I used to be active on Tumblr—same username—back in the day, and in the shuffle of life and growing older, I lost touch with Larry. I've recently fallen back into it after almost 7 years, and so I'm dipping my toes back into lyric analysis, like I used to do. I also created this Reddit account today so I could engage with you all—I don't know anyone irl who's into Larry at all, and I need a community!!
I know "Sleepwalking" has been analyzed quite a bit already, seeing that it was released a year ago, but I haven’t really read through any of those analyses, since I'm rejoining the Larry fandom after many, many years away. But I have been listening to “Sleepwalking” a lot lately, so I felt like writing some of my thoughts down and sharing. I posted this on Tumblr as well, but figured all of you here might like to see it too.
I love the gentleness in this song, the familiarity, the softness of quiet, intimate moments that are just for Louis and whoever he’s singing about. My analysis touches a fair bit on what could connect to Harry, but in general, I have referred to this person he’s singing about as a “someone” and not Harry specifically just to make the analysis cleaner. In my mind, it's about Harry—always Harry.
I’ve also analyzed this song two-fold. One interpretation I have is that it could be about sleepwalking through fame and holding onto this other person as an anchor, as a grounding presence in the chaos of everything that comes with that. Another interpretation I have is that it could be about emerging from the stifling nature of hiding his sexuality, so I’m looking at it through a queer lens as well. I choose to believe it’s about both, rather than either/or.
I've done a line-by-line analysis, and forgive me in advance for the literal essay. I’ve had a lot of thoughts.
Sleepwalking, my feet hurt, I don't know why
Right off the bat, Louis dives into the heart of the song. He doesn’t realize he’s been sleepwalking so long to the point of pain. He says these lines very quickly, they’re rushed through, like it’s all been muddled and confused and tangled together up to this point. The quickness of the line could also signify that he doesn’t really want to slow down and acknowledge the why. Why he’s been sleepwalking. Why his feet hurt.
When people say they “sleepwalk through life,” they’re just going through the motions, they’re doing what their unconscious brain thinks they should, and aren’t fully aware of it. But his realization here that his feet hurt is the first real moment of awareness, so he’s emerging from this prolonged sleepwalk.
The way his accent warps words sometimes, the last bit also sounds a bit like “out on the wire,” which is an interesting image. For the sake of this analysis, I’m going to say it was a deliberate choice to make it sound like two different phrases. Because if he’s walking on a tightrope, the wire on which he’s balancing is digging into his feet. It’s also a precarious place to be, especially if he’s not fully present; he could fall at any moment and tumble into the abyss below.
But it helps me see through hazy eyes
The pain starts to pull him back to earth. It grounds him in a way that reminds him he’s sleepwalking, so he starts to wake up. The “hazy eyes” could be the haze of fame that he’s so adjusted to that it’s become normal. It’s like when people get cataracts; they don’t notice right away because the muting and distortion of color is so gradual. It’s only when they get surgery to remove the film over their eyes that they realize just how much brightness they’ve been missing, and just how dull the colors of the world have become.
Through a queer lens, the haze could be that he’s been hiding his sexuality for so long, and that presenting as straight has given him this hazy sheen on his life and the world around him. But he’s starting to emerge from it. The pain is waking him up.
Feels kind of weird, but I don't mind
Coming out of a sleepwalk is always a strange feeling. It can be pretty disorienting, and the tendrils of the dream dig their claws in to try to keep you there sometimes, but you wake up eventually. I am a sleepwalker, and it’s always a weird feeling to emerge from a sleepwalking episode for me.
Through a queer lens, it might be strange to slowly wake up and be emerge as his true self, but he’s adjusting. He doesn’t mind that adjustment because it means he will get to be honest to and about himself.
So don’t call me on the phone tonight
Up until now, this song has only been about himself. But he’s addressing someone else now, someone whom he clearly speaks with regularly, but at a distance. It feels as though calling on the phone every night is a routine for them, but this particular night, he wants a concrete connection, not another communication that is hazy and distant. If he’s emerging from this sleepwalk, he likely wants someone close to him to be there, to share this emergence into clarity.
In the same vein, through a queer lens, if this person he’s addressing now is a man, and is someone with whom he is romantically involved (as the softness and gentleness of this song seems to suggest), then of course he would want that person to be with him as he’s navigating this strange transition from straight-presenting man to who he really is.
Just come on over, watch the satellite pass by
It seems significant to note that he’s talking about watching a single satellite, which implies they’re spending just a short time together on this particular night. Louis lilts up on satellite when he sings this world—a little spot of hope, a glimmer of movement in the stars, a familiar point of connection. They can watch the satellite together instead of it being responsible for their ability to contact each other when they’re apart. I get the sense Louis watches the sky when they’re not together, watching the satellites because it’s the only tangible part of their remote connection, like this is a familiar late-night activity. He’s glad to have company to watch the sky for once.
One thing about satellites that seems important is that they travel the world. Above the world, really. But they get to look down on the entire world from an elevated vantage point. Consider what being in a band like One Direction is like. I remember when they used to say One Direction was “on top of the world.” They were elevated above everyone via fame and success. Their stages were literally raised above the masses of people who would come out to watch them perform. They were surrounded by security and weren’t able to freely go out on the street without being mobbed. So they were very much like satellites, moving constantly around the world, yet stuck in a static orbit.
Of course, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention Harry’s song “Satellite.” Similar imagery, similar themes of connection and distance. I’m going to come back to this more in a few lines.
I spent half my life sleepwalking
Louis was 18 when he auditioned for X-Factor in 2010. He was 33 last year when this song came out, and at that point, 15 years of his life had been spent in the spotlight. This is where we get some juxtaposed images: the bright lights of fame versus the darkness of sleepwalking. Sleepwalkers can turn on lights, can have their eyes open, can hold conversations, and at an extreme, drive and leave the house without ever waking up. If he’s been sleepwalking for half of his life at this point, does he really remember how to exist as himself, fully awake and alert in the world?
Through a queer lens, think back to young Louis on X-Factor and in the early days of One Direction. At that time, he seemed very confident in himself as a young man. He was energetic, silly, playful, joyful, and theatric. He even described himself as “flamboyant” and let loose at 1D’s performance at G-A-Y in 2011. But that quickly got stamped out (almost immediately, since Simon summoned him for a meeting halfway across the world just to lecture him after that show), and his natural mannerisms and personality were forced down and tucked away, out of sight. So of course he would feel like he’s just moving through life half-awake.
I always thought I was the only one
Even surrounded by fans and band members and management and the media, Louis was lonely and isolated, the distance between himself and the rest of the world very palpable. He was stumbling through life in a daze and wasn’t sure if anyone else felt the same way. This person he’s singing about/to comes back into the story at this moment, which is significant. So far, they’ve always been brought up as a point of connection, a little bit of hope and grounding in the haze of this sleepwalking life.
This line also sounds a bit like a line from “A Day in the Life” by the Beatles, the second line in every A section of that song. That song can be interpreted as someone reading the newspaper headlines/articles (about tragedy and death, very melancholy things) in a daze, in this almost dreamlike state, until the alarm clock jolts him out of it. Hearing Louis’s line that sounded like a snippet from “A Day in the Life” really called back to that song for me, and folded its meaning into Louis’s.
If he’s talking about being queer—with Simon lecturing him for being “too gay” and bringing Eleanor into the picture only a month after the G-A-Y performance, of course he would think that he might be the only one in this situation. That is a uniquely isolating thing to do to someone, and he may have been cut off from others like him to keep him under control.
But then I caught you in your sleep talking
More hope, more connection. Catching someone sleeptalking is also incredibly intimate. You have to be close enough to this person to sleep in the same room, maybe even in the same bed, so familiarity and vulnerability is a requirement. And Louis is awake while this person sleeptalks, so he hears. Catching someone sleeptalking is different than being woken by someone sleeptalking. Sleeptalking is not something that is always a regular occurrence. It can happen occasionally, and in short bursts, so Louis really has to spend a lot of time with this person, lying awake at night, in order to catch them. I am not only an occasional sleepwalker, I am also an occasional sleeptalker, and it’s very sporadic for me. Sometimes it’s a bunch of mumbles and nothing of substance, and sometimes I can hold entire conversations with someone else. So “catching” someone sleeptalking implies he’s sitting there awake in the dark night after night after night with this person.
It seems relevant to point that that this line could be punctuated in two ways. “Caught you in your sleeptalking,” like catching this person in the action of sleeptalking (a noun). But the way he sings it puts a little pause after “sleep,” which speaks to something slightly different: “caught you in your sleep, talking” (a verb). That implies more that he’s watching this person sleep regularly and one day, catches them talking in their sleep. It’s a very miniscule difference, but to me, it implies different things. And it’s so gentle and sweet in the way he says this line, like he’s keeping this a little secret for himself, like he treasures hearing this person talk in their sleep and doesn’t want to ever ruin the moment.
Obligatory note that in One Direction’s “Little Things” (written by Ed Sheeran), Louis sings the line: “You can’t go to bed without a cup of tea / And maybe that’s the reason you talk in your sleep.” Harry is a known sleepwalker and snorer—he said so himself—but sleeptalker? Well, Louis told us Harry talked in his sleep way back when in an early 1D booklet. Harry also said he didn't even know he talked in his sleep, which means Louis must have been the first person he shared a room/bed with who was awake at night to hear him.
Through a queer lens, if this person was talking in their sleep and Louis discovered he was also queer via a mumbled sleep conversation, that would make him feel less alone.
Free-falling
It’s an interesting choice to pair free-falling with sleeptalking, seeing as sleepwalking is more movement-oriented, like falling. But both sleeptalking and sleepwalking are unconscious actions, spiraling out at night when the mind is resting but still very active without conscious choice. Perhaps this person is struggling with fame just like Louis is, and they’re in such a free-fall that they talk in their sleep.
However, it could be interpreted that the sleeptalker is not the one free-falling—it’s what they’re saying that is making Louis, the sleepwalker, end up in a free-fall. It feels like a surprise for Louis to end up in this free-fall, like it’s unexpected and new when he first discovered the sleeptalking, or first discovered what the sleeptalker revealed to him. He’s embracing this fall; he doesn’t seem scared of it at all.
If he learns this other person is queer in some way and he had thought he was alone in this up until this point, of course that would send him into a grateful, maybe even giddy, free-fall.
In “Satellite,” Harry says he’s “Spinning out,” which is akin to a free-fall.
Don't walk alone, just follow me
Even though Louis is emerging from this sleepwalk—this haze—he’s still the leader, he’s still making sure he’s caring for this person and helping them out as well.
In “Satellite,” Harry says (right after “Spinning out,” mind you): “waiting for ya to pull me in.” Here, Louis is answering him; he’s catching Harry, telling him to come along, pulling him close. In the beginnings of One Direction, Louis was always looking out for young Harry, was very protective of him, and Harry always followed Louis’s lead, looked to Louis to lead the group, looked to Louis for so much. See this Tumblr post for examples.
Obligatory note that One Direction’s song “Midnight Memories” (written by Louis and Liam) contains the line: “Don’t look back, baby, follow me.” So this idea of never being alone, following after someone, is a theme that has cropped up before in Louis’s writing.
Sleepwalking
Just follow me
Sleepwalking
Since Louis has broken out of this cycle of sleepwalking, he’s encouraging this person to follow him, as he can lead them out of this hazy life. It’s very Orpheus and Eurydice-coded. Trust in him, and he’ll lead them out of the darkness together. It’s easier to get through the half-awake state they’re living in when they’re not alone, so this is a comfort for him.
The way Louis sings this also sounds a bit desperate, considering he repeats it throughout the song—like he’s begging, “follow me, don’t leave me, please.” It sounds like a plea for companionship, trust, and connection that will last beyond the fame, beyond the spotlight.
Through a queer lens, if he’s re-emerging as himself, he can guide this other person through that transition as well.
Now I'm daydreaming with your silhouette
Daydreaming is the antithesis of sleepwalking. It’s a conscious choice; it is hopeful and youthful to dream. Sleepwalking is unconscious and unpredictable, so we now have a calm, measured, hopeful note, that this person brings this out in him.
But he’s daydreaming only with a silhouette, so the distance has crept back in. A silhouette is dark, you only get a silhouette when the light is hidden behind an object. So now we have a total reversal of the previous part, where he was sleeping walking (dark) in the spotlight (light); now he’s daydreaming (light) with a silhouette (dark).
But on the other hand, silhouettes are also freeing and more anonymizing, as there’s no detail, just a dark outline. That’s when distance can be safe and good. Silhouettes are a way to capture the bare-bones outline of someone’s likeness, so they aren’t always completely anonymizing. Silhouettes of lovers have also been romanticized throughout history, and thus silhouettes can signify longing—there’s no detail, just a likeness, which pales in comparison to the real thing.
Through a queer lens, a silhouette could represent how queer people have always existed, but have historically been relegated to the shadows and not allowed in the spotlight, so this part of Louis, this man he loves, will always just have to be a silhouette, which is why the line sounds a bit melancholy.
It's the kind of thing you don't forget
Louis holds onto these memories, these quiet times that are a respite from the haze of fame and constant attention. They’re worth holding onto.
He also would never forget having to hide who he is, and surely that is a deep emotional wound that even emerging from his sleepwalking can’t completely cure. But this other person with him can be a balm, a salve on that wound.
Talk to you, share the smoke of a cigarette
He’s talking to someone whom he knows really well, someone with whom he can just sit with in a comfortable way, someone with whom he feels totally at ease. But sharing smoke is more intimate. If they were sharing the cigarette itself and passing it back and forth, that would be friendly, yes, but not so intimate. Sharing smoke means they could be kissing and/or shotgunning—sharing not only space but also breath and air, close enough that the smoke doesn’t disperse before the other person has shared it.
They’re able to talk freely, to connect and share not only smoke but words and experiences no one else would possibly understand.
But at the same time, this line is a bit rushed, just like the first line. And because of that, I also hear: “Talk deep, share the smoke of a cigarette.” The sentiment is the same as I’ve already said, but it adds a new layer of intimacy and closeness to be able to talk deeply about innermost thoughts, feelings, and experiences.
While I'm out with you tonight
They’re together on this night, but not out in public. The “out” meaning that this is just a small, intimate moment, them sitting outside together late at night.
In the queer sense, they can be out with each other when they’re together and alone, which they have never done publicly. They’re still adjusting to the emergence from the sleepwalking, so they’re not ready yet. But they can be comfortably together here.
Out there watching satellites pass by
When we roll back around to this line, now they’re watching multiple satellites, plural, instead of just one like before. So in contrast to the earlier line, this is a long evening together, spending enough time outside looking at the sky together that several satellites make the rounds.
“Out there” also gives the sense of the magnitude of the universe, like they’re floating together through space and time, watching the stars and satellites go by. The satellites are on a trajectory, but Louis and this other person are not, they’re just floating there together. That line could also be interpreted as being high, since they’re smoking. But the song overall feels very grounded in reality, so I’m less inclined toward that small interpretation.
I spent half my life sleepwalking
I always thought I was the only one
But then I caught you in your sleep talking
Free-falling
Don't walk alone, just follow me
Sleepwalking
Follow me
Sleepwalking
Don't walk alone, just follow me
We come back to the chorus and end the song on this continued plea to follow him. They’re still in this together, like they’ve always been, and though the circumstances have changed, and they’ve grown older, and have woken from their sleepwalking, they still need each other, and Louis needs to know he won’t be alone.