Noah Kahan‘s The Great Divide is out now, and fans are eagerly exploring the meaning behind the lyrics of the 29-year-old singer-songwriter’s latest studio album.
One song in particular, “Dan,” is getting a lot of attention.
The track is the final song on Noah‘s album.
Keep reading to find out more…
The Dan he’s referring to on the album is his longtime childhood friend, which he directly addressed in a recent interview with Zach Sang.
“Dan is my buddy from back home. He is a really close childhood friend of mine who I have known my whole life. This song is kind of two stories. One time we went camping and had all these deep conversations about our childhood and our friendships. Another time, we were around a bonfire and drank a full 30 pack of Bud Heavies, which are just the grossest, heaviest beers ever. We were like 18 or 19, and we went into the woods and got lost in my own backyard. My family property is about 130 acres, and we were literally lost there. We had to sleep in the woods, and when we woke up in the morning, we had to trudge back. We were basically seconds from my house, but we were drunk and could not see anything,” he explained.
“So the song is about that, and kind of the opposite of ‘The Great Divide.’ There is a lot of silence in the song and a lot of tension, like we cannot reach each other. But the song ‘Dan,’ to me, is a reflection of our relationship, where we have always said everything we wanted to say and have been able to really connect and have those hard conversations, even when it comes to politics. We talk about the differences in our lives. I do not want to speak too much about his personal life, but we come from very different places and lifestyles, and we have still maintained this incredible friendship for 20 years. I think that is the beauty of friendship. It bridges that gap.”
“There’s a few lines in the album that I feel like speak to that present feeling of, like, you’re already there. Like, heaven is a drink in the backyard. Like, where do we go when we die? I wouldn’t mind if it was right here,” Noah further said of the song’s meaning to Apple Music.
“I wouldn’t mind if I was sitting by the fire with my buddy, or even lost in the woods, or even in a moment of, like, there’s something scary happening but you’re with this person and you’re experiencing this together in the same exact way.”
“‘Cause I’m with my best friend Dan now, campin’ on the county line / Hand around a Miller Lite, waitin’ for the sun to rise / Couplе of hometown heroes fightin’ ovеr politics / Sittin’ and rememberin’, young men from different sides / And we’re so alone most of the time / Most of the time, we don’t have anyone / Where do we go when we die? / I wouldn’t mind right here, I wouldn’t mind at all,” he sings.
Listen to “Dan”…
Read the lyrics to “Dan”…