Wait and Bleed

This song is about a man who keeps having repetitive black-and-white dreams about lying in a bathtub full of his own blood with his wrists slit. One day he wakes up and sees that his dream has become a reality, but he doesn't want to believe it and he tries to fall back asleep again.

One of Slipknot's most popular songs, "Wait And Bleed" is part of their 1999 self-titled album, their first on a major label (Roadrunner Records). The band came out of music-industry nowhere: Des Moines, Iowa, where the nine self proclaimed "tribe of misfits" came together to create a very intense brand of metal with striking visuals - they wear orange jumpsuits on stage and gnarly masks. They quickly built a following and became one of the most talked-about bands of the next decade.

Many Slipknot songs have very personal lyrics by lead singer Corey Taylor and make strong connections with the band. "Wait And Bleed" isn't one of them. Slipknot drummer Chris Fehn (#3) explained to Songfacts: "It was just a basic song. We didn't know it was going to be that popular. The funny thing is, the record label, especially new guys at the record label, were coming around when we started getting big, and they're like, 'Oh, the next record you can write like three Wait And Bleeds.' And we're just like, You are an idiot. Therefore, we don't do that. But obviously the band, believe it or not, we have so much control over what we do that we don't write anything for money, we don't write anything for popularity, we have to like it first. And it's just a song that we liked, and it just so happened that it got on the radio and got the attention that we didn't expect."