92 Meanings
Add Yours
Share
Q&A

Daniel Lyrics

Daniel is travelling tonight on a plane
I can see the red tail lights heading for Spain
Oh and I can see Daniel waving goodbye
God it looks like Daniel, must be the clouds in my eyes

They say Spain is pretty though I've never been
Well Daniel says it's the best place that he's ever seen
Oh and he should know, he's been there enough
Lord I miss Daniel, oh I miss him so much

Daniel my brother you are older than me
Do you still feel the pain of the scars that won't heal
Your eyes have died but you see more than I
Daniel you're a star in the face of the sky

Daniel is travelling tonight on a plane
I can see the red tail lights heading for Spain
Oh and I can see Daniel waving goodbye
God it looks like Daniel, must be the clouds in my eyes
Oh God it looks like Daniel, must be the clouds in my eyes
Questions and Answers

Ask specific questions and get answers to unlock more indepth meanings & facts.

92 Meanings

Add your song meanings, interpretations, facts, memories & more to the community.

Cover art for Daniel lyrics by Elton John

according to Philip Norman's (brilliant) biography of EJ, when he and Bernie Taupin first toured the US, Bernie read a newspaper article about a young kid whose brother had been sent to fight in Vietnam. Tp save him worrying his parents had told the youngster that his brother was going on holiday to Spain. His brother then returned blinded and with many other wounds. Originally there was a third verse which brought it all together (a "denouement" as they call it) but it was cut in the studio to include the elctric piano solo and keerp the song to three minutes.

Song Meaning

@jonnytwospoons Yes real sad, it is a beautiful song, really moving.

Cover art for Daniel lyrics by Elton John

"Your eyes have died but you see more than I"

This line doesn't mean that Daniel is blind. When a soldier comes off the front line, a soldier who has seen the worst, toughest fighting, is sometimes said to have a "thousand yard stare", the eyes appear to stare right through you and to something far behind you. It's a phrase coined from the Vietnam War.

Very closely, to say "your eyes have died" is a reference to this emotional battle scar (the thousand yard stare). To add that "you see more than I" is saying that Daniel, even though scarred, sees things for what they really are.

@Alsatian --Reference to shell shock maybe.

@Alsatian I would totally disagree with this view. Bernie Taulpin is english and i'm sure would not know of this. It is clear that Daniel is actually blind. It say's it in the line you quoted. When he say's that Spain is the best place he has ever seen, he is being ironic, as Daniel cannot see Spain. I know Americans don't do irony, but trust me Brits do.

@Alsatian - Brits certainly know about shell shock and PTSD. My own grandfather suffered from it. "Daniel" was written less than 30 years after WW2.

Cover art for Daniel lyrics by Elton John

Bernie Taupin read an article about a Vietnam veteran who had gone been very disappointed at life back home in USA after the war and founded new life in Spain. The song simply is a storyteller told through the eyes of Daniel's brother about Daniel leaving to Spain. It's based on a true-story.

The original lyrics by Taupin had one more verse to them, which explained what the song was about basicly, but Elton figured it wouldn't fit in his melody scheme's and it was never recorded.

are they written somewhere?

Not Valid

@hairychester I wish Elton John would reconsider and record that last part. Let the people decide if that last part belongs or not!

@hairychester He should've gone further and not recorded any of the verses at all

Cover art for Daniel lyrics by Elton John

This song means so much to me. I never knew that it was about a Vietnam vet, but it reminds me of my friend named Daniel who died in a car crash last Mother's Day.

I always took "Spain" to represent "Heaven" somehow, and for some reason the rest of the song seems to make sense with that. When Elton John sings "God it looks like Daniel...must be the clouds in my eyes" this is just what I feels like when I have a dream and Daniel is in it.

The "pain of the scars that won't heal" speaks of the injuries that he recieved at the time of the car crash, and after seeing him in the wake, this song made that much more sense to me.

"Lord I miss Daniel, oh I miss him so much..."

RIP Daniel Snow 05/09/2004

What if, its about the person himself died, and is watching from heaven as his brother mourns for him ? (lyrics go here)

@BlackTaxi2d I really like this song, everytime i hear about this song, i remember my ex fiance, daniel. I always call him brother. Coz he is such a big brother to me. He works in aviation industry and he often travels so much and he seems so distant from other people. (He is an introvert). So i always remember him when i hear this song. He is still sate and sound but he just never been with us anymore (physically) coz he always travels oversea.

@BlackTaxi2d How old was Daniel Snow when he died?

Cover art for Daniel lyrics by Elton John

i also agree! When i say that i like Elton John's music, everyone looks at me like i am weird. Then they say that he'a gay. And i go ya so what. But i love this song, it is very beautiful!

\// Peace

Cover art for Daniel lyrics by Elton John

I agree with you guys. Sexual orientation has absolutely no bearing on musical talent.

Cover art for Daniel lyrics by Elton John

I agree too with u all, Elton is the greatest of greats,,his talet has no frontiers,,,he posses a gift, was born to sing.

@pUnK_rOcK_dUcK and is so very talented that he has to have another write the lyrics he sings

Cover art for Daniel lyrics by Elton John

I've always heard it's about a person headed to Vietnam. I felt that it was that way also. But it gets confusing. If he (Daniel) was headed to Spain then I feel he is going to vietnam. Because Spain would be a possible stop for a British Soldier going to Vietnam. Also Daniel says it's the Prettiest place he's ever seen. Which means he has Eyesight. Unless of course there is some poetic meaning in there.

Then when it says "Scars that won't heal" I think he is back from Vietnam and has been wonded.

Either way excellent song.

Well, if they were going to viet nam, they would probably travel west. . . :>

also, I do think that "Scars that won't heal" would mean that, excepting I think that they would be mental scars more than physical. . .just a thought. :>

Not Valid

@smittie1984 A tonne of interpretations seem to cling to this little lyric when in the actual fact it is about Edie Sedgwick's time spent and then leaving 'The Factory'

Cover art for Daniel lyrics by Elton John

Yeah, this song is about VietNam--and the aftermath. The little brother is telling the story of the big brother he wanted to be like. But Big brother came home changed.

So many VN vets did. And I don't think the line about "His eyes have died. He's sees more than I" refers to real blindness or eye injury. It was a heart injury that blinded him. . . his eyes became dead. . . like so many eyes do that have seen too much of the ugliness.

Song makes me cry so it must be good :_)

Cover art for Daniel lyrics by Elton John

Ed Clarke, do you have no respect? Noone is pretending to care. It's a genuine emotion to feel for the people who gave their lives so we could live in peace. Quite simply, you're an ignorant, selfish idiot who should keep quiet.

As to the song.. Someone said they're the best lyrics ever. I disagree. I really appreciate the meaning behind the song, but the lyrics are actually very simply, in my opinion. (Very straightforward)

Basically, I think the song is about Daniel who has died. Because Daniel thinks Spain is "the best place that he's ever seen", that is where the brother imagines him being in heaven, if that makes sense. (The first verse with Daniel leaving on a plane to Spain). I LOVE this song.