Overall about difficult moments of disappointment and vulnerability. Having hope and longing, while remaining optimistic for the future. Encourages the belief that with each new morning there is a chance for things to improve.
The chorus offers a glimmer of optimism and a chance at a resolution and redemption in the future.
Captures the rollercoaster of emotions of feeling lost while loving someone who is not there for you, feeling let down and abandoned while waiting for a lover. Lost with no direction, "Now I'm up in the air with the rain in my hair, Nowhere to go, I can go anywhere"
The bridge shows signs of longing and a plea for companionship. The Lyrics express a desire for authentic connection and the importance of Loving someone just as they are. "Just in passing, I'm not asking. That you be anyone but you”
I'm a color reporter (rose city on the 409)
But the city's been bled white (white city on the yellow line)
And the doctor orders (drinking till he's trashed is just a waste of time)
He drinks all night to take away this curse
But it makes me feel much worse
Bled white
So I wait for the f-train (white city on the yellow line)
And connect through a friend of mine (white city to a friend of mine)
To a yesterdaydream (yesterday a dream was just a waste of time)
'Cause I'll have to be high to track the sunset down
And paint this pailing town
Bled white
So here he comes with a blank expression
Especially for me 'cause he knows
I feel the same
'Cause happy and sad come in quick succession
I'm never going to become
What you became
Don't you dare disturb me (don't complicate my piece of mind)
While I'm balancing my past (don't complicate my piece of mind)
'Cause you can't help or hurt me (the anger, being mean was just a waste of time)
Like it already has, it may not seem quite right
But I'm not fucked, not quite
Bled white
Bled white
But the city's been bled white (white city on the yellow line)
And the doctor orders (drinking till he's trashed is just a waste of time)
He drinks all night to take away this curse
But it makes me feel much worse
Bled white
So I wait for the f-train (white city on the yellow line)
And connect through a friend of mine (white city to a friend of mine)
To a yesterdaydream (yesterday a dream was just a waste of time)
'Cause I'll have to be high to track the sunset down
And paint this pailing town
Bled white
So here he comes with a blank expression
Especially for me 'cause he knows
I feel the same
'Cause happy and sad come in quick succession
I'm never going to become
What you became
Don't you dare disturb me (don't complicate my piece of mind)
While I'm balancing my past (don't complicate my piece of mind)
'Cause you can't help or hurt me (the anger, being mean was just a waste of time)
Like it already has, it may not seem quite right
But I'm not fucked, not quite
Bled white
Bled white
Lyrics submitted by EnjOy IncUbus
Bled White Lyrics as written by Steven Paul Smith
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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I believe the song is referencing both Texas and Portland as the setting. First, Rose City is a small town in east Texas in the area code 409. But then Portland is known as "the Rose City" and has the MAX Yellow Line, which goes through the Rose Quarter. I'm not sure which one has the "F-train", but I imagine it's probably Portland.
Elliott left Texas at 14, supposedly because his step father was abusive and his mother was distant, at least. They may also have had drinking problems. The lyrics from 'Waltz No. 2' seem to have been about his mother: "She appears composed, so she is, I suppose. Who can really tell? She shows no emotion at all, stares into space like a dead china doll..."
So he was leaving a really bad scene in Texas. Though he was not from Rose City. I don't know who he knew there, or what he was doing there.
His father was a doctor, a psychiatrist. Elliott originally came to Portland to live with him, long after he and Elliott's mother had divorced.
Elliott had serious Major Depression problems. He could have also had Bipolar, or Cyclothymia, a lesser form of Bipolar, both of which can occur with Depression, and both of which are very heritable. The lyric "happy and sad in quick succession" could be a reference to Bipolar, or at least Major Depression.
It's very likely he got out of the frying pan and into the fire. He escaped his abusive step father in Texas, just to end up with his father in Portland, who may have had substance abuse problems (this is a guess!) and mental illness.
Elliott cites having had an interest in psychiatry, like his father, but didn't "have anything to offer other people." Hence the lyric: "I'm never going to become what you became." sweetadeline.net/bio3.html
I don't know exactly what "bled white" refers to. The racial makeup of the cities? I have my doubts about that, though it kind of makes sense. It might just be from some incident or conversation that we will never know. But it's a great metaphor -- the pallor of someone, or a corpse, who has lost blood.