Bleeding Me

For the Godsmack song, see IV (Godsmack album).

"Bleeding Me" is a song by American heavy metal band Metallica from their 1996 album, Load. Although never commercially released as a single, a promotional CD was sent out to radio stations in 1997, and the song would eventually reach #6 on the US Mainstream Rock chart.^[1]

"Bleeding Me"
Promotional single by Metallica
from the album Load
Released	March 11, 1997
Recorded	May 1, 1995 – February 1, 1996
Studio	The Plant Studios, Sausalito, California
Genre	Hard rock
Length	8:18
Label	Elektra
Composer(s)	James Hetfield Lars Ulrich Kirk Hammett
Lyricist(s)	James Hetfield
Producer(s)	Bob Rock James Hetfield Lars Ulrich
Metallica singles chronology
"King Nothing" (1997) "Bleeding Me" (1997) "The Memory Remains" (1997)

Lyrics

Like many songs on Load, "Bleeding Me" features some of the most personal lyrics James Hetfield has ever written about.^[2] In a 2001 interview with Playboy, he explained the meaning of the song:

"Around the time of Load, I felt I wanted to stop drinking. "Maybe I'm missing out on something. Everyone else seems so happy all the time. I want to get happy." I'd plan my life around a hangover: "The Misfits are playing in town Friday night, so Saturday is hangover day." I lost a lot of days in my life. Going to therapy for a year, I learned a lot about myself. There's a lot of things that scar you when you're growing up, you don't know why. The song Bleeding Me is about that: I was trying to bleed out all bad, get the evil out. While I was going through therapy, I discovered some ugly stuff in there. A dark spot."^[3]

Personnel

Credits are adapted from the album's liner notes.^[4][5]

Metallica

• James Hetfield – vocals, guitar
• Kirk Hammett – guitar
• Jason Newsted – bass
• Lars Ulrich – drums

Additional musician

• Jim McGillveray – percussion^[6]

Production

• Bob Rock – production
• Brian Dobbs – engineering, mixing
• Randy Staub – engineering, mixing
• Jason Goldstein – assistant engineering
• Kent Matcke – assistant engineering
• Mike Fraser – mixing
• Matt Curry – mixing assistant
• Mike Rew – mixing assistant
• George Marino – mastering
• Paul DeCarli – digital editing
• Mike Gillies – digital editing assistant
• Chris Vrenna – digital editing assistant
• Satori – cover design
• Ross Halfin – photography

Track listing

1. "Bleeding Me" (Radio Edit) – 5:57
2. "Bleeding Me" – 8:18

Weekly charts

Chart (1997)	Peak position
US Mainstream Rock (Billboard)[1]	6
US Active Rock (Billboard)[7]	2
US Heritage Rock (Billboard)[8]	15