Lyrics for Daniel Cowman as interpreted by SoakedinMercury

Daniel Cowman Lyrics
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


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bleedingmaskarah
12-11-2005

Rated 0 
this is so... strange.... regina rocks my world...

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belly laughs
01-05-2006

Rated 0 
this is such a great song, i cant exactly come together with what t means but the way it is sang...........is lovely

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roostified
02-22-2006

Rated 0 
it's about a man who has been sentenced to death and his longing to take a final bath. that's the jist of it... haven't quite got to grips with specifics.

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lecky333
03-31-2006

Rated 0 
Roostified is correct.

Its about a man sentenced to die by hanging, who is remembering a specific scence from his life wherein a heroin addict gave him some good advice about death and destiny.

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lecky333
03-31-2006

Rated -2 
You're totally WRONG!!!!

You forgot the most important line in the whole song, which is also the most attention grabbing line and the line she stresses the most.

"I don't exist" "I don't exist" "I don't exist"

The speaker clearly doesn't exist, and we can't ignore that. Therefore this is what I think it means.

Daniel Cowman was executed at 4:15 and now he is a ghost. He expected the world to end and everything to stop for him but it didn't "How could it go on?"

So now he is a buried ghost who just remembers things about his life all the time and feels gross and dirty because he is covered with so much dirt that he just wants to "take a fucking bath."

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so_ein_pech
07-21-2006

Rated 0 
Daneil Cowman is a shout out to Modest Mouse's Cowboy Dan. If you don't interpret Cowman as a last name, then they essentially have the same name. In MM's song Cowboy Dan is alive, but a part of that song links thematically with this one:

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.

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adamanteve
10-04-2006

Rated 0 
I love the theory on that last one but it sounds like such a stretch haha, has Regina ever mentioned that?
Still a really cool connection.
And no matter what this song is about, I love it. It's beautiful. I love all the different piano parts. And I love at the part where it starts "he started remembering and remembering..." etc, I love how dreamlike the piano becomes.

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Ofcourse56
10-12-2006

Rated 0 
I've always loved this song, especially how Regina's voice at one given point can sound harsh and suddenly become soft. I like the lines:

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.

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shmusock
10-21-2006

Rated 0 
I agree with roostified.
I think Daniel Cowman is still alive, but he was sentenced to die by hanging. That's what the third part is about.
The "I don't exist" is from Daniel's point of view - he's still alive, but he's offically a dead man on the papers. For the world, he no longer exists after the court hearing, and he realizes this -
"at precisely four-fifteen when he stopped existing", that's when the sentence was declared.
His own world is crashing down around him. He doesn't want to accept that he's so insignificant that the world will go on, even without him.

So now he realizes he's officially a dead man, it doesn't mean he's free (as death practically is ultimate freedom) - he is put back into prison until the day of his hanging. That's what the second part is about.

Now the part about heroin boy...I think he remembers another prisoner who was sentenced to die by hanging before him, called herion boy; his crimes probably had to do with dealing drugs or murder under influence of heroin, maybe that's why heroin boy was his nickname. He remembers how heroin boy came back from his court hearing and went insane:
"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 "
For heroin boy, it actually is the ending of his world.

The next part I don't fully understand....I think the "I" is Daniel Cowman speaking though. Maybe he's dreaming of getting out of prison and what he would see there - balloons, things working out fine for people, women. I dunno. Maybe he's having hallucinations, cause that would explain the next part --

Heroin boy takes a bath and Daniel is afraid he will drown (hallucinations? I mean...it's not every day that someone drowns in the bathtub..), but heroin boy says he can't, and gives him the reasons.

And Daniel Cowman remembers what heroin boy said, and like him, wants to take a last bath, cause a man sentenced to die by hanging can't drown.

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MiffHeart
01-03-2007

Rated 0 
I see that people here are becoming confused about the "I don't exist" part of this song.
Well, My thoughts are that this song is sharing the perspective of Regina and Daniel. at the start its Regina, and the rest of it is Daniel.
Regina is Mourning the death of Daniel in the first paragraph;
"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... "
When someone dies, There loved ones world stops.
Alot of people feel that they have no right to exist while they're loved one doesn't.
Anywho, those are my thoughts. I could be completely wrong.

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dartisha
01-05-2007

Rated 0 
I agree that this song is prolly a post death song in the exact way it has been interpreted above, but for some reason when I was listening to it another way it could be interpreted came to mind.

When I heard the part about Daniel being sentenced to death it brought to mind Daniel in the bible who was also sentenced to death. I take the heroin boy to be a reference to the writing on the wall - rather that he is the righting on the wall which no one understands. The part about drowning, burning, and hanging brings to mind both the part about the furnace, and the lions den, as well as the how Daniel came to be in Babylon in the first place. There were a number of times that Daniel could have died, but did not for some reason. I take the "I don't exist" to be said by God, but Daniel refuses to stop believing no matter what.

It is kinda a far fetched interpretation, but it kept popping into mind while listening to the song so I thought I would tell it for amusement if nothing else.

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mucklet
02-21-2007

Rated 0 
I think there is general truth to the idea of Daniel speaking to us post death, but the execution theory has a hole in it. While I agree that he has been sentanced to hang, people are not executed at 4:15. People are executed at midnight. I've always thought that he did, in fact, die in the bath.

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teekay11
03-13-2007

Rated 0 
I don't think it's supposed to be literally. I think it's supposed to be taken as a testiment to the random, spontaneous nature of death -- that it can come at any time -- and that life goes on after we're gone, as unbelievable as that seems.

Daniel's death "sentence" comes as a "premature" incident that "hits him in the face" -- he's blindsided by it. He thinks back to "the heroin boy" who came in and made a speech about death. Heroin boy claimed that he had a hold on how he would die -- he felt he had control, that he would know when it was coming. The fact that he is a "boy" calls upon the invinsibility complex that all people have during their youth -- he doesn't think harm will come to him. Daniel remembers this and realizes how little he knew about his own mortality.

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teekay11
03-13-2007

Rated 0 
*taken literally

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everworld2662
04-24-2007

Rated +1 
No no no, I've got this!
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. ^^

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racheleechele
05-10-2007

Rated 0 
In this song, time is all messed up. It flows back and forth between the present and the past. I think Daniel did receive his death sentence at 4:15, and that's when he stopped existing, instead of actually dying at that time because he can't do whatever he wants. He can't fly like it's commonly said of spirits because he's still technically alive. This is linked to Heroin Boy's sentence in the next verse who, upon receiving the sentence, comes in and also starts singing "I don't exist."

I do believe that they both died by drowning themselves. When HB takes a bath, no one *believes* it will do any harm, but it does. The way she leaves the final "drowning" hanging makes me think this. So Daniel is going to control his fate, too, and cause "the premature ejaculation of his death sentence."

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liberatepotatoes
05-14-2007

Rated 0 
I wrote this interpretation of the song a few months ago while I was stuck at home sick.. XD
I agree that Daniel has been sentenced to death, but I think all of this takes place in the courtroom, and Daniel is “watching his life flash before his eyes.” Also, it always seemed to me that it’s Daniel talking the entire time, and not a narrator; at this point he’s losing his mind, so he’s started frequently switching back and forth between the 3rd and 1st person. Or maybe it’s that he is starting to think that he is no longer Daniel Cowman because Daniel Cowman is officially dead. I’m not sure.
The part of the song where Daniel is explaining that he still can’t do whatever he wants even though he no longer exists reminds me of The Stranger by Albert Camus. As Camus’s character Mersault is sitting in prison, all he can do is sit and wait for death, with no contact with anyone or anything from his life outside, so it’s as if he is already dead.
At the point where everything goes “real slow like a gunshot in the movies” Daniel starts remembering everything he’s been through up to this point in life. I don’t think the stories about the balloons and the ladies with gin are too significant... They are just supposed to be two examples of random memories that have nothing to do with one another other than the fact that they are memories Daniel remembers well.
However, the memory he remembers the best does have significance to the theme of the song. “Heroin boy” (as others above said) was another man that was in prison, and in this memory specifically heroin boy had already been sentenced to death by hanging. Like Daniel now, all heroin boy could do then was wait for his death day. He felt helpless, and needed some control over his own mortality, so he decided to take a bath. Daniel was afraid that in his state of mind heroin boy might drown himself, but heroin boy explained: He could die by drowning because he was “destined” to die by hanging. In turn, as long as heroin boy stayed in the tub and continued to drown himself, he wouldn’t have been able to die. This is not the best logic, but heroin boy wasn’t in a fit state of mind and he felt that this was the only way he could control his own life, as he felt he had before he was sentenced to death.
It’s not said whether heroin boy dies by hanging or drowning, so I can’t say what happened. I’m also not sure if the last line about wanting to “take a fucking bath” is said by heroin boy in the memory or by Daniel Cowman himself...
Hope all that made sense.

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liberatepotatoes
05-14-2007

Rated 0 
*Heroin boy couldn't die by drowning because he was destined to die by hanging... gah.

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Art_er
05-17-2007

Rated 0 
...Sim....pleee....beee cos...
What follows is to the melody of 'Strangers in the Night' by Bert Kaempfert. This is an ingredient, note for note. Is the Spektor pointing us toward a deeper understanding of her song or further obfuscating it by including this deliberarte reference? Or is it included cos it happens to be a nice chord sequence she knows well? Hope this was helpful

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warrenaikmen
06-07-2007

Rated 0 
to me and ive listen to this song jus too many times
i believe its about suicide daniel will commit suicide and he can fly bcuz he commits suicide and in the catholic religion its a sin either way i dont care this song makes me cry i want this song played at my funeral

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carbonated_pears
09-07-2007

Rated 0 
I completely agree with liberatepotatoe's interpretation, except I don't think that the heroin boy was trying to take a bath because that was the last thing he could do in his life that he had control over, and that it was the first random thing he could think of because he wasn't in a fit state of mind. I think he was actually trying to drown himself in the tub, because he would rather kill himself than be executed. And I know that idea would clash with the whole "a man destined to hang can never drown", but he was probably just saying that either to console Daniel or to just make him shut up, or because he was in denial himself about the end of his own life coming nearer, whether it was of his own hand or someone else's. But I think that because the song ends right there, when he says "I want to take a fuckin' bath", it probably means that he went ahead and took the bath, immediately drowning himself.

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hongi
09-23-2007

Rated 0 
I agree with liberatepotatoes, because of this:

I says, no--you're gonna drown
and he says, no--I can't drown

I would have expected HB to say 'I won't drown' if he was simply trying to reassure DC that he wasn't going to have an accident in the bath.

Instead, he uses the word can't, like it's physically impossible for him to drown.

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ne me quitte pas
01-11-2008

Rated 0 
i don't even want to BEGIN to decode this song. All I can say is there's probably a bit of truth to everyone's opinions because like most of her songs, this one is definitely open to personal interpretation. I would just like to give a shout-out to the most random, confusing, and yet unbelievably fantastic Regina Spektor song i've ever heard...

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23allie23
01-28-2008

Rated 0 
I think that "Daniel" has been dead and is dead in the whole song. and Daniel is the speaker through out the whole song- even the beginning.
Most of it is him remember times in his life
it seems to me like the heroin boy part was about him watching a tv show or something
I think regina's songs seem so complex, but their really not

and like whoever "ne me quitte pas" said: its open to personal interpertation

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hanseletta.barbosa
01-30-2008

Rated 0 
"A man destined to hang can never drown" is a reference to Shakespeare's play "The Tempest" where they that exact thing about one of the shipworkers who is driving everyone mad during a storm where they are all trying to survive. It's comforting thing for them, because if he's destined to hang (because he's a bad guy) then the people on the ship must make it.

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.

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