inspired by the haunting sound of elvis presley's "heartbreak hotel", reynolds wrote "endless sleep" while in yuma, arizona for a gig, and played it onstage the same night. though a proficient guitarist himself, the studio recording of the song featured al casey and howard roberts on guitars. it had been written solely by reynolds, but demon records credited it to reynolds and the fictitious "dolores nance", to make it appear to have been written by a 'professional' songwriting team. with spooky, reverb-laden vocals, "endless sleep" tells the story of a young man desperately searching for his girlfriend, who, after an argument, has flung herself into the ocean. the label persuaded a reluctant reynolds to change the lyrics to give the song a happy ending.