Background Information
"Bleed It Out" is the first of two tracks on the album to contain rap vocals from Mike Shinoda, with the other being "Hands Held High". It is also the second track of the 3 songs in the album to contain profanity (aside from "Given Up" and "Hands Held High").
The structure of "Bleed It Out" is similar to that of the band's earlier hit, "Faint", in which both are fairly short songs, have rapped verses and a sung chorus and bridge, and are both about frustration.
The main guitar riff of "Bleed It Out" which repeats throughout a majority of the song came as a result of guitarist Brad Delson playing a note incorrectly, thus explaining the song's working title of "Accident".
In the album booklet, it says says that the song was largely a product of the band simply "Enjoying the process" of making the album. Furthermore, Mike Shinoda stated that the lyrics to this track were difficult to perfect, as he re-wrote the lyrics to this song about a "hundred times" (referenced to in the first line of the song: "Here we go for the hundredth time") until the band was satisfied with them.
The song is the shortest track on Minutes to Midnight, besides the instrumental intro, "Wake". However, in live performances the song's bridge is often extended to include a drum solo by Rob Bourdon. In Road to Revolution, the song also includes a "singing contest" led by Chester and Mike which is omitted in the CD version.
It was first performed live during the show at Webster Hall in New York City on May 11, 2007. Other notable live performances of the song include when it was performed in Tokyo on July 7, 2007 and broadcast as part of Live Earth, The Concerts for a Climate in Crisis, as well as when it was performed on the May 12, 2007 episode of Saturday Night Live. Linkin Park also performed the song at the 2007 MTV Video Music Awards, with an added hip-hop intro to the song by Timbaland, as well as various laser effects during the performance.
A live version of the song was included as the b-side of "Shadow of the Day".
In the A Thousand Suns World Tour, the drum solo was removed and pieces of Burning in the Skies and A Place for My Head were added to the song.
Read more about this topic: Bleed It Out
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