In regards to the meaning of this song:
Before a live performance on the EP Five Stories Falling, Geoff states “It’s about the last time I went to visit my grandmother in Columbus, and I saw that she was dying and it was the last time I was going to see her. It is about realizing how young you are, but how quickly you can go.”
That’s the thing about Geoff and his sublime poetry, you think it’s about one thing, but really it’s about something entirely different. But the lyrics are still universal and omnipresent, ubiquitous, even. So relatable. That’s one thing I love about this band. I also love their live performances, raw energy and Geoff’s beautiful, imperfectly perfect vocals. His voice soothes my aching soul.
Make me feel like a beggar
Make me feel like a thief
Make me feel like a battle, that cannot end in peace
Make me feel like running, as if I've lost my nerve
Make me feel like crying, tears I don't deserve
Please bleed
So I know that you are real
So I know that you can feel
The damage that you've done
Who have I become
To myself I am numb, I am numb, I am numb
Is this really living
Sometimes it's hard to tell
Or is this a kind of gentler hell
Turn out the lights
And let me stare into your soul
I was born and bled for you old
Please bleed
So I know that you are real
So I know that you can feel
The damage that you've done
Who have I become
To myself I am numb, I am numb, I am numb
Never said thank you
Never said please
Never gave reason to believe
So as it stands I remain on my knees
Good lovers make great enemies
Please bleed
So I know that you are real
So I know that you can feel
The damage that you've done
Who have I become
To myself I am numb, I am numb, I am numb
Make me feel like a thief
Make me feel like a battle, that cannot end in peace
Make me feel like running, as if I've lost my nerve
Make me feel like crying, tears I don't deserve
Please bleed
So I know that you are real
So I know that you can feel
The damage that you've done
Who have I become
To myself I am numb, I am numb, I am numb
Is this really living
Sometimes it's hard to tell
Or is this a kind of gentler hell
Turn out the lights
And let me stare into your soul
I was born and bled for you old
Please bleed
So I know that you are real
So I know that you can feel
The damage that you've done
Who have I become
To myself I am numb, I am numb, I am numb
Never said thank you
Never said please
Never gave reason to believe
So as it stands I remain on my knees
Good lovers make great enemies
Please bleed
So I know that you are real
So I know that you can feel
The damage that you've done
Who have I become
To myself I am numb, I am numb, I am numb
Lyrics submitted by dragonflower44
Please Bleed Lyrics as written by Ben C Harper
Lyrics © Reservoir Media Management, Inc.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Its about a person trying their hardest to get someone to reciprocate their love. The first verse just trying his hardest to win her heart, begging and fighting for her heart. Always fighting for her love but never gets it "like a battle, that cannot end in peace." He wants to run sometimes but never does. His love is so one sided that he wants her to bleed to know she is human with emotions. "so i know that you can feel" She has mistreated him so badly that he has become numb, cannot feel anymore. He says "turn out the lights, let me stare into your soul" the only time he can see the person for who they are, so he thinks, because he says later, "good lovers make great enemies." He got a false hope from making "love" to her. She never gave him a reason to believe in their love any other time.
seems a bit obvious that this song is about self harm. it's about cutting yourself to take away the numbness. also, "good lovers make great enemies" reminds me of too many ex-lovers who become enemies so easily.
I don't think it's about self-harm. I think he means he wants her to show that she is effected by emotions and by things that go on around her. Just because he says "Please bleed", doesn't mean he means it literally. Think OUTSIDE the box people.
Actually he says a "kinder, gentler hell", not a "kind of gentle hell"
Well I could explain what every verse means to me but to make it short when i hear this song i think it is about opening yourself up and trusting in someone, and for no reason being burned in the end. Its about a coldhearted lover who hurt you for no reason after you believed in them and, when it says "please bleed" its saying you should be hurt the way youve hurt me.
I think this song is about a relationship that went bad, and Ben is blaming it on the other person. He is asking her to bleed so that he knows that she is a real person who has emotions, because at the moment he thinks she is some "evil" person(the hell reference)--he can't believe any person with feeling could actually do that to him, especially when she apparently acted like she cared for him (Good lovers make great enemies).
i think when he says "please bleed" he is tryin to say that he wants to know if what is happening is real and he is really human because of what he has caused - so much pain and distress. i think the refrence to blood is in relation to being human.
yeah, i dont think its about self-harm...he wants the other person, prolly an ex girlfriend or something like that, to show some sign of remore or maybe evn to just show...any form of feeling. i dont know i suck at explaing things in words. i know how he feels though.
okay, first of all, whatever the song means to you- run with it. That's what music is about. None of us wrote the song so we can't REALLY know what its about. I always thought of the song as meaning that he wants another person to show they are a real person with emotions etc., but after reading the post about self harm I can see where they are coming from as well. Due to the good lovers line and references to staring into someone's soul, I still believe he meant it to be about what I said earlier, but if you find meaning in it as a song about self-harm, then that's great. Music is deeply personal...go with what you relate to.
I agree with Blythe4207 and pixelgirl. Man has been crushed by woman. Man feels confused and angry and feels as if she needs to feel what he's ging through. he wants her to bleed like he has done before. PLus it'll give him a chance to see if she is real. If she can bleed, she's human.