Yes, I Would

from the lyric booklet:

my cry for a fistful of sand, breeds silence. hold me, i'm folding, i can't see land. the world just blinks. lead me, i'm stupid from the lesson learned. you've learned nothing. you told me to get lost to find myself.

first it bleeds then it scabs, i feel like a haemophiliac. would i change if you carried me back? yes, i would, believe me now, yes, i would. i can't sink now, yes, i would.

what if i am never thrown that rope? what if this tear in my side just pours and pours and pours. i wonder if they've noticed i'm not around? the loss of a lonely man never makes much of a sound.

first it bleeds then it scabs, i feel like a haemophiliac. would i change if you carried me back? yes, i would, believe me now, yes, i would. i can't sink now, yes, i would.

I think this song is about that time when you realize that a break-up is final and you now realize how much you have lost. This is the struggle to win back someone who has been hurt one too many times or has given up on you ever changing. There is a conversation running though parts of the song, a hopeful pleading and a disappointing retort:

Lead me, I'm stupid from a lesson learned
You've learned nothing

You told me to get lost to find myself

There is a demand to change (change if you can't be bound) and a promise to change (yes I would). It all fails though, and the writer is left with nothing but pain. And the pain comes in waves and doesn’t stop:

And first it bleeds then it stops
I feel like I've been filling up

He wants another chance to make it right — pleading that this time will be different and that he will change (Believe me now / Yes I would). He doesn’t want to give up (And I can't sink now), but there is a realization the his ex-lover has moved on and the chance to make things right will probably never happen:

Well what if I am never thrown that bone
And what if this tear in my side just pours, and pours, and pours
I wonder if you've noticed that I'm not around
The loss of a lonely man never makes much of a sound

Despite all of his effort to make things right, she is gone. The pain still remains, as do the pleas that will never be heard (Believe me now / Yes I would).

This feels like a continuation of "Swim Until You Can't See Land"

In the first few lines he's trying to get back to land "a fist full of sand". He lost himself here in hopes of finding out who he truly was, but now he sees that he hasn't learned a thing.

The chorus is him realizing that rather than trying to tame then lost creature inside him he should give and let himself be bound for a change.

Pretty sure it's "first it bleeds, then it scabs".

My god, is this song beautiful and heartbreaking. "And what if this tear in my side just pours, and pours, and pours?" Who hasn't wondered that? Just perfect.

Thanks for putting up these lyrics! It's awful when the wrong ones are up.

"I feel like a haemophiliac". I had no idea that's what the phrase was. Awesome.