Sung from the point of view of a night shift worker corresponding with colleagues, "Daysleeper" focuses on the disorientation of time and circadian rhythm in such a lifestyle, leading to despair and loss of identity.

Lead singer Michael Stipe developed the song's concept after noticing a sign reading "daysleeper" on a New York City apartment door.

's performance for VH1 Storytellers, Stipe explained the background to the song: I was in New York, putting together a book of haikus that I worked on with several dear friends of mine over the course of a year, and I was walking down the steps of this building.

[1] The video, shot at Broadway Studios in the Astoria district of New York City in September 1998,[2] was filmed in stop-frame photography to get what Stipe called a "really druggy, really great look.

"I think it's about the sort of alien nature of a night shift," explained Mike Mills.