Bleed (I Must Be Dreaming) Lyrics Meaning

Before I start, I apologise if this interpretation either offends someone or dredges up bad memories. It does involve self-harm, just to warn you, so if that would offend/bring back bad memories/something else, please either move on or read at your own will.

My interpretation for this song is, and this is kind of influenced from some moments from my life, that I see this as the story of someone who knows about their friend(s) cutting themselves. As I said, this is due to things that happened in my life so I won't argue or hold any dislike for anyone who disagrees.

"How can I pretend that I don't see
what you hide so carelessly" The only people I've ever met that cut themselves never really hid it well, and even if they did try to it was obvious when they'd done it(Apologies if this isn't true for all that do this). At the same time, if the person whose point of view the song is from has known their friend for a long portion of their life, a sudden change that pushes said friend to self-harm would be rather obvious.

"I saw her bleed
you heard me breathe" Could be demonstrating the girl's/boy's/person's initial shock of either first discovering their friend harming themselves in such a way or of seeing them do it infront of them, prehaps because they didn't think the girl/boy/person would have noticied(I know that sounds dumb, but one of those I know that self-harmed did it many times in front of me)
"And I froze inside my self and turned away" On one hand the person wants to help yet on the other may not know how, so they simply turn away, frozen by their own self conflict.
"I must be dreaming" Something they would tell themselves, especially if the friend that was self-harming had always been a happy person in the past.

"We all live
We all die
That does not begin to justify you" This line could be the kind of anger the person might of felt at their friend for thinking their life had reached the point where it was unbearable, yet they never spoke about it. On the other hand, it could be sympathy for them, for the same reasons.

The chorus in my eyes, generally seems to be denial of the friend doing this. Wanting to believe that when they woke up the next morning and saw that friend again, everything would return to as it had been before, no self-harming and general happiness.

"Help you know I've got to tell someone
Tell them what I know you've done" An obvious reaction for someone who's in the person's situation.(Again, apologies if this isn't true for everyone)
"I fear you but spoken fears can come true" This could either be the fear that the friend would essentially hate the person for telling someone what was going on or, at the same time, it could be the fear that one day they would wake up and find their friend to be dead.

In the final portions of the song, the repatition of the chorus could be the continual hope that it is just all in their mind. That their friend wasn't doing this or that things will look up. Finally, while this is more of an interpretation on the music, the way it fades out could be representative of the way either hope for their friends recovery from whatever it is pushing them to self-harm is diminishing or the way the person themselves is falling into this state of sadness for their friend.

In conclusion, while I do believe the song is about self-harming, I also believe that there are many other interpretations for any song, and this one is no exception. Therefore, while I can see where my interpretation comes from, I also see where other people's interpretations come from too and I am not saying my interpretation is any more right than any one else's. Feel free to agree or disagree with me as you will, I will respect you for your opinions. Finally, to repeat, I do not wish to imply that this is, in any way, shape or form, the single right interpretation. Thank you for reading and I hope you can see where my idea came from.