Bleeders

Album: Bringing Down The Horse (1996)
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Songfacts®:

  • Here's something no one wants to hear:

    They say you're only sad and lonely
    And no one is impressed


    That's how Jakob Dylan felt after the 1992 debut album for his band The Wallflowers tanked and the naysayers voiced their opinions. Jakob had higher expectations than most. He's the son of Bob Dylan but did all he could (short of changing his name) to disguise that fact so he wouldn't get special treatment. Virgin Records, the label that issued that first Wallflowers album, tried to push the son-of-Bob angle but Jakob didn't play along. The band left the label and, the Jakob's surprise, found there wasn't much interest in that band, which had built up a live following in New York City. Jacob heard the knock that he was difficult to work with, which stung.

    Eventually, The Wallflowers landed on Interscope Records and were teamed with producer T Bone Burnett. Many of the songs on their first Interscope album, Bringing Down The Horse, came from a time when Dylan was doubting himself.

    "When I got to making this record, I wrote about my life," he told Details magazine. "And basically, my life was being told countless times that I was not very good, and that the songs were no good, the band was no good, and that there was no future to this thing. It was hard. There was a time there when it was embarrassing to say the Wallflowers were playing."
  • "Bleeders" is the third track on the Bringing Down The Horse album, following the hits "Sixth Avenue Heartache" and "One Headlight." All that anguish Dylan endured found its way into songs that really connected with listeners, and he succeeded in his goal of making it as a musician without help from his dad.

    With his reputation established, he was able to branch out to other projects, including solo albums and films. He worked on the soundtrack to the 2018 documentary Echo In The Canyon and narrates the film.

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