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* SONATA ARCTICA - LETTER TO DANA (From the album: ECLIPTICA) *
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Music and Words By: Sonata Arctica
Transcribed By: Niclas Buss (and Tomi Salter)
Days tabbed: 1.4.2000
email: nbuss@ironmaiden.com
(and tomppa@optimus.inet.fi)
Please mail me if you can find mistakes!
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Tune down 1/2 step!
Clean Sound
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Tab Discussion, Comments, and Critiques
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HIYA Wanna Be |
#1 by HIYA at Jul 29, 1978 at 6:48 PM EST |
| Dana is a fictional character made up by Tony, he also mentions her in Shy..."You can't be acting like my Dana". My opinion is that Dana was the love of the writer, but ran away from home and from him... still he writes her but she doesnt seem to return any of the letters, so it makes the writer think it bothers her. The writer is a well-known of Dana's family but I dont think hes her brother, as Kustard says. The writer says he doesnt wait for her anymore but in his heart she's still there, and need her in his time of suffering, thats why hes beign sarcastic as "it was a beautiful day.." Or maybe, Dana wrote to him whenever he did, and he says, "Dana, oh, Dana I'm writing to you, I heard you passed away it was a beautiful day", meaning that she stopped writing to him and its a beautiful day because now he can get over her. anyways tony's playin with my mind... each of us could make a meaning of this song and still we are all right, maybe thats what tony wanted when he wrote it.. btw, "thee" is you in old-english. | |
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metal-cat Average |
#2 by metal-cat stepheria at Jun 4, 1980 at 10:22 PM EST |
| 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? | |
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R.I.P Dimebag D Professional |
#3 by R.I.P Dimebag Darrell at Apr 19, 1982 at 7:17 AM EST |
| 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? | |
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Chris Average |
#4 by Chris Essery at Jul 31, 1983 at 2:13 AM EST |
| "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. | |
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kewl Wanna Be |
#5 by kewl dude at Apr 4, 1984 at 12:23 AM EST |
| 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. | |
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Dylan Rhythm Player |
#6 by Dylan Fitzgerald at Jul 31, 1987 at 6:18 PM EST |
| 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. | |
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julian Average |
#7 by julian at Jun 11, 1995 at 12:11 AM EST |
| nice summary... "Dana, oh, Dana I'm writing to you, I heard you passed away it was a beautiful day | |
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Average |
#8 by nirvana at Jun 18, 1996 at 1:53 AM EST |
| this is one of my fav songs...i love the way tony writes and when i heard songs "letter to dana", " shy" and " the end of this chapter" i started to think that tony is a maniac.... | |
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phoen Average |
#9 by phoen bay at Jun 9, 1999 at 2:57 PM EST |
| "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” A couple things were said about this line that I'd like to comment on. First, I beilve the "beautiful day" was more like the attitude felt on that day. Dana and her father had problems, as did Dana and the singer, so when they died it was a beautiful day. I assume Dana was close to her mother so when she died it was a rainy day. Second, I think the "I'm old and I feel time will come for me" doesn't mean that dana and the singer are connected as said earlier, but rather that the singer kept his promise not to write until both of them reached old age and Dana eventually died. And of course he kept writing about her in his diary all those years. I don't quite think that the "narrator" of the story is Dana's father. It's a good theory, but the line you mentioned really throws it off course. While the songs is written about a real person, Dana O'Hara is not her real name. The name was changed for privacy reasons. The name Dana actually came from The X Files character Dana Scully. There was an interview about this somewhere online a few years back. | |
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Aaron Average |
#10 by Aaron Smith at Jan 22, 2000 at 11:47 AM EST |
| Before I read the lyrics, I thought when he said "Dana O'Hara", he was saying "Dana, oh horror, decided one day to travel away, faraway", as in it's horrible that she's gone and he can't imagine what it would be like to live without her. Coincidence? Hmm.... | |
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geoff Average |
#11 by geoff at Sep 17, 2004 at 11:56 PM EST |
| 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 | |
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