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Daniel in the Den Lyrics

Moving along in a pace unknown to man
Go go go go go go
Go go go go go

And you thought the lions were bad
Well they tried to kill my brothers
And for every king that died
Oh they would crown another
But it's harder than you think
Telling dreams from one another
And you thought the lions were bad
Well they tried to kill my brothers

And felled in the night
By the ones you think you love
They will come for you
And felled in the night
By the ones you think you love
They will come for you

Dreaming along in a pace you'll understand
Go go go go go go
No no no no no

And you thought the lions were bad
Well they tried to kill my brothers
And for every king that died
Oh they would crown another
And it's harder than you think
Telling dreams from one another
And you thought the lions were bad
Well they tried to kill my brothers

And felled in the night
By the ones you think you love
They will come for you
And felled in the night
By the ones you think you love
They will come for you

Oh to see
What it means to be free
Of the shadows and the dreams
That you claim to see

Oh

And felled in the night
By the ones you think you love
They will come for you

And felled in the night
By the ones you think you love
They will come for you

And felled in the night
By the ones you think you love
They will come for you

And felled in the night
By the ones you think you love
They will come for you

Felled in the night
By the ones you think you love

Felled in the night
By the ones you think you love

Felled in the night
By the ones you think you love, love
Song Info
Submitted by
sourwolf On Mar 06, 2013
14 Meanings

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Cover art for Daniel in the Den lyrics by Bastille

This song most definitely parallels the experience of Daniel from the Old Testament. The chorus is the key.

"And you thought the lions were bad" --- Daniel is thrown into a den of lions in chapter 6 for worshipping God rather than Darius the Mede (God saves him by closing the mouths of the lions and his persecutors are then thrown in)

"Well they tried to kill my brothers" --- Daniel's three companions ("brothers") were thrown into a fiery furnace in chapter 3 because they wouldn't worship a golden statue made in the image of Nebuchadnezzar (they were saved and lived)

"And for every king that died Oh they would crown another" --- In the book of Daniel, there were at least 4 kings in Daniel's time who are explicitly named: Nebuchadnezzar, Belshazzar, Darius, and Cyrus

"But it's harder than you think Telling dreams from one another" --- In the book of Daniel, Daniel has or interprets seven different signs, visions, and dreams: Nebuchadnezzar's dream of the great human image in chapter 2; Nebuchadnezzar dream of the great tree in chapter 4; a hand writing on a wall in chapter 5 foretelling the downfall of Belshazzar; Daniel's dream of four beasts and God in chapter 7; Daniel's vision of a ram and a goat with its horns in chapter 8 signifying Persia and Greece (Alexander the Great and his successors); Daniel's vision of the 70 weeks in chapter 9; Daniel's vision in chapters 10-12 of the Lord, the evil prince (angel) of Persia, the archangel Michael, the evil prince (angel) of Javan (Greece), and the destiny of Israel.

The book of Daniel is very mysterious. "Oh to see What it means to be free Of the shadows and the dreams That you claim to see"

My Interpretation

hey thanks for going through that interpretation, it's great! I was wondering, he says "well they tried to kill my brothers" by THEY does he mean those people that threw his brothers in the furnace and not the lions? probably really obvious but hey :)

I think you could interpret "they" in a couple of ways.

In my opinion, it would be the ones who tried to have Daniel's 3 friends, Hananiah, Azariah, and Mishael (I prefer their Hebrew names rather than their Babylonian names) killed. Daniel 3:8 simply says they were Chaldeans, not very specific. The Chaldeans were the native group of people from the land of Babylon and were generally seen as idol worshippers throughout the Old Testament.

You could also say these same ones were like "lions" in that they tried to do away with Hananiah, Azariah, and Mishael.

There's...

My Interpretation

Thanks that's so interesting, I would never have made half those connections! :)

Cover art for Daniel in the Den lyrics by Bastille

"Felled in the night by the ones you think you love"

Love this song!! I agree that it's definitely about Daniel from the Bible, but I also think it's a tool so to speak, representing the feeling of being betrayed and hurt by people you love and trusted. Blatantly being stabbed in the back.

*The lyrics btw is Felled, not fell xx

My Interpretation

This part of the song has proven hard to decipher. I believe I may finally have found a possible solution.

"And felled in the night / By the ones you think you love / They will come for you"

Basing the interpretation on everything in the song being from Daniel's point of view, he seems to be saying someone was "felled in the night", killed or betrayed, by ones who this someone loves. "They will come for you" referring to the ones who killed/betrayed this someone.

Originally I thought this might be referencing Belshazzar who...

Ah, that generalization definitely fits the context! Like you said, the line's repetition would seemingly apply to Daniel as opposed to anyone else in the story, as the song's namesake. I never realised Daniel was constantly betrayed I just assumed it referred to the one event that led to him being thrown in with the lions, but that is so interesting, maybe i should read the book of Daniel...Thanks heaps:)

Cover art for Daniel in the Den lyrics by Bastille

This song is about Daniel from The Book of Daniel in the Bible. It refers to the story of Daniel in the lion's den, and to Daniel's ability to interepret dreams.

My Interpretation
Cover art for Daniel in the Den lyrics by Bastille

This songs makes me think of Game of Thrones from Bran Stark's point of view.

My Interpretation

Dear God you are literally a mind reader. I looked up the lyrics and my first thought was Game of Thrones! :D

Cover art for Daniel in the Den lyrics by Bastille

This music is about humanity. "Moving along in a pace unknown to man Go go go go go go Go go go go go"

The "go go go..." talks about our lives. We do a lot of things we don't know why, just everybody does and we do the same. So the reminder "no no no no..." works like 'pay attention! Don't you just go!'

Of course there are some parallels with passages from the Bible, but the main ideia is that the man has being running from lions all along History, dreaming about saviors and crowning some "kings", "the ones you think you love", who do save the people in first place but right after that become the new lions and we see the same story all over again.

The music repeats a lot. So does history. This happens because we are never free from shadows and dreams of political saviors that we ourselves build and claim to see.

My Interpretation

corrections:

>

  • By humanity I meant humankind. Humankind is going forward to nobody knows where. And when mankind goes in a understandable pace, there comes to many "no no no...", don't "go go go go...".
  • In fact we implement a very difficult job which is passing forward our dreams of a solution to the world. And when we do implement it, we find that more harm comes along with our solution.

  • By humanity I meant humankind. Humankind is going forward to nobody knows where. And when mankind goes in a understandable pace, there comes to many "no no no...", don't "go go go go...".
  • In fact we implement a very difficult job which is passing forward our dreams of a solution to the world. And when we do implement it, we find that more harm comes along with our solution.

    >

  • Man has been running from lions, instead of "being" running from...
  • Man has been running from lions, instead of "being" running from...
  • The new lions will always come after you.

    Cover art for Daniel in the Den lyrics by Bastille

    Was thinking....another connection to the Daniel story... It's pretty much said in the original story that Daniel was a favorite of King Darius, likely enough the feeling was mutual. The other officials were jealous and found a way to trick Darius into signing an irreversible law that they then used to get Daniel thrown into the lion's den. So in a way, Daniel was very directly betrayed by a loved one.
    I can only imagine soldiers showing up at Daniel's door in the middle of the night to arrest him, and how that would feel for him when they tell him that the king he loves and trusts and has only ever been loyal to, has just ordered for him to be thrown into a den of lions...

    But yeah. If that is what's behind the "felled in the night, by the ones you think you love" bit anyway, I do think it's an interesting emotion to try to capture.
    And, well, I just like the song

    Cover art for Daniel in the Den lyrics by Bastille

    Gotta be referring to something biblical, not sure what it means overall.

    Cover art for Daniel in the Den lyrics by Bastille

    This was originally a solo song of Dan's that he did before Bastille were formed. It's had a little bit of changing to accompany a band performing it, and the name changed (originally it was just In The Den) but it is pretty much exactly the same song

    Cover art for Daniel in the Den lyrics by Bastille

    This makes me think of Jon Snow from Game of thrones - lions represents lannisters, tried to kill my brothers - bran and robb, every king they crowned they would crown another - Robert, Joffrey and Tommen, felled in the night by the ones you think you love i.e. the night's watch killing him, moving along at a pace unknown to man, this means how he rose so quickly, dreaming along at a pace youll understand, this means he is thinking of things he could do to change the nights watch,

    Cover art for Daniel in the Den lyrics by Bastille

    I feel like this could almost have been written about Bran Stark.

    (SPOILERS AHEAD)

    'Moving along in a pace unknown to man'- running away from everything, like Bran, Hodor and the Reeds are at the moment.

    And you thought the lions were bad - lions aka Lannisters aka the most confusing family in all of Westeros aka the one that you hate and the one that's on a redemption arc and the one that everyone's loved from the start aka MOVING ON!

    Well they tried to kill my brothers- there have been several murder attempts, some successful (coughcoughredweddingcoughcough) , on the Stark children.

    And for every king that died Oh they would crown another- there have been several dead kings (Aerys, Robert, Joffery)

    But it's harder than you think Telling dreams from one another- Bran's prophetic dreams and warging, which he sometimes has trouble separating from reality.

    And you thought the lions were bad Well they tried to kill my brothers- again with the Lannisters and the murdering.

    And felled in the night By the ones you think you They will come for you And felled in the night By the ones you think you love They will come for you- Theon being a traitorous asshole and selling out Winterfell to the Boltons.

    And the rest kind of repeats.

    See what I'm getting at?

    My Interpretation
     
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