Sleeper In Metropolis

The lyrics portray a person asleep and alone in a vast city, feeling small and cut off from other people. The mood moves from numb comfort to frustration and bleakness: even as the speaker struggles against this isolation, the city seems to make the struggle harder. Near the end, the absence of love and real contact becomes the central loss.

Several images make this alienation concrete. “The blackened ocean of night” suggests darkness so wide that one person can feel lost inside it. The “higher” wall that appears as people fight may mean that resisting loneliness can sometimes deepen the barriers between them. The city spreading “like an illness” presents urban life not as neutral scenery but as a harmful condition, visible in cars, surveillance-like spotlights, and fear. “Contact through glove or partition” implies touch that is technically possible but still distant and protected.

The lyrics can be read as criticizing a system that keeps people comfortable enough to remain passive while separating them from one another. Yet the speaker’s claims are sweeping and poetic, not necessarily a literal description of every city or relationship. The ending sounds despairing, but the longing for warmth and contact also shows that connection still matters; the song leaves open whether that hope can survive in this environment.