Extraction Point

Extraction Point
Album	Bleed Out
Released	August 19, 2022
Length	5:20
Previous Track	"Wage Wars Get Rich Die Handsome"
Next Track	"Bones Don't Rust"

Extraction Point is the fourth song on Bleed Out. It appears as the sixteenth song on the 2022 live album The Jordan Lake Sessions: Volume 5.

Lyrics

You never learn to tell the difference between
The probable projections and the best parts of the dream
The fragments that stick with you, the ones you really feel
Those parts aren't real

But high in the cold Midwestern air
They shimmer before us there
Almost out of reach but not quite
Stay up thinking about it all night
Waited so long for days like these
I'm tired of living on my knees

Pull your hair back tight, head right for the extraction point
And if you don't hear from me let them all go free

I'm on the Kennedy Expressway at dawn
Don't know where we got this car from
I'm driving with the fog lights on
The angles you don't plan for, the things you might have missed
Those things exist

But under the waxing winter sun
I feel like we're almost gone
Just pick a lane and drive right through
Headed off to freedom with you
Dreams of the future up in the front of my mind
Leave a couple dozen bodies behind

Pull your hair back tight, head right for the extraction point
And if you don't hear from me let them all go free

Comments by John Darnielle About this Song

• “To me, in some ways it's a tribute to a band called Silkworm. Their songs are all very cinematic. They're often voiced by a narrator, but who seems to be situated within a specific context. That's basically what I have always done, but mine usually exists more in a folk context, whereas this is much more of a rock song. What I really like about it is there's something that just finished happening and you have to put together the details of what it was. And it looks like it was pretty gnarly, but the song is pretty, it's triumphant. I wasn't sitting there trying to write a Silkworm pastiche, but I do think it comes out showing some clear signs of its pedigree. Silkworm is one of the best bands who ever existed.” via https://music.apple.com/us/album/bleed-out/1622211546
• “This is a kind of a love song with a pretty high body count”. - 2024-04-05 - Haw River Ballroom - Saxapahaw, NC

Live Shows this Song Was Played at

• 2022-08-25 - The Jordan Lake Sessions - Pittsboro, NC
• 2022-08-28 - The Broadberry - Richmond, VA
• 2022-08-29 - Anchor Rock Club - Atlantic City, NJ
• 2022-08-31 - Webster Hall - New York, NY
• 2022-09-02 - Wilbur Theatre - Boston, MA
• 2022-09-03 - The Met - Pawtucket, RI
• 2022-09-09 - Bogart's - Cincinnati, OH
• 2022-09-10 - Bluebird Nightclub - Bloomington, IN
• 2022-09-17 - Tulips - Fort Worth, TX
• 2022-09-20 - Saturn - Birmingham, AL
• 2022-09-21 - Bijou Theatre - Knoxville, TN
• 2024-04-05 - Haw River Ballroom - Saxapahaw, NC
• 2024-04-06 - The Eastern - Atlanta, GA
• 2024-04-08 - Victory Theatre - Evansville, IN
• 2024-04-09 - Kalamazoo State Theatre - Kalamazoo, MI
• 2024-04-10 - Turner Hall Ballroom - Milwaukee, WI
• 2024-04-12 - Palace Theatre - Saint Paul, MN
• 2024-04-13 - The City Center - Champaign, IL
• 2024-04-15 - Washington's - Fort Collins, CO
• 2024-04-16 - Gothic Theatre - Denver, CO
• 2024-04-17 - Gothic Theatre - Denver, CO
• 2024-04-19 - The Stiefel Theatre - Salina, KS
• 2024-04-20 - Delmar Hall - Saint Louis, MO
• 2024-04-21 - The Caverns - Pelham, TN
• 2024-04-22 - Salvage Station - Asheville, NC
• 2024-08-01 - Citizens House of Blues - Boston, MA
• 2024-08-02 - Phantom Power - Millersville, PA
• 2024-08-03 - Union Transfer - Philadelphia, PA
• 2024-08-04 - Filene Center at Wolf Trap - Vienna, VA