Green world, love the chloroform.
Front porch in the thunderstorm.
Controlled chaos, confused energy.

So stop reading the weather charts.
Stop counting the playing cards.
There's no system, there's no guarantee
That the love you feel and carry inside can be passed.
But you try, I know you do you still talk
To your plans.
Ask how are you getting on alone?

Some wander the wilderness,
Some drink cosmopolitans.
Some cold science, some glean astro-planes.
I can't tell where the canvas stops,
Homesick as an astronaut.
Just keep drifting, but still can't explain.
How the love we feel we carry inside can be passed.
See a brother in the gutter you reach out your hand.
Ask how are you getting on alone?

What gauge measures miracles?
And whose heartbeat's electrical?
We feign sickness with our modern joy.
But even Western medicine,
It couldn't save Danny Callahan.
Bad bone marrow, a bald little boy.
But the love he feels he carries inside can be passed.
He lay still,
His mother kissed him goodbye, said 'comeback.'
Where are you going to alone?
Where are you going all alone?



Lyrics submitted by lovenothing__

Track duration: 03:58

"Danny Callahan" as written by Conor Oberst

Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC

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Danny Callahan song meanings
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41 Comments

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  • 0
    General Comment:One of my friends died of cancer last year. She was just 16. I can't listen to this song without bursting into tears.
    Love can be passed, I'm sure of it. My friend, even while she was dying, saw joy in the world and beauty in every person. She showed nothing but kindness and loved everyone. She may be gone but I don't go a day without thinking of her and I try to make sure she didn't live and die in vain by making a commitment to spread love as she would. Her love for everyone changed me.
    Thank you, Conor, for writing something so beautiful.
    Flag gannabelon April 20, 2011   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:I love the little laugh right at the beginning of the song, and how Conor says "great." Great song, like so many other of his songs. Very touching story.
    Flag sussuon December 23, 2010   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:Love this song, though the first line always ticks me off - wouldn't chlorophyll make a lot more sense then chloroform? I think Mr. Oberst might have skipped high school bio.
    Flag Ecclesiasteson August 14, 2009   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:this is such an emotional and life-encompassing song. the third verse is my favorite; conor is drifting randomly because he doesn't understand where this life is leading and what the whole purpose is. ultimately, however, i think he understands best; people are drinking cosmopolitans and studying science and frivolously wasting their time while conor contemplates something much more - the meaning of all these actions
    Flag JessicaDinhon May 02, 2009   Link
  • +1
    General Comment:I've probably listened to this a couple hundred times since August. It took a while to grow on me but I love it now. I like that we have no idea what the song is about until the last verse. Makes the rest of the song mean a lot if you go back and think about it.
    Flag qwerty202on February 03, 2009   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:also how your love can be passed, people never no how much they love someone till they are gone
    "But the love he feels he carries inside can be passed
    He lay still his mother kissed him goodbye Said, 'Come back, where are you going to alone?'"
    Flag (A)on December 14, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:This song is awesome, conor best writer of all times.
    this song has so much content within it, he is talking about how this life is so controlled by our western culture and that no matter how hard we want to control our life, somethings are enivitablities, that not even our western society can control " even western medicine couldn't save danny callahan"

    Conor also talks about the injustices of our society and how insubordinate this world can be and how anything that once was is lost "See a brother in the gutter, you reach out your hand
    Ask how are you getting on alone" this doesn't happen anymore we someone in the street we avoid them or treat them as second grade citizens whereas they should be equal

    He also has alot of references to the scriptures, as he grew up in a catholic family, he has content in his songs that reflect on how he was raised.

    Awesome song!! LOVE IT
    Flag (A)on December 14, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:I feel like the line "controlled chaos, confused energy" is relating to thunder which seems to be everywhere vs. lightning which is such defined energy. just a thought. i agree with what some have said about the first verse, how we think we understand the world but life is all really chance and you can never "count the playing cards." i think the whole line about love being passed is just referring to how we hold so much love for people inside of us but even when we express it, it never fully feels like we're "passing it on." like no one ever really understands how much you love them, i think the person talking to their plants might be Danny's mother, who is lonely and trying to cope with her loss. "You try I know you do you" is referring to her trying to resume life after such a huge loss. I think the second verse is saying that everyone seems to have their niche, if you will, in society. some place they belong and just do what they do, but conor (or the character in the song) just drifts.

    sorry if i wrote too much, just had to throw in my 2 cents!
    Flag rosesareredon November 12, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:first line is love the not lovely
    Flag chazisawsomeon October 19, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:Daniel Callahan was a medical ethicist who argued that there is a clear distinction between killing and letting die, for example, euthansia versus removing a respirator to let a patient die naturally. i think that he is referring to this idea in the last part of the song. i think he uses "danny callahan" as the little boys name just as an example to show his ideas. i think he's saying that "danny callahan"'s mother decided to let him die naturally and that is why she "kisses him goodbye". i know this may not make a lot of sense, i'm not very good at explaining things haha. but thats what i think at least.
    Flag inthewhitecoaton October 18, 2008   Link

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