Lion is one of the most famous songs from the band Hollywood Undead. This was part of their album Notes from the underground. The vocals of this song are done by Danny and Johnny 3 Tears.
We have a song call ‘Lion.’ It’s the fourth song, and when I came up with the idea for the song, I had a chorus, so I hit up the producer, went into the studio to lay it down and to get it moving, since I knew we would revisit songs quite a few times, since that’s what bands do. We kept moving and making progress, so we stayed up 34 hours. We started it from scratch and finished it in one session, which is tough, since there are a lot of elements. There was no stall. It was written in one fell swoop in a day-and-a-half. We never did it that way before and never want to do it again. I had a four-day hangover after
Johnny 3 Tears told Noisecreep
Song Meaning
Now, this song is quite tough to decode and one can never be sure as to what they are actually talking about, however this is my interpretation of the song. I could be wrong about it but this is what I felt it was about.
Lion could be about being brave enough to face the world and follow your dreams. It could also be about the rage that is felt inside to be free and not feel trapped in a certain sense.
There are a lot of things going on in the singer’s mind that others have no clue about. The other people have never dealt with those kinds of things and they go off to sleep and are at peace while the singer is going through those things in his mind.
Johnny 3 Tears is narrating his story in the verses. The chorus is about breaking free from the society and having the courage to go in the direction that you want to go. The urge to follow his passion is too strong that it keeps him awake at night. The first verse by Johnny probably talks about how some people don’t follow their calling while some cannot leave their dreams. Johnny 3 Tears is basically saying to people he knows that they can leave him and he doesn’t need their little things which lead to small dreams not worth following. He is also pointing to the fact that he needs to do the things he is meant to do today because tomorrow is today.
In second verse by J3T, he is talking about his past. When he mentions the army of little kids, it could mean when he was a small kid among several of them. Those times may have been really hard and he did not have much but still he was living through those times.
But, remembering those times probably causes him to fight for his dreams and what he wants to accomplish in his life.
Then, he mentions that he has to be away from her daughter for a long time because it is his job to be on tour. Also, fame has played a huge role in his relationship with his family. Because of his popularity, he is not able to devote much time to his daughter. There are certain things he cannot change because they are meant to happen that way. He wants his daughter to know that he loves her very much and would always want to be with her.
This is what I understood from the song. The song may have a different story altogether.
