12:00 a.m. (d)
[Verse 3]
"I'm goin' to Wichita"
Wichita is a town in Kansas. Considering the upcoming line about “bleeding” this is a possible reference to Bleeding Kansas, where abolitionists clashed with supporters of slavery as to whether Kansas would enter the Union as a free or slave state.
However, in the context of the song the speaker is more likely answering the need he feels to “find a home,” (from the previous verse) as he considers hiding away from all of the drama.
Wichita is a smaller city, smack in the center of a U.S. map, the middle of nowhere, and it’s somewhere that the speaker could get lost and “work the straw.”
"Far from this opera forevermore
I'm gonna work the straw"
He is contemplating leaving the music business and entering a more “normal” life on a farm due to the overwhelming stress in his life.
The word “straw” combined with “Wichita” may also be a reference to the Grateful Dead song “Jack Straw” and its titular character: “Jack Straw from Wichita.”
"Make the sweat drip out of every pore" (Genesis 3:17-19)
Jack would rather go out into the fields and do hard manual labor instead of dealing with the bullshit that comes with even the small modicum of fame he’d achieved at this point in his career.
"And I'm bleedin' and I'm bleedin' and I'm bleedin' right before the Lord
All the words are gonna bleed from me and I will think no more"
[Pre-Chorus]
And the stains comin' from my blood tell me, "Go back home"
The speaker has considered hiding away from the drama (“going to Wichita”) and living a life with a normal job (“work the straw”).
However, he also realizes that this choice would crush his creativity and leave him worthless. He would “sing no more.”
Instead, he resolves to “go back home,” away from Wichita, and take on the bullshit. To further reinforce his resolve, that guitar-riff pops in now louder than ever.
Note also the “bleeding before the Lord” language calling to mind images of Christ’s crucifixion, including the imagery of profuse bleeding. This, in turn, harkens back to “The Ballad of John and Yoko” in which John Lennon sings about how the press will “crucify him” about his marriage to Yoko Ono. The idea that this bleeding leads to a message to “go back home” could also be a reference to Christ’s subsequent ascension to heaven following his crucifixion.
[Instrumental Chorus]
