"Daniel Cowman" as written by and Regina Spektor....
On the day that Daniel Cowman stopped existing
the world should've ended right then and there
at precisely four-fifteen when he stopped existing
the world should've ended--how could it go on?
How could it go on when I don't exist? I don't exist...
and now that we got that straight, doesn't mean that I can fly
doesn't mean that I can go do whatever I want
now that we got that clear, and you know that I'm not here
doesn't mean that I can go do whatever I please
the premature ejaculation of his death sentence
hit Daniel in the face like a big round spitball
and everything got hazy in the courtroom
and then he stood up and then he sat back down
another two times in a row
and everything got real slow like a gunshot in the movies
and he remembered heroin boy walking through the door
bouncing off the walls and the floor
taking off his belt, taking off his pants
filling up the bathtub, getting ready to go in for a swim
singing, I don't exist...
and he start remembering...
the heroin boy'd walk through the door
and he was screaming and everybody was, like,
what're you screaming as if it's the end of the world?
and he was, like, well it is
and I was sitting in the corner with my pants down
and I was sure someone next door was blowing up balloons
and they was red and orange
and there was this one lady at the bar and she was trying to buy gin
and this other lady at the bar and she was trying to sell gin
and it worked out good for the boths of them
and heroin boy started taking off his belt
started taking off his pants, started taking off his shoes
filling up the bathtub, getting ready to go in for a swim
I says, no--you're gonna drown
and he says, no--I can't drown
simply because...shhhh...
a man destined to hang can never drown
a man destined to drown can never burn
a man destined to fry can never, ever, ever
die in any other way
frying--lucky that I'm dying by hanging and not drowning
so now that we got that straight, can't I just be left alone?
I want to take a fucking bath
the world should've ended right then and there
at precisely four-fifteen when he stopped existing
the world should've ended--how could it go on?
How could it go on when I don't exist? I don't exist...
and now that we got that straight, doesn't mean that I can fly
doesn't mean that I can go do whatever I want
now that we got that clear, and you know that I'm not here
doesn't mean that I can go do whatever I please
the premature ejaculation of his death sentence
hit Daniel in the face like a big round spitball
and everything got hazy in the courtroom
and then he stood up and then he sat back down
another two times in a row
and everything got real slow like a gunshot in the movies
and he remembered heroin boy walking through the door
bouncing off the walls and the floor
taking off his belt, taking off his pants
filling up the bathtub, getting ready to go in for a swim
singing, I don't exist...
and he start remembering...
the heroin boy'd walk through the door
and he was screaming and everybody was, like,
what're you screaming as if it's the end of the world?
and he was, like, well it is
and I was sitting in the corner with my pants down
and I was sure someone next door was blowing up balloons
and they was red and orange
and there was this one lady at the bar and she was trying to buy gin
and this other lady at the bar and she was trying to sell gin
and it worked out good for the boths of them
and heroin boy started taking off his belt
started taking off his pants, started taking off his shoes
filling up the bathtub, getting ready to go in for a swim
I says, no--you're gonna drown
and he says, no--I can't drown
simply because...shhhh...
a man destined to hang can never drown
a man destined to drown can never burn
a man destined to fry can never, ever, ever
die in any other way
frying--lucky that I'm dying by hanging and not drowning
so now that we got that straight, can't I just be left alone?
I want to take a fucking bath
Lyrics submitted by SoakedinMercury
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He drove the desert, fired his rifle in the sky
And says, "God if I have to die you will have to die"
Regina matches this with:
On the day that Daniel Cowman stopped existing
the world should've ended right then and there
So Regina is referecing Dan/Daneil's wish that the world end along with him. Given that Dan is a stereotypical name for a cowboy, it could all be a coincidence but its a cool idea anyhow.
the next verse i think is about how even though he is still alive but dead to the press, he can't do whatever he wants & therefore can't take a bath.
i think the part about heroin boy taking a bath is that he is taking a bath to cleanse himself of the sins he committed on earth, because he too is destined to die, and is maybe fearful of hell, i think this because in the part that says
"and I was sure someone next door was blowing up balloons
and they was red and orange" red and orange like fire, and hell.
then also
"a man destined to hang can never drown
a man destined to drown can never burn
a man destined to fry can never, ever, ever
die in any other way
frying--lucky that I'm dying by hanging and not drowning" he says frying because he is talking about frying in hell & if he drowned he wouldn't have time to, idk purify himself before death, and would still end up in hell, even though he knows he is destined to. and now daniel wants to take a bath to rid his sins, but he can't because he is still a prisoner even though he is already dead to the world.
i don't know if that made any sense, but thats what i think of when i listen to the song.
At least, I think I do.
The beginning is someone mourning DC's death. Then it goes on in Daniel's voice when it goes into, "How could it go on when I don't exist, I don't exist..." DC has 'stopped existing', how could the world continue without him?
The next part - that in death, he is not liberated - - or in the knowledge of impending death. It doesn't mean he's free.
The second verse is pretty clear, in my opinion. DC in the courtroom, hearing the sentence, etc, etc. Heroin boy - I agree, someone also on death row. He remembers heroin boy taking a bath --
And here, I think, it jumps back to HB receiving his OWN sentence, and screaming about it, as one does when they are curtly informed they are going to die.
And then he goes back to HB taking a bath - clearly this is rather important - & he's anxious that HB might drown but is reassured - HB is due to hang, not drown.
Here is where it gets a little hazy, in my opinion. Or, subjective, or what.
Whether HB drowns or not, I'm not sure.
I do think it's about suicide. You know, suicide instead of dying on death row? Taking your own way out - controlling your way of death? I think that HB did drown himself, and now that DC is in the same situation all he wants to do is "take a fucking bath".
I like teekay11's take on it though. But literal is so much more fun. ^^
So Daniel Cowman thinks he knows how he's going to die because he believes he's destined to hang. But he does drown, and he doesn't expect it.
Now, to me. The person tenses and stuff change so much in this song that I assumed Heroin boy and Daniel Cowman were the same person. If Heroin is mixed with quinine(which, if it isn't pure it often is), someone who accidentally overdoses can suffer from pulmonary edema which is filling of the lungs. like drowning.
I think it's about a guy who thinks he's invincible as far as his drug use goes and thinks his destiny is to die because of all the wrongs he's done to people which makes him destined to die. Not that he feels guilty, he just knows that he's kind of an a-hole.
And all the ranting about "I don't exist, can I go do whatever I want know?" I think that's part of his drug enduced frenzy and stuff. Maybe it was a sort of enlightenment gone awry because he realized the oneness of the world and life around him, so he concluded he could do whatever he wanted and it didn't matter.
the bath was probably getting his fix, and he didn't think he'd drown (cause he can't) but the person telling the story of Daniel Cowman thought he might. And he did.
I don't know how this could relate with the lady at the bar and the orange and red balloons.. or to the other ideas about the meaning of the song..
Maybe I'm wrong, but there are a few coincidences..
and now that we got that straight, doesn't mean that I can fly
doesn't mean that I can go do whatever I want
now that we got that clear, and you know that I'm not here
doesn't mean that I can go do whatever I please
To me it's like Daniel Cowman has died, and now he looking back at his life admidting to all the things that he has done, but it doesn't make a difference because things already happened, he's already been executed and admidting to them now doesn't make him any better.
Revelation 13:10b
Regina is a genious. If this were written by anyone else, i would call it coincidence... but it is regina, and she is brilliant.
I kind of went into a period of time when I wondered if I even existed. After all, I was on that side of the wall too. I was trapped on the other side of the wall. I kind of broke myself into two halves.. to put it into the context of this song.. "heroin boy" and the speaker.. The speaker being myself as I was before everything happened, happy and ignorantly blissful. Heroin boy being myself as I became, depressed and practically drowning in the world as it was (the world where I can happen to you).
So, I love the line where it's talking about heroin boy screaming like it's the end of the world. Because I can remember feeling just like that. It was the end of the world, and no one knew it. She starts to talk about people with balloons being happy and people at the bar just going on with their lives and I can remember how that used to infuriate me. It was the end of the world. I wanted everyone to just stop and mourn with me, as ridiculous as that sounds.
The last line is the most powerful, because the heroin boy admits defeat and gets in the water to be depressed.. "take a bath" meaning "just let me die".
Super lengthy, sorry, but that's what I think XD