Bleed It Out

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.

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?

After a decade of retrospect, and tragedy, I believe this song has totally different meaning with heavier undertones.

"I bleed it out Digging deeper just to throw it away" I believe refers to Chester digging into his soul for his troubled past, resurfacing the wounds, just to "throw it away" or to throw it out for the world to see. He was showing his scars, and was glamorized for them. He likely felt that without these stories to tell, that he would lack relatability, so he kept self harming in the sense of resurfacing his troubled past. Being honest it makes me feel terrible for the crass jokes I made about him.

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

this song fuckin rocks :D

no other way to put this... ^^

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.

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

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.

and metalocalypse THAT WAS FUNNY!!!

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