Pixies › I Bleed Bass Tab

Doolittle Tabs:

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I Bleed Bass Tab

Send "I Bleed" Ringtone to your Cell Phone

Artist: Pixies
Song: I Bleed
Album: Doolittle
Bassist: Kim Deal

This is a correction to the original post which was out of tune...
I've just tabbed it straight out so play it through. Enjoy.

G-------------|-------------|-------------|-------------|
D-------------|-------------|-------------|-------------|
A-------------|-------------|-------------|-------------|
E--2--2--2--2/|/9--9--9--9--|--2--2--2--2/|/7--7--7--7--| x7
    
G-------------|---------------|
D-------------|---------------|
A-------------|---------------|
E--2--2--2--2/|/9--9--9--9h12-| x3

G-------------|-------------|-------------|-------------|
D-------------|-------------|-------------|-------------|
A-------------|-------------|-------------|-------------|
E--2--2--2--2/|/9--9--9--9--|--2--2--2--2/|/7--7--7--7--| x5

G-------------|---------------|
D-------------|---------------|
A-------------|---------------|
E--2--2--2--2/|/9--9--9--9h12-| x6

G-------------|-------------|------------|----------------|
D-------------|-------------|------------|----------------|
A-------------|-------------|------------|----------------|
E--2--2--2--2/|/9--9--9--9--|2--2--2--2--|/7--7--5--4--2--| x1

G-------------|-------------|-------------|-------------|
D-------------|-------------|-------------|-------------|
A-------------|-------------|-------------|-------------|
E--2--2--2--2/|/9--9--9--9--|--2--2--2--2/|/7--7--7--7--| x1

G-------------|---------------|
D-------------|---------------|
A-------------|---------------|
E--2--2--2--2/|/9--9--9--9h12-| x3

G-------------|-------------|------------|------------|
D-------------|-------------|------------|------------|
A-------------|-------------|------------|------------|
E--5--5--5--5-|-2--2--2--2--|0--0--0--0--|7--7--7--7--| x4

G-------------|---------------|
D-------------|---------------|
A-------------|---------------|
E--2--2--2--2/|/9--9--9--9h12-| x2

G-------------|-------------------|
D-------------|-------------------|
A-------------|-------------------|
E--2--2--2--2/|/9--9--9--9h12-/5--| x1


Taken from BASSMASTA.NET - http://www.bassmasta.net

I Bleed Bass Tab

Send "I Bleed" Ringtone to your Cell Phone

Source: http://www.bassmasta.net/p/pixies,_the/103070.html

Tab Discussion, Comments, and Critiques


No Picture Dale Average	#1 by Dale Steele at Jun 26, 1971 at 11:22 PM EST
	I'm not sure waht it's about, but I love the use of archaic language in a good rock song. Prithee, my dear. Also, for the record, I always thought the line was "There's a phallus / In the way out west," which suggests a host of other meanings, but it looks like I was wrong. (Radio sits at the computer, blushing like mad.)

No Picture Sonny Moore Who Average	#2 by Sonny Moore Whore at Dec 7, 1971 at 6:21 AM EST
	Wrong way, i think you're looking wayy too much into it. I think he's talking about school, hence "a ringing bell" and how he pretends to be happy (behind my smile), but still he is tormented (as vampires feed, i bleed). Then he's saying "why are we here" b/c he wants to leave. then he's saying he escapes in his mind (my mind secedes). that's my take on the song.

No Picture Zoe Wanna Be	#3 by Zoe that thing at Jun 5, 1973 at 8:17 AM EST
	God damnit! This used to be called "Bleed" and I wrote a HUGE description about it, but it disappeared! So, now, I shall try to remember what I said! The song Bleed, to me, is about bullies or whatever in school, they are the vampires feeding off of misery. The "as loud as hell, a ringing bell" could be a school bell? The sound to the vitcim is hell. The victim tries to seem happy "behind my smile, it shakes my teeth" but as the vampires feed, the vitcim will "bleed", perhaps attempted suicide or crying or something. The victim asks a sister or a friend in the same position "Why are we here?". The victim's only way to escape it's horrible life is to sleep and dream, "As breathing flows, My mind secedes" I'm not too sure of the last part... Maybe it's a fantasy where things are nice? Anyhoo, this is my idea of the meaning of this AMAZIN song! (and in case you were wondering I'm not depressed or EMo or anything)

No Picture victor Average	#4 by victor rice at Dec 9, 1974 at 6:39 PM EST
	Well, I don't think the whole song is about vampires. In fact, the last verse sounds like it's about the Anasazi cliff dwellings in the southwest US.

No Picture bryan Average	#5 by bryan smith at Mar 9, 1975 at 12:07 PM EST
	"If we're gonna talk about songs Nirvana sotle from the Pixies, I think "In Bloom" sounds WAY too much like "I Bleed."" It's not like that should suprise anyone. Cobain loved The Pixies. He said in an interview once that Smells Like Teen Spirit was basically him trying to write a Pixes song. (Notice, for example, the laid-back verse and then the exploding loud and emotional chorus, which was always a Pixes staple.) =)

No Picture Derrik Professional	#6 by Derrik at Sep 17, 1976 at 2:54 PM EST
	^never noticed that, but yes...maybe! what to say about this one? i just love it. hm, thisis my first entry so don't expect too much, but I always thought this was about vampires, couldn't that be?

No Picture Never Speak A W Wanna Be	#7 by Never Speak A Word Again I Will Crawl Away For Good at Jan 27, 1979 at 7:20 PM EST
	This song is about a meaningless life. The last verse refers to a civil war burial ground-but make what you want of it. I'm not going as far as to call the civil war deaths meaningless.

No Picture Juicy Wanna Be	#8 by Juicy Dangler at Nov 17, 1979 at 5:21 AM EST
	I haven’t seen a satisfactory explanation for this song. I would have never figured out that lyrics ‘slicing up eyeballs’ made up a song that made sense. Or that so much thought and information went into a song called ‘Alec Eiffel’. Anyway, it’s with that in mind that I make a first attempt to dissect poetry. The first verse (or is it a stanza?) makes me think there is something behind his smile that is really loud and probably a bell, but the only thing I can think of directly behind a smile would be a brain. Maybe this guy’s thinking is hurting him. Now that I think about it, the uvula looks a little like a bell. It plays an important role in articulation. It can also contribute to snoring. Sleeping is mentioned in the second part, and the first part may be an allusion to yelling really loud. It may be one or the other, or neither. The second verse mentions the philosophical question that all cultures, societies, and religions ask. Even though sleep is mentioned it might be a reference to death. I notice the calm of it in contrast to the first. Maybe his heart, and adrenaline is pumping, next “I bleed”, then he calmly ‘goes to sleep’. The third verse is the one that made me think we could find the perfect bit of information that would prove the whole song made sense. I started doing google searches to find clay caves buried in the West. I didn’t go so well. I figured this was a reference to old civilizations, and I know they loved to get they mutilation on so I looked more towards blood rituals. Clay caves blood rituals—http://www.cas.usf.edu/geography/faculty/v62n1-Colas.pdf This is an article about Central American Mayan caves in Belize. Here are some fragments of sentences that may pertain to this song: Through bloodletting visions were sought. These experiences allow you to communicate with ancestors and supernaturals. These events were undertaken in connection with childbirth, marriage, death of parents, etc. http://www.authenticmaya.com/peten_caves.htm In 1980, the Naj Tunich caves were re-discovered in Peten, Guatemala. Naj Tunich has dozens of hieroglyphic texts and figures, as well as some handprints and about a half dozen incised petroglyphs. Naj Tunich is the Maya term for cave and literally means "stone house". Handprints and footprints are also found there along with pottery. The Mayan civilization comes as close or closer to any for this song. The Aztecs didn’t have what I’d call blood rituals so much as human sacrifice. CosmicWolfy mentioned the Anasazi and that fits with a house in the West made of clay that you could place your hand in someone else’s. The closest thing they came to bloodletting is recent findings that they engaged in cannibalism to scare the crap out of other tribes. But I didn't look into them all that much. So anyway, I haven’t figured it out. Not too sure what to make of the feeding vampires. Maybe the vampires aren't literally people drinking blood, but people who enjoy a good bloodletting (I know I do). Maybe a Mayan is happy to get married. He and his bride cut themselves, and lose consciousness. Maybe I’ve gone way down the wrong path.

No Picture brandt Average	#9 by brandt dinsmore at Jul 13, 1980 at 1:55 PM EST
	In Bloom sounds nothing like I Bleed. I love both Pixies and Nirvana. And I hear no similarities at all.

No Picture brandon Wanna Be	#10 by brandon christ at Apr 20, 1986 at 11:58 PM EST
	If we're gonna talk about songs Nirvana sotle from the Pixies, I think "In Bloom" sounds WAY too much like "I Bleed."

No Picture jimmy Lead Player	#11 by jimmy matthews at Jan 25, 1987 at 11:34 AM EST
	I Bleed sounds nothing like In Bloom...

No Picture robert Average	#12 by robert liedberg at Dec 7, 1989 at 10:47 PM EST
	I think this song is about Jesus. It really is. The vampires are people feeding off of his sacrifice. The cave is his burial tomb. The holes in hands are the holes in his hands from the nails.

No Picture duke Professional	#13 by duke windsor at Dec 20, 1995 at 10:43 AM EST
	I don't really have a decisive take on the rest of the song, but I have a minor take on the last stanza ("In the clay, the holes of hands", etc...) I think it implies that in a far off place, in a distant world, hidden, there's a patch of clay with holes where someone placed the impressions of their hands. If you can find that place, you can put your hands in the memory of someone else's, see what they see, be someone else, be a little less alone.

No Picture DEMENTED KID Average	#14 by DEMENTED KID at Jan 30, 1997 at 1:07 PM EST
	i mean sure, the word even is in the text, but the whole lyrics are about it, aren't they?

No Picture ivan Professional	#15 by ivan mateo at Feb 2, 2007 at 2:15 PM EST
	I always say "brittaney my dear, why are we here?" because that's my best friend's name and we both love the pixies. I've never told her that the real lyrics say "prithee my dear," because it makes her so happy.