Discover the story of the song > Sleeping Beauty – A Perfect Circle

The lyrics are about a person (he) who is delusional and believes that he can fix all of his partner's (her) problems. He tries to coax, trick, or drive away her demons in order to make things right for her, but he realizes that he cannot magically heal her. He is drunk on ego and foolishly thinks that by kissing her one more time, he can help her face her nightmares. However, he comes to the realization that she is too poisoned for him to save and he was a fool to believe that he could wake her from her slumber or heal her. The protagonist is failing miserably to rescue her and she is hiding from a poisoned memory. She is far beyond any visible sign of awakening and is hopeless and poisoned, hence the reference to her as a "sleeping beauty."