Songfacts®:

• Andrew Bird ends "Bloodless," a track about America's 2016 election, with the observation that "it feels like Catalonia in 1936."
  
  Catalonia is a region in northeastern Spain. In 1931 it was renamed Generalitat of Catalonia and given autonomy within the Spanish Republic. However, when General Franco's nationalists revolted against the Spanish government in 1936, precipitating the Spanish Civil War, the leftist leaders of the Generalitat of Catalonia supported the Republican cause. The region was overrun by The Nationalists, and in 1939 the Generalitat of Catalonia as an institution was abolished.
• Bird told Uncut magazine regarding the historical citations in his lyrics: "I like to give my audience credit for being smart and curious. Referencing historical figures helps give us perspective. Referencing current people makes a song seem cheap and disposable. That's my rule of thumb."
• The song is a track from the wittily titled album My Finest Work Yet. Bird said: "I've known so many hilarious musicians who get on stage and sing almost laughably serious songs. If I start doing that, there's a voice in my head that says, you're full of s--t. That's the funny voice that ends up in my songs."