“Ode to Sleep” seems to represent night and day as both the instrumentation and the lyrics seesaw back and forth between the light and the dark. The verses are riddled with a dark tone full of conflict, similarly to how Tyler describes his nights. The pre-chorus, chorus, and outro all share a light-hearted tone in which Tyler sings about conquering the night and the depression it invokes.

“Ode to Sleep” is Tyler Joseph’s favorite song to perform live, even after releasing Blurryface and touring extensively.

This track was originally featured on Regional At Best in 2011 and was later remastered for Vessel in 2013.

The reason why this is the first song on the album is that I feel like it kind of prepares the listener for the rest of the album, it almost puts them through a boot camp of what to expect… Which is don’t expect anything!

–Tyler Joseph via Rock Sound

The music video was released on New Year’s Eve in 2014. It depicts the band’s rise to fame, starting with their first show and ending with a performance at a venue holding 12,000 fans.