Bleed Out (song)

Bleed Out
Album	Bleed Out
Released	August 19, 2022
Length	7:09
Previous Track	"Incandescent Ruins"

Bleed Out is the twelfth song on Bleed Out. It appears as the nineteenth song on the 2022 live album The Jordan Lake Sessions: Volume 5.

Lyrics

Every time they knock me down
I rise to my feet
Every time I take a bullet, they find a medic
To patch me up real neat
You only have to run the numbers to know
Sooner or later everybody's gotta go
Bleed out
I'm gonna bleed out

I'm gonna bleed out
I'm gonna bleed out
There won't be anybody waiting to rush me to safety
I'm gonna let the long night take me
Bleed out
I'm gonna bleed out

Every bender needs a blackout
Every gauge deserves a top line
Every story needs a child who believes
The brave hero's gonna be just fine
You only have to check the papers to see
Some of these children end up just like me
Bleed out
I'm gonna bleed out

I'm gonna bleed out
I'm gonna bleed out
I'm gonna make a gigantic mess
But it meant something important I guess
Bleed out
I'm gonna bleed out

Somewhere beyond imagination
Somewhere beneath the final delta
Washed up on the banks of a river at the height of the storm
Everybody seeking shelter
I'm gonna dive right in
I can't swim
Bleed out
I'm gonna bleed out

I'm gonna bleed out
I'm gonna bleed out
There's gonna be a big spot where I once lay
And there won't even be a spot one day
Bleed out
I'm gonna bleed out

There was a chance we'd make it through this
It's safe to say now that we missed it
And I will never lose hope, and I haven't lost hope
I'm just realistic
I will go down punching, but I will go down
And my corner man won't bring me back around
Bleed out
I'm gonna bleed out

The blood is pooling underneath me
Flowing freely from my mouth
You wanna call a medevac - now?
Knock yourself out
You can tell them when they get here
You tried
But the smallest hole was several inches wide
Bleed out
I'm gonna bleed out

I'm gonna head into the darkness
I'm gonna head into the light
I will surrender to the slow, lurching tide
Drift off into the night
There won't be any words of wisdom from me
Just a lake of blood for all the world to see
Bleed out
I'm gonna bleed out

I'm gonna bleed out
I'm gonna bleed out
I'm gonna tell my friends to all go to Hell
And wish my enemies well
Bleed out
I'm gonna bleed out

I'm gonna bleed out
I'm gonna bleed out
If it's blood you want, I've got plenty of it!
You're gonna love it!
Bleed out
I'm gonna bleed out

Comments by John Darnielle About this Song

• "That was recorded at probably two in the morning, and it was live. There’s not an overdub on that song. So the exhaustion is real in there." -- 2022-08-19 interview with Vulture
• “I wrote it on Sunday morning. I remember I was deep in the writing zone at that point, and what that means for my family is that dad is going to check out sometimes and then you don't really actually have a dad in the house for the next three to five hours. I wrote all these verses and was sending them one at a time to Peter [Hughes, bassist] going, 'Well, you got to hear what I got working here. This is pretty fun.' At that point we'd been together for a solid week, and that's a part of the studio experience that is hard to explain to the outside world. There's always a great deal of emotion, because you've been doing this thing where you're sharing some part of your creativity with these people every single day, but it's a profound communal sharing. Once we landed on that groove, we played it for a good half an hour, 40 minutes before we started recording. It's like Get Lonely—the band name and the title make sense. The Mountain Goats bleed out.” -- Apple Music
• (in response to the question "i was wondering if theres a page turning sound effect in Bleed Out (at about 1:44) ?") "there is a sound of a page of my lyrics falling from the music stand to the floor, not sure I'd call that a sound effect but what you're hearing is real" -- Twitter

Live Shows this Song Was Played at

• 2022-08-25 - The Jordan Lake Sessions - Pittsboro, NC
• 2022-08-30 - Webster Hall - New York, NY
• 2022-08-31 - Webster Hall - New York, NY
• 2022-09-18 - Tipitina's - New Orleans, LA
• 2024-01-31 - Rialto Theatre - Tucson, AZ
• 2024-02-01 - Orpheum Theater - Flagstaff, AZ