Bleed Black

I simply love this song...it's such a depressing but beautiful piece...the best part of the song, in my opinion, is when the tempo of the song slows down and the "I know what died that night" verse begins

i found this on someone's xanga site. i didnt write it, just so you know. But i think it is very interesting and made me respect sing the sorrow a lot more.

"Okay, before this album came out, they released a 10" disk, and called it "336". No one could figure out why, and it was a bit of a secret. All they would really tell us was that when Sing the Sorrow came out, it would all be made clear. Well, they dropped some hints in the meantime. One time while upgrading the messageboard, they left links to astrology, numerology, and the ummm.... I think the chinese zodiac? Another time, a hint was dropped... they said that "336" wasn't really important.. it was just "what comes before." It came before Sing the Sorrow. Meaning that STS was "337." And we really had to figure out what 337 meant. Also, there were the rabbits. They had posters and stuff with rabbits on them. And other weird mentions of rabbits. In the liner notes from STS, it says, "Rabbits are roadkill." So Sing the Sorrow came out, and no one could figure it out. Then their short film, "Clandestine" came out. It had the cd, the dvd short film, and a 60 page little hardcover book, which was like a big colored version of the cd booklet. Thw whole style is of faded, worn pages. The pages are old and stained... brownish stains.. But as you flip through the book, you begin to realize that some of the stains and smudges are actually red. All of the stains are actually blood, and dried blood. (I haven't seen the film in a long time, so I might have a few details wrong.) Now, in the film, it starts with Hunter holding a box with the Sing the Sorrow logo on it, running through the forest. He looks at a paper, and keeps running. The paper gets dropped, and you see that it says Room 37 at 3:33. He runs into a classroom full of kids. The board says, "nothing from nowhere." Then you see Adam playing cards. The box is on the table (in the pot), along with a watch, keys, a magnifying glass, a bottle of dark fluid, a white chrysanthemum, and a live rabbit. Adam has 336 in his hand. He wins, takes the box, and goes to leave, but the box falls apart in his hands. You see that two of the guys at the table have actually smuggled away the real box. It flashes to Dave in a cafe. He is writing in a book (the book that comes with Clandestine... it's like the cd booklet, but better), with the box on the table. A strange woman comes up and kisses him, stealing the box. She leaves, and he goes back to writing. He notices the box is gone, and leaves. It flashes to Jade walking into the classroom, (the board says "I am no one at all." and through another door in the class, which leads him into a house. You see him snooping through the house. Going upstairs, going through drawers, looking behind dressers, etc. He goes into the bathroom, and the tub is filled with a black fluid. He reaches in, and pulls out the box. You see a hand at the door of the bathroom (maybe the hand of the woman from the cafe?), trying to open it. They unlock the door (with the keys from the card table?) Jade jumps into the tub, going down, down into the water. He comes walking out of the water on a beach. He walks across the sand to a small table where all the members sit waiting. He places the box on the table, and they open it. End of film. You never see what is or isn't inside. Throughout the movie, it flashes the clock, which, for every person's scene, is on 3:33, and at the very end, I believe it's 3:37. Now, I have friends that spent forever figuring this out, and I helped some. They looked up esoteric astrology, chinese astrolgy, and numerolgy, among other things. Clandestine means something secret or hidden. Esoteric also means hidden. "Miseria Cantare" is Latin for "Sing the Sorrow." 3 x 37 = 111. I'm not positive, but I hear that 777 represents god, or perfection. In Transference, Dave wrote, "I'm 111 less than perfection." 777 - 111 = 666. Dun dun DUUUUNNN. (P.S., NO, they are in no way devil worshippers. Just for your info.) Also, Three denotes divine perfection; Seven denotes spiritual perfection. In esoteric astrology, 336 represents physical death, and the events leading up to it. There were only 2 songs on the 336 disk. Some of the lyrics of one of the songs say, "We're all now in dying days.... I gave up fighting. I've come to be these halos." 337 represents the act of reincarnation. This is important: In chinese astrology, Dave is a RABBIT. He was born the year of the rabbit. RABBITS CANNOT BE REINCARNATED. Rabbits are on their last life in this world, and do not have another chance. In numerology, Dave's life path number is 3. In some middle eastern philosophy, they say that there are 37 deeds you must do before you can reach nirvana, or peace/heaven, and be done on the wheel of life. The whole cd goes in a circle. The sounds at the end are backwards. They end in the same beat and same key as the beginning of the cd. It's one continuous loop. The music before This Time Imperfect is the same played forward as it is played backward. The front of the album has the symbol of falling leaves. Falling leaves represent death, and returning to the earth. The back of the album has a symbol of water. Water represents rebirth. All of the art for this album has been circles. Another symbol of something repeating, of reincarnation. Also, at the beginning of the film, Hunter is running through the forest (leaves), and at the end, they're on the beach (water). The black fluid in the bathtub relates to "Bleed Black." The chrysanthemum on the card table relates to "The Great Disappointment." It's all crazy. Basically, the whole theme is death and reincarnation, and the fact that he CANNOT reincarnate again. Look at the song lyrics. Although each song as a whole isn't about this, there are specific lines that corroborate this theory. Example: "iscarnate." "Nothing from nowhere, I'm no one at all." Discarnate means being bodiless. Like floating in time and space. Essentially, being... nowhere. Nothing. There are other questions as well, like why are the leaving songs out of order? Well, since the cd is one big circle, we don't believe that it actually begins with Misera Cantare. At the end of Clandestine, there is breathing. Just like at the beginning of Bleed Black. I believe that the album BEGINS with Bleed Black. That would put the song as beginning after Clandestine. There was a theory that the box at the end was just empty. (I forget why.) Well, the first words are, "I am exploring the inside. I find it desolate." So, if it starts with Bleed Black, the breathing at the beginning could represent life. (Being born, perhaps?) That would put the song whose lyrics say, "recreate me," and more importantly, "I know I died that night, and I'll never be brough back to life once again." So, playing that as the first song, and going full circle around the cd, that puts the leaving songs into order, and ends the cd with The Leaving Song Pt II. Now, some people think that Dave "ies" over the course of this cd. Some say that the "eath" (if there is one) occurs during This Time Imperfect. That would make sense that Miseria Cantare would be the beginning... from nowhere. Bodiless... Then comes The Leaving Song Pt II, whose very first lyrics say, "on't waste your touch, you won't feel anything." The spanish in the song says, ""Yo he estado aquß muchas veces antes y regreso" ("I have been here many times before and I return"; "Y regreso aquß otra vez y comenzo" ("So I return here once again and I begin". Like being reborn. The circle of birth and death and rebirth. "I saw its birth. I watched it grow...." Also the fact that the poem is read as in the 3 stages of life. Like he is aging through it. So yeah, it's pretty creepy. That's most of it. There are other small things, like, "Rabbits are roadkill," and then there's the sound of a vehicle accelerating through the rain at the beginning of Silver and Cold. There is also a very small, very blacked out picture of what looks to be a truck or something (maybe the vehicle?) in the book. All sorts of details"

i think this song has that whole "what have i come to" theme -I am exploring the inside, I find it desolate -I'm hovering throughout time, I crumble in these days -I'm numbing in these days -I know I died that night ..

but he is also venting his anger towards the world

• I am destroyed by the inside (crowd? cool people etc)
• I hope to destroy the outside (world) it will alleviate and elevate me

i agree with daveyismygod on this one. he is just trying to find himself and who he is. he just feels pain so he 'disassociates'. he has learned to be numb towards life so he can survive. but then again all afi lyrics can be translated into hundreds of different ideas and none are wrong because that is what makes them great. they can relate to almost everyone.

they are only expressing thier opinions of the songs...i dont think davey wants us to keep our opinions to ourselves... he writes this songs for people to intrerprit our own way yes but theres no harm in seeing what other people think...noones telling people that their interpritation is the proper one. as well all know lyrics like this arent supposed to have just one meaning hence the "what does this song mean to YOU" it doesnt say what does this song mean does it?

Thanks for saying that, crazy jake, first of all. I love how Davey finds the act of destroying elevating and as something that can make you "higher", and no, for the people that don't get it, I'm not talking about a high that makes you feel good. I see this more as a want to reincarnate and recreate one's self, but is unable. I don't have much to say about this one, but it is an amazing song. Just another normality from AFI.

Even if Sing the Sorrow does tell a story, I think that each song has an alternative meaning. But it's up to the listener to decide what it is.

"Bleed Black" makes me think of someone that is destroying his social life. "I am exploring the inside, I find it desolate" means that he's lonely even when he's with people. His "confines" are the people around him, "recreating" him, making him more depressed by not paying attention to him. He's begging, or imploring, them to pay attention. "I'm hovering throughout time, I crumble in these days. I crumble, I cannot find reflection in these days" means that he doesn't exist to these people.

In the second verse, he's "destroyed by the inside", the inside meaning his feelings of lonliness. The outside would be his social ties, and he destroys them.

The "I know what died" part would mean all of his relationships are gone.

"If you listen) Listen, listen (Listen close) Beat by beat (You can hear when the heart stops)" means that the people he cut himself off from don't really notice or care. "I saved the pieces (When it broke) And ground them all to dust" states again that he destroyed his social ties.

Anyway, that's just how I looked at the song.

i think this song is about watching yourself self destruct, and self mutilating to bleed out the pain...aka the black. "I am exploring the inside, i find it desolate" ...its like one day you wake up, and you don't know yourself, and what you know is death...feeling dead inside

"IF you listen..you can hear when the heart stops"...he's talking to the ppl around him, or maybe someone who's trying to reach him. He feels dead inside.

"I disassociate..." something traumatic happened that he won't name, so he's living inside his head while shit falls down around him... And he can't be brought back to life. Self mutilators dissociate in the midst of their behavior.

Towards the end when he keeps repeating the heart will stop, is symbolic of the heart beating... and the abrupt stop is when it...well, stops.

As for the crumbling refrences of grinding it to dust-he's grinding his heart up so he can't bleed black anymore, or be hurt by whatever the traumatic experience was.

"I hope to destroy the outside"-another reference to self destructive behavior.

See, people this is what I love about AFI... everyone can relate to the songs in a different way. If you read blake's comment^ there you can realize that that's not what the song's originally about, but that's what it's about to him. AFI songs are so... well, the lyrics can be pretty much about anything you want. AFI is honestly one of the best bands ever.

right. sorry to interrupt your argument here folks but i just wanted to put my opinion on the song's meaning. you know, what this website is for. not slagging off emos. (on a side not AFI are not remotely emo. they are strongly influenced by punk rock and could be described as more 'gothic' than 'emo'. they don't whinge about emotions - they create hypothetical storylines within the narrative of their songs, and often write from a third person perspective.

anyway.

I reckon this song is about being in purgatory. the man in the song is dead and is recollecting everything he can remember about his life in order to find out what his mistakes were and how he can rectify them in order to be recreated: "I do implore these confines, now, as they penetrate, "recreate me" I'm hovering throughout time, I crumble in these days I crumble, I cannot, I cannot find reflection in these days"

he cannot find an answer as to why he is in this horrible place.

his life as a mortal being was so long ago it is almost forgotten. he can faintly hear the distant sound of his once living heart drumming out its final beats. he wants to keep hold of any memories of his human life and so he kept the pieces of his heart (metaphorically of course), but when he found that he has no use for it in purgatory, he ground the pieces up.

well. that's what i think anyway. it's open to interpretation.