is light complected with a white shird. If you didn't know already, ketamine in its powdered form is white, this also explains why the area is snowy. The quiet family represens Oliver's family during some sort of intervention or something.

  3. 3TOP RATED

    #3 top rated interpretation:
    anonymous
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    Apr 19th 2013 !⃝

    Verse 1 talks about keeping everything inside then self harming till you want to die, the pre chorus is saying your eyes swallow me, while you look at me i feel worse, the mirror is talking back, calling me fat, ugly, etc, i'm living in my shadows, i want to die, the chorus is saying i'm living without any purpose, as if i'm not even awake, the word doesn't know i exist, the later verse is about i've reached as much as i can take, what do i do now, the Bridge is about asking for help, escaping that feeling and fighting the depression with help ^-^

  4. anonymous
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    Oct 7th 2022 !⃝

    i relate to this song through anxiety and as someone else explained it feeling really guilty about even the littlest things and the fear of someone knowing abt it and who you really are is very scary and can keep me from focusing. guilt overcomes me too often and makes me fall into depression sometimes and as of right now im not doing good at all i feel like everbody can see right through me i feel naked and ashamed of myself of what i think of things i think of that i shoudnt think of but i cant help it because it just pops into my mind and i feel guilty about. nobody understands me and i feel like im falling into a bottomless pit. i wish i had someone

  5. anonymous
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    Apr 27th 2020 !⃝

    The song means someone is turning in circle never getting out of it. There is something holding him from doing what he should do. So the song could relate with people who have social anxiety, social anxiety causes social avoidance and so loneliness and depression

  6. anonymous
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    Dec 9th 2019 !⃝

    This whole song is reflecting one's guilt for doing something terrible in that person’s life. That person is feeling guilty for what he or she has done and can't find a way to get out of that guilt. The guilt is taking the better of his or her life. Everything became meaningless and everything doesn’t seems to be real.

  7. anonymous
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    Aug 31st 2017 !⃝

    When I do the littlest things wrong I try to keep it a secret and it gives me anxiety and then I have trouble breathing. And most of the time I feel like I'm living in a hallucination- this is how I can relate to this song.

  8. Winonathebrokenone
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    Aug 19th 2017 !⃝

    This song is about something I know to well mental illness cause by abuse as a child .as a person with borderline personality disorder we feel like we are walking around numb and empty the a simple touch of someone can make our skin feel like is in flames and as a person who has been a cutter we do it to take pain away in our heart soul and mind ..we don't know what our purposes is and struggle with thoughts and attempts of suicide and have drug addictions and abandament issues ..everyone of his words in this album are how I have felt and know mental hospitals and eating disorders drugs and cutting myself .hopelessness ..THIS ALBUM SAVED MY LIFE I SAW IM NOT ALLOW HE TOOK EVERY EMOTION PAIN THOUGHT OUT OF ME AND MADE A ALBUM OUT OF IT ...THANK YOU THANK YOU

  9. anonymous
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    Apr 13th 2017 !⃝

    I think it's about his disturb, the sleep paralysis. That's why mirrors whisper and shadows sing. It's a nightmare in real life

  10. anonymous
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    Oct 11th 2015 !⃝

    I feel as if it is depression, and he is in this state where if the person he more likely loves wont be there to save him,he will possibly drown in sorrow and eventually suicide, I'm just guessing because this is honestly how I'm feeling with the problems I have now.

  11. anonymous
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    Jan 2nd 2015 !⃝

    It's about keeping something like a secret and something they did wrong from someone else and even though it could save them he is feeling guilt about it. The guilt has become so painful that it has physically manifested in him. The person feels the one he has hidden something from has figured something is wrong and the guilt of not saying anything is toxic. The mirror was reflecting the worst of himself back. The shadows tell him he has lost all credibility and he has NO right to atone for his sins. To him its unbearable to be himself, he wants to explain himself and fix the mess he made but holds himself back. This has happened long enough that he no longer can feel much else and slowly he has spiraled into more and more fuckups. More holes. He is starting to think it would just be better to vanish because after what he has done he doesn't want to hurt anyone anymore. But at the same time he wants the closure have that specific person pull him out of his guilt. Because life has gone stagnant in his eyes.

  12. anonymous
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    Apr 22nd 2014 !⃝

    I think this song is definitely about depression. This person is holding in everything and it is driving them insane "secrets are burning a hole through my heart" This person wants so bad to reach out to the person they care most about. The one they possibly love. Depression is smothering to the point where you feel like you can't even breathe. when it talks about the mirrors it's talking about insecurities and how they take over. It gets to the point where things around you start to pass and you feel like you aren't even there anymore, like you're invisible "sleepwalking." The next verse about "I'm at the edge of the world" is talking about wanting to end it all, all the pain, all the suffering, depression, etc. When it gets to the Wake Up take my hand part they are saying this to that person they care so much about, the person they think is their salvation, the one who will pull them out of this depression and give them a reason to be happy. They need a hero.

  13. anonymous
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    Mar 30th 2014 !⃝

    It seems like he is talking to someone he cares about, who means a lot to him. I think 'It's hard to find a way to breathe' means something like it's hard to find a reason to live. Maybe this person has fallen into a depression themselves and he is left with no one to help him through it. He wants the person to wake up and keep helping him through what he's going through. Without this person being there for him and staying strong he feels like he is sleepwalking. That's what it feels like on the worst days when you have depression, you don't see anything, you can't focus, you just want to die (or disappear). The verse that says 'Where do I go from here?' maybe seems like he is debating suicide? I'm can't guarantee I'm correct, but this is how I relate to the song.

  14. anonymous
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    Mar 3rd 2014 !⃝

    Illuminati... Your eyes are swallowing me, Illuminati is alwayswatching...

  15. anonymous
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    Jan 14th 2014 !⃝

    I think, this song may be about depression and self hate. And that the line 'your eyes are swallowing me' is about how he thinks someone can see who he really is. That's why she's running. It's about the pain of someone realising how broken you are. but that's all just my opinion.

  16. anonymous
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    Jan 13th 2014 !⃝

    Before listening to the song, its good to watch his music video first to understand who this is about: a girl. Though Oli has always been vague about this "character", its clear that she is a very important being in him feeling complete in whatever-spiritual way. Obviously throughout the choruses and pre-choruses, he's describing the feelings while letting his "secrets burn him" and how physically/mentally he is withdrawing not only the secrets of her, but himself and self-conscious. Portraying the feelings in a victim complex, he begs her to "wake up" or realize that for them to ever feel complete, she shouldn't keep running away (as she does in the music video) but to run to him.

  17. anonymous
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    Nov 3rd 2013 !⃝

    This is about depress and self harming. He needs to wake up, he doesn't wanna live like this anymore and he needs to change this situation. I think that "your eyes are swallowing me" refers to someone that he knew back in time and possibly is the only one who can save him. I don't know if it is like this, that is just my opinion

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
  18. anonymous
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    Apr 23rd 2013 !⃝

    Going through the lyrics i feel like its about being in the cloud of depression, needing to wake up, time standing still and all that


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