Letter To Dana

Hi to everyone, im from Argentina so maybe my english is not clear. Ive listen to the song a lot of times and I came up to an explanation to pretty much all of the doubts I had, it may not like you, but this is the way I see it. My first BIG question was WHO was the one writting to our darling Dana O´Hara, that brougth me to my first BIG answer. I think the one that is writting to Dana is her FATHER!! I think this Realise that the song never talks about passion and that hes always calling her darling, I think dads call girls like this in english, dont they? Also realise that HE(the one who sings) knows a lot about her father and I think he is talking in third person".Your father disowned you because you have sinned.But he did forgive you in condition he was in And I you won't do those things anymore Dana My darling I'm waiting for" Besides when he died was a beatiful day because he went to heaven I suppose. When Dana´s mother(her wife) passed away it was a Rainy day maybe because she suffered. And finally when Dana dies he will see her again so its a beautiful day. "And I didn't mean to bother you anymore Your mother wished: Come visit your fathers grave, Dana" this supports my theory, he want Dana to visit his grave.
"I promise you: I won't write again 'til the sun sets behind your grave" Now this has sense. The only thing that breaks my idea is "I'm old and I feel time will come for me, my diarys pages are full of thee" Here it seems as hes not dead GRRRR but I dont know what thee means maybe that can explain it. THANK YOU ALL VERY MUCH, TELL ME IF YOU LIKED MY INTERPRETATION AND PLIS HELP WITH THAT LAST QUESTION.

I think that O'Hara could be 'oh,joy' (translated from ancient greek) because it would make sense and they often add other languades as french (the end of this chapter) latin (dont say a word) or their mother language,finnish (??) (wrecking the sphere) and so on...

This story is about a guy who spent his whole life loving a girl. No matter how many years have passed and how many relationships he went through. Every chance he has enough context(deaths), he sends a message to her. Even though, you can see that nothing ever changes.

This is the song that got me hooked on Sonata Arctica. It is obviously about a devious young lady. She is very troubled, and she manipulates people. Not just any people though, the people closest in her life, the people who want to help her, but she pushes them away.

Sure is a good song :) I wonder if there is a little irony in the last part:

"Dana, oh, Dana I'm writing to you, I heard you passed away it was a beautiful day "

Is he talking about the weather? or... it is a beautifull because you passed away?

good points my frnds... Closest people and irony on "beautiful day" More than irony, sarcasm... "And I don't want to bother You anymore, I used to hope you'd come back But not anymore Dana." But yeh, I think that it is a song about a not-so-good girl, and that he doesnt wanna bother her, since she doesnt want him.

I can relate to that song, not with just one girls, kos one got mad at me, and the other one ran away, but who kares bout it, haha

Anyway, he says she ran away, and also that even though she has sinned, her father (whoever that might be) has forgiven her, and the singer wants her to stop (yeh relates to me, but who kares).

"My eyes might have betrayed me, but I have seen Your picture on the cover of a filthy magazine And I think my heart just cannot handle that Dana, my darling, would be so bad. " If taken literally, she became a pornstar. Maybe it is not literal, but more subtle; perhaps she became some knd of slut or something, and he represented her in that way. When you care about someone, is hard to accept they are doing wrong, and he wants to help her and doesnt want to accept that she has changed... he wished his mind was playing tricks on his mind "My eyes might have betrayed me"

"And I didn't mean to bother you anymore Your mother wished: Come visit your faters grave, Dana" Most likely last time he wrote to her she didnt respong well... Also, might be that she was not such a good daughter to her father, therefore her mother wishes (wished) that Dana could visit him, grant his wish.

"Your father disowned you because you have sinned But he did forgive you in condition he was in And I you won't do those things anymore Dana My darling I'm waiting for" correction: "and I hope you..." Seems her father didnt want her anymore in the sense he did not want to face that his daughter turned into this... But, mercyfully, he still forgives her when he's about to die ("But he did forgive you in condition he was in")

"Dana O'Hara oh, Dana my dear, How I wish that my Dana was here Little Dana O'Hara decided one day to travel away, faraway" The "O'Hara" could be her last name, or it could be somethign like their song "Shamandalie" and "Mary-Lou": Sham and a lie. Marry you... She ran away (like one girl i met, hehe)

"No, you can't surprise me anymore I have seen it all before But it seems I cannot let you go Anyhow, Dana, Dana, Dana, Dana" No matter how bad stuff she does, he still loves, or wishes to love her... (like the other girl.. now 3 this relates to)

"And I think that I told you, I'd wait for you forever Now I know someone else's holding you, so, for the first time in my life - I must lie Lie's a sin, mess that I am in, Love is not the thing I feel know I promise you: I won't write again 'til the sun sets behind your grave" Confusing..... Seems that to S.A. sin is a very bad thing (their song "8th Commandment")... He would wait for her forever, like one always says, but since she has someone now, maybe he won't hold on to what he said... the lie part, i dono what he's lying about... Maybe he doesnt feel love anymore, he might feel hate, or maybe lust.... It is clear she doesnt want him, n it bothers her to hear from him, (like the second girl it relates to, in my case, lol) so he makes his vow to never write to her until she dies...

"Dana, oh, Dana I'm writing to you, I heard you passed away it was a beautiful day I'm old and I feel time will come for me, my diarys pages are full of thee" Indeed she died, so he can write again to her. However, all his diary is full of her, which means no matter how he tried, he could not forget her, but he kept his promise and didnt write to her, this write ABOUT her....

im done... some one figure out the lie part.... n then tell me my mistakes, hehe

God bless you all

nice summary... "Dana, oh, Dana I'm writing to you, I heard you passed away it was a beautiful day

I very much agree on you rebelj1, this is how I see it;

"And I don't want to bother You anymore”, I bet this would be a line he used in all his letters, doing something he doesn’t want to do but he has to do it because he is totally obsessed and he’s saying stuff like “I used to hope you'd come back, But not anymore Dana" just because he’s trying to convince himself he’s over her while he clearly isn’t. Saying “My eyes might have betrayed me, but I have seen, Your picture on the cover of a filthy magazine”, he knows he has seen it but still he’s protecting the nice image he has of her inside his mind. He even admits that “I think my heart just cannot handle that”, which is the reason to doubt his own eyes. I myself have wanted a girl because I thought she was what I wanted but in reality the person I saw was only fantasy…

"And I didn't mean to bother you anymore”, see; he’s saying it again because he’s still obsessed and uses the information he has about her family to contact her. I think it’s like being a stalker. He’s trying to make advantage of her weak moments to show her he’s there for her and in these deaths he finds a reason good enough for him to contact her.

”Now I know someone else's holding you; so, for the first time in my life - I must lie”, I think his lie is that he will tell her he’s happy for her that she’s with some one else now and he also lies that he doesn’t love her anymore while he had said he would wait for ever. It could be that he sticks only to these few letters but I doubt it, although he does have a psycho like diary filled with pages of a girl that doesn’t want him.

"Dana, oh, Dana I'm writing to you, I heard you passed away it was a beautiful day, I'm old and I feel time will come for me”, seems a bit like saying the two belong to be together and when one dies the other will die soon aswell. But it also seems a bit strange because the chances of her reading this letter are as big as the chances of her reading his diary which could mean his obsession drove him a bit crazy…

This song and “Shy” are my favourite Sonata Arctica songs even though both songs seem very obsessed. This Dana sounds like a very special person which makes me curious about her. Btw; LOL rebelj1, you explained it from your point of few and I did from mine; kinda says what I’m like ^^

"And I think that I told you, I'd wait for you forever Now I know someone else's holding you, so, for the first time in my life - I must lie Lie's a sin, mess that I am in, Love is not the thing I feel know"

I think it means he's not waiting for her anymore, even though he promissed that he would. That's the lie.

Is dana a real girl? i tried searching for 'dana o'hara' but i couldn't find anything. it's almost as if he hates her for the things she's done (but I have seen, Your picture on the cover of a filthy magazine, Your father disowned you because you have sinned) but another part of him still loves her, (Dana O'Hara oh, Dana my dear, How I wish that my Dana was here.) i wonder if she really exists?