Yeah, here we go for the hundredth time
Hand grenade pins in every line
Throw 'em up and let something shine
Going out of my fucking mind

Filthy mouth, no excuse
Find a new place to hang this noose
String me up from atop these roofs
Knot it tight so I won't get loose

Truth is, you can stop and stare
Bled myself out and no one cares
Dug a trench out, laid down there
With a shovel up out of reach somewhere

Yeah, someone pour it in
Make it a dirt dance floor again
Say your prayers and stomp it out
When they bring that chorus in

I bleed it out
Digging deeper just to throw it away
I bleed it out
Digging deeper just to throw it away
I bleed it out
Digging deeper just to throw it away
Just to throw it away
Just to throw it away

I bleed it out
Go, stop the show
Choppy words in a sloppy flow
Shotgun opera, lock and load

Cock it back and then watch it go
Mama, help me, I've been cursed
Death is rolling in every verse
Candy paint on his brand new hearse

Can't contain him
He knows he works
Fuck, this hurts, I won't lie
Doesn't matter how hard I try
Half the words don't mean a thing

And I know that I won't be satisfied
So why try ignoring him?
Make it a dirt dance floor again
Say your prayers and stomp it out
When they bring that chorus in

I bleed it out
Digging deeper just to throw it away
I bleed it out
Digging deeper just to throw it away
I bleed it out
Digging deeper just to throw it away
Just to throw it away
Just to throw it away

I bleed it out
I've opened up these scars
I'll make you face this
I've pulled myself so far
I'll make you face this now

I bleed it out
Digging deeper just to throw it away
I bleed it out
Digging deeper just to throw it away
I bleed it out
Digging deeper just to throw it away
Just to throw it away
Just to throw it away

I bleed it out
Digging deeper just to throw it away
I bleed it out
Digging deeper just to throw it away
I bleed it out
Digging deeper just to throw it away
Just to throw it away
Just to throw it away

I bleed it out
I bleed it out
I bleed it out


Lyrics submitted by Aussiestevo, edited by dragonisepic

Bleed It Out Lyrics as written by Chester Charles Bennington Brad Delson

Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group

Lyrics powered by LyricFind

Bleed It Out song meanings
Add Your Thoughts

129 Comments

sort form View by:
  • +10
    General Comment

    I'm pretty sure the song is about the songwriting process in Linkin Park, and how Mike Shinoda has to go back to these hurtful times in his life again to get inspiration for the lyrics (Dig it deeper, bleed it out), only to bring it back to the band and find out that they thing it isn't quite good enough yet (just to throw it away). So he has to go back and start all over again and go even deeper in, to get something better out, and then make the people and things that inspired it more general so that everyone can relate to the song (make you faceless).

    He knows going back to these hard times is the only way to get quality lyrics (Can't contain him, he knows it works.)

    I dunno there's about 15 different references in there (I don't feel like explaining them all) that when you look at the song from that perspective, you see that's what it's really about.

    subrocon May 12, 2007   Link
  • +4
    General Comment

    Interesting reading everyone's different ideas! ...

    Liked the song when I heard it. LOVED the song when I read the lyrics! I KNEW it was about the futility of the war in Iraq! It reflects the frustration of troops who recognize that THEY will be the ones to bleed it out as our government continues to dig us in deeper, for what? Their deaths will be in vain-thrown away, so to speak when the Administration finally decides to cut it's losses, says a prayer & pulls our military out.

    Hints: "Dirt dance floor again"-Can you think of any prior dirt dance floors? I can only think of one-a really monumental one, Woodstock! At the height of the Vietnam conflict, it brought worldwide attention to the corresponding peace movement it gave musicians a great forum for political speech. Dirt dance floor is a direct comparison of our current embruglio to the Vietnam quagmire.

    "Here we go for the 100th time"=Didn't we learn a thing from Korea? Vietnam? Somalia? Grenada?

    The idea of throwing the grenades up to let something shine reminds me of the "...ramparts ...streaming" and "...bombs bursting in air" in the Star Spangled Banner.

    "Find a new place to hang this noose/String me up from atop these roofs/Knot it tight so I won't get loose/Truth is you can stop and stare/Bled myself out and no one cares"="This is NOT where the war on terror should be fought/Despite some of the facts being 'knotted up high' within the Administration/The RESULTS of the war are right in front of you/But you may as well be blind to them"

    "Mama help me, I've been cursed/Death is rolling in every verse/Candypaint on his brand new hearse"=the letters home describing the atrocities of war as witnessed by mostly urban young men who might be in their home town enjoying some "parkin lot pimpin" (getting together to show off their cars, hang out, see & be seen, have a good time) ...if they weren't bleeding out in some sandy war trench, meeting death head-on with every new "verse" of the continued war.

    "Go, stop the show...Cock it back and then watch it go"=A call to action, pleading with us to reclaim the tremendous power of a public united and demand change

    "Filthy mouth, no excuse...Chop your words in a sloppy flow...Can't contain him, he knows he works... Half the words don't mean a thing"=References to the lies that got us into war (and I personally like to think these may be little jabs at Bush's tendency to become tongue tied.)

    Have I won over any believers?

    D1rtyLilWh0reon April 13, 2008   Link
  • +1
    General Comment

    and it might be: dug a trench out laid down there

    xoshinobioxon May 06, 2007   Link
  • +1
    General Comment

    this song fuckin rocks :D

    no other way to put this... ^^

    Mithrawnon May 08, 2007   Link
  • +1
    General Comment

    Contrary to popular belief, this song is not about a tampon, nor is it about cutting yourself.

    It's about bleeding out everything that you've kept secret, a follow-up to What I've Done. I have no line-by-line deciphering for you, save for the chorus:

    "I bleed it out, digging deeper, just to throw it away" I blurt out everything that I've kept secret, digging deeper and deeper, just to waste it on someone who doesn't care what I think.

    Dreaming_of_Attackson February 28, 2008   Link
  • +1
    General Comment

    The song is about the frustration mike felt during the writing process of the album as the band constantly found something in mike and chesters lyrics that they didnt like so they re-wrote them again and again to find something right

    4Philon April 10, 2008   Link
  • +1
    General Comment

    I think its about soldiers in Iraq that are over facing every element, facing death almost every second, lying in a trench, waiting for the hell to keep coming of the war. A soldier speaking his mind, about his mom, everything. And hes tired of the shit (the war). And also about how people don't respect, what they are going through or their freedom in which they are over there fighting for. And they sick of not beig respected for the shit he went to so he screams it in the nonrespectors face.

    mytornadoon September 11, 2008   Link
  • +1
    General Comment

    and metalocalypse THAT WAS FUNNY!!!

    sabertooth101on September 28, 2009   Link
  • +1
    My Opinion

    This song makes me want to dance. Is it ok?

    Caelezaraon February 08, 2013   Link
  • +1
    General Comment

    I think it should be string me up from a southeast roost instead of 'string me up atop these roofs'

    Pistolfaceon February 22, 2016   Link

Add your thoughts

Log in now to tell us what you think this song means.

Don’t have an account? Create an account with SongMeanings to post comments, submit lyrics, and more. It’s super easy, we promise!

More Featured Meanings

Album art
Gentle Hour
Yo La Tengo
This song was originally written by a guy called Peter Gutteridge. He was one of the founders of the "Dunedin Sound" a musical scene in the south of New Zealand in the early 80s. From there it was covered by "The Clean" one of the early bands of that scene (he had originally been a member of in it's early days, writing a couple of their best early songs). The Dunedin sound, and the Clean became popular on american college radio in the mid to late 80s. I guess Yo La Tengo heard that version. Great version of a great song,
Album art
No Surprises
Radiohead
Same ideas expressed in Fitter, Happier are expressed in this song. We're told to strive for some sort of ideal life, which includes getting a good job, being kind to everyone, finding a partner, getting married, having a couple kids, living in a quiet neighborhood in a nice big house, etc. But in Fitter, Happier the narrator(?) realizes that it's incredibly robotic to live this life. People are being used by those in power "like a pig in a cage on antibiotics"--being pacified with things like new phones and cool gadgets and houses while being sucked dry. On No Surprises, the narrator is realizing how this life is killing him slowly. In the video, his helmet is slowly filling up with water, drowning him. But he's so complacent with it. This is a good summary of the song. This boring, "perfect" life foisted upon us by some higher powers (not spiritual, but political, economic, etc. politicians and businessmen, perhaps) is not the way to live. But there is seemingly no way out but death. He'd rather die peacefully right now than live in this cage. While our lives are often shielded, we're in our own protective bubbles, or protective helmets like the one Thom wears, if we look a little harder we can see all the corruption, lies, manipulation, etc. that is going on in the world, often run by huge yet nearly invisible organizations, corporations, and 'leaders'. It's a very hopeless song because it reflects real life.
Album art
Magical
Ed Sheeran
How would you describe the feeling of being in love? For Ed Sheeran, the word is “Magical.” in HIS three-minute album opener, he makes an attempt to capture the beauty and delicacy of true love with words. He describes the magic of it all over a bright Pop song produced by Aaron Dessner.
Album art
Page
Ed Sheeran
There aren’t many things that’ll hurt more than giving love a chance against your better judgement only to have your heart crushed yet again. Ed Sheeran tells such a story on “Page.” On this track, he is devastated to have lost his lover and even more saddened by the feeling that he may never move on from this.
Album art
Plastic Bag
Ed Sheeran
“Plastic Bag” is a song about searching for an escape from personal problems and hoping to find it in the lively atmosphere of a Saturday night party. Ed Sheeran tells the story of his friend and the myriad of troubles he is going through. Unable to find any solutions, this friend seeks a last resort in a party and the vanity that comes with it. “I overthink and have trouble sleepin’ / All purpose gone and don’t have a reason / And there’s no doctor to stop this bleedin’ / So I left home and jumped in the deep end,” Ed Sheeran sings in verse one. He continues by adding that this person is feeling the weight of having disappointed his father and doesn’t have any friends to rely on in this difficult moment. In the second verse, Ed sings about the role of grief in his friend’s plight and his dwindling faith in prayer. “Saturday night is givin’ me a reason to rely on the strobe lights / The lifeline of a promise in a shot glass, and I’ll take that / If you’re givin’ out love from a plastic bag,” Ed sings on the chorus, as his friend turns to new vices in hopes of feeling better.