Hold Them Down Lyrics – Epic: The Musical
Hold Them Down Lyrics
Screw this competition, we've been here for hours
None of us can string this, we don't?have?the power
Screw this?damn challenge, no more delays
Can't you?guys see we're being played?
This is how they
[ANTINUOUS, SUITORS]
Hold us down while the throne gets colder
Hold us down while we slowly age
Hold us down while the boy gets bolder
Where the hell is our pride and our rage?
Here and now, there's a chance for action
Here and now, we can take control
Here and now, burn it down to ashes
Channel the fire inside your soul
[ANTINUOUS, SUITORS]
Hold us down
While the throne gets colder
Hold us down
While we slowly age
Hold us down
While the boy gets bolder
Where the hell is our pride and our rage?
Here and now
There's a chance for action
Here and now
We can take control
Here and now
Burn it down to ashes
Channel the fire inside your soul
[ANTINUOUS]
Haven't you noticed who's missing?
Don't you know the prince is not around
I heard he's on a diplomatic mission
And I heard today he comes back to town, so
I say we gather near the beaches
I say we wait 'til he arrives
Then, when he docks his ship, we can breach it
Let us leave now, today we can strike and
[ANTINUOUS, SUITORS]
Hold him down 'til the boy stops shaking
Hold him down while I slit his throat
Hold him down while I slowly break his pride, his trust, his faith, and his bones
Cut him down into tiny pieces
Throw him down in the great below
When the crown wonders where the prince is
Only the ocean and I will know
[ANTINUOUS]
And when the deed is done
The queen will have no one to
Stop us from breaking her bedroom door
Stop us from taking her love and more
[ANTINUOUS, SUITORS]
And then we'll
Hold her down while her gate is open
Hold her down while I get a taste
Hold her down while we share her spoils
I will not let any part go to waste
Here and now, there's a chance for action
Here and now, we can take control
Here and now, burn it down to ashes
Channel the fire inside your soul and
Hold 'em down, hold 'em down
Hold 'em down, hold 'em down

Song Overview
Personal Review

Hold Them Down is pure powder-keg. A martial snare snaps; low brass lurches; Antinous spits venom while a mob of suitors chants “Six hundred men” in mocking echo of Odysseus’s vow. The lyrics drip with predatory bravado—plots to slit Telemachus’s throat, violate Penelope, and torch Ithaca’s throne. One image burns brightest: an arrow thudding through Antinous’s neck mid-boast, his tyranny cut short by a silent savior.
Song Meaning and Annotations

The suitors open with a taunting reprise of Penelope’s bow-test—
“Whoever can string the old king’s bow…”—underscored by 140 BPM trip-hammer drums. Their chant lands on heavy down-beats, turning a noble contest into a war chant.
Antinous then hijacks the narrative, railing against delay—
“Screw this competition…”His vocals ride distorted guitar stabs while synth bass growls beneath, evoking a mosh-pit coup. The key sits in E-minor, but each chorus modulates up a half-step, reflecting rising bloodlust.
Rivera-Herrans mirrors mob psychology: ensemble voices swarm in call-and-response, the texture thickening until Antinous plots Telemachus’s murder—“Hold him down while I slowly break his pride, his trust, his faith and his bones.” A sudden drop to whisper-level strings chills the threat.
Symbolically, the song flips Odysseus’s mantra of righteous strike into predatory “hold them down,” underscoring how power corrodes those who crave it. The final arrow—never sung, only implied—acts as divine punctuation, restoring moral order.
Verse Highlights
Verse 1 (Ensemble)
Four-part male voices chant in tight harmony, each “bow” accented by timpani—an aural hammer forging groupthink.
Chorus (Antinous & Suitors)
“Here and now, burn it down to ashes / Channel the fire inside your soul”
Staccato brass blasts and hi-hat triplets stoke the riot; every “here and now” lands on beat one, a sonic punch to the gut.
Detailed Annotations
Violins screech like whetted knives as Hold Them Down thrusts us inside Ithaca’s banquet hall, where ambition curdles into open menace. The suitors, fresh from failing Penelope’s archery trial in The Challenge, cast aside pretense; Antinous rallies them to seize power by murder and assault. What follows is a chilling study in entitlement set to a pulsing war-drum beat, until one silent arrow rewrites the script.
Overview
Whoever can string the old king’s bow
And shoot through twelve axes cleanly…
The chorus parrots Penelope’s rules but rephrases “my husband’s old bow” as “the old king’s bow,” erasing marital loyalty and framing Odysseus as merely an obsolete obstacle. The echo of Man of the House—“Where is he? Where is the man…”—returns, but desperation replaces playful courtship; they still await the true archer, unaware he already lurks among them.
Antinous Unmasked
Screw this competition… None of us can string this, we don’t have the power.
Antinous shreds decorum. Hours of failure lay bare their inferiority to Odysseus (the bow’s supposed 400-pound draw weight underscores the gap). He flips Penelope’s stalling tactic into a conspiracy theory: “Can’t you guys see we’re being played?” The ensemble responds with a snarling hook:
Hold us down while the throne gets colder…
“Hold us down” becomes their mantra, a perverse inversion of Penelope’s “buying you time.” As the tempo accelerates, the suitors chant against creeping age, Telemachus’s growth, and eroding pride—time’s pressure cooker now on the villain’s side.
Call to Violence
Antinous’ rhetoric escalates from envy to explicit atrocity:
Hold him down while I slit his throat… Hold her down while her gate is open.
The language is visceral, rhythmic, almost gleeful—scored with staccato brass stabs. He assigns the mob to restrain; he alone claims the killing blow and sexual violation, revealing pure self-interest behind the faux camaraderie. The audience’s revulsion primes satisfaction for imminent justice.
Musical Techniques
- Chanted Counts. The opening four-beat “six hundred men” pattern from earlier sagas resurfaces on drum taps under the line “Channel the fire inside your soul.” It foreshadows Odysseus: the ghosts of his crew echo beneath their would-be killers.
- Motif Reprisal. Antinous’ rally mirrors The Horse and the Infant: “Here and now, there’s a chance for action.” This deliberate parallel positions him as a dark reflection of Odysseus commanding Greek soldiers outside Troy.
- Sudden Drop. As Antinous reaches “Channel the fire inside your soul, and—” the instrumentation cuts mid-bar; a single twang and wet thud replace the beat—Odysseus’ arrow to the throat. The abrupt silence functions like a cinematic jump-cut, telling the audience the king has returned before words confirm it.
Thematic Elements
- Power & Consent. Antinous conflates political takeover with sexual domination: “bedroom door” and “share her spoils” expose rape as a tool of state seizure—a stark reminder of patriarchal stakes.
- Fire and Pride. He keeps invoking inner “fire,” yet fire in EPIC typically precedes downfall (the torches in “Scylla,” the flare in “Full Speed Ahead”). True to pattern, his own incitement cues his death.
- Underestimation. The suitors’ refrain “Hold him down while the boy stops shakin’” proves fatal hubris; unseen, the “boy” and his father have already orchestrated their counter-strike.
Mythic Parallels
In Homer’s Odyssey Book 22, Odysseus kills Antinous first with an arrow to the throat during the bow contest. Rivera-Herrans preserves the detail but relocates the shot to interrupt the villain’s rally, heightening theatrical payoff and confirming Penelope’s intuition from the prior song.
Conclusion
Hold Them Down is the suitors’ swan song: an anthem of unchecked malevolence cut short by a single shaft of justice. By letting Antinous articulate his vilest intentions seconds before execution, the musical grants audience and hero simultaneous catharsis. The bow has found its true master again; the palace air shifts from predator to prey. Penelope’s patience will soon be rewarded, and Ithaca’s long night begins to dawn.
Song Credits

- Featured: Jorge Rivera-Herrans, Ayron Alexander (Antinous) & Cast of EPIC: The Musical
- Producer / Composer / Lyricist: Jorge Rivera-Herrans
- Release Date: December 25, 2024
- Genre: Pop-orchestral Musical
- Instruments: Snare & tom battery, brass section, distorted guitar, synth bass, male choir
- Label: Winion Entertainment LLC
- Mood: Riotous, Menacing
- Length: 3 min 03 sec
- Track #: 37 on EPIC: The Ithaca Saga
- Key: E-minor
- Tempo: 140 BPM
- Copyright © ? 2024 Winion Entertainment LLC
Songs Exploring Mob Fury
“The Mob Song” (Beauty and the Beast) rallies villagers to violence; Rivera-Herrans echoes its rhythmic stomp but cranks the brutality to 21 st-century explicitness.
“March of the Witch Hunters” (Wicked) uses bright major harmonies to mask dark intent; “Hold Them Down” drops any façade, wielding minor keys and guttural chants.
“Burn It to the Ground” by Nickelback pummels with hard-rock swagger; Antinous’s call to “burn it down to ashes” employs similar drum-and-riff ferocity, albeit within theatrical framing.
Questions and Answers
- How many Spotify streams does “Hold Them Down” have?
- ? 40.6 million plays as of July 2025.
- Who voices Antinous?
- Ayron Alexander supplies the snarling baritone.
- Why is the song controversial?
- Its explicit threats of sexual violence spark debate; critics argue it spotlights villainy without endorsing it, mirroring Homer’s depiction.
- Are there notable covers?
- Yes—a Spanish cover single by Laharl Square dropped April 2025.
- What happens to Antinous?
- He receives an arrow to the throat—Odysseus’s first strike in the hall—ending the suitors’ coup mid-song.
Awards and Chart Positions
The Ithaca Saga reached #5 on the US iTunes album chart three days after release.
The track itself debuted at #38 on Spotify’s US Viral 50 on January 2 2025.
How to Sing?
Range: Antinous A2 – F?4; ensemble B2 – D4.
Technique: use compressed chest resonance for shouted lines, then switch to mix for the sustained “Hold us down.”
Breath: tank up before 16-beat phrases; chorus lines run four measures with no natural rest.
Tempo: lock to 140 BPM; drums accent beats 1 & 3—snap consonants on those pulses.
Dynamics: verses mezzo-forte; choruses fortissimo; drop to pianissimo whisper on “I will not let any part go to waste” for dramatic chill.
Fan and Media Reactions
“This is horrifying—and I can’t stop replaying it. Propaganda for rage.”Reddit discussion thread
“Arrow to the throat at 3:02? Chef’s-kiss timing.”YouTube comment on 1.8 M-view animatic
“Rivera-Herrans turns Homer’s darkest chapter into a stadium chant.”Hunt News review
“40 million streams for a villain song? Proof that theatre kids love chaos.”Kworb analytics feed
“Spanish cover slaps—‘Sujétalos’ gave me chills.”Apple Music review
Music video
Epic: The Musical Lyrics: Song List
- The Troy Saga
- The Horse and the Infant
- Just A Man
- Full Speed Ahead
- Open Arms
- Warrior of the Mind
- The Cyclops Saga
- Polyphemus
- Survive
- Remember Them
- My Goodbye
- The Ocean Saga
- Storm
- Luck Runs Out
- Keep Your Friends Close
- Ruthlessness
- The Circe Saga
- Puppeteer
- Wouldn't You Like
- Done For
- There Are Other Ways
- The Underworld Saga
- The Underworld
- No Longer You
- Monster
- The Thunder Saga
- Suffering
- Different Beast
- Scylla
- Mutiny
- Thunder Bringer
- The Wisdom Saga
- Legendary
- Little Wolf
- We’d Be Fine
- Love in Paradise
- God Games
- The Vengeance Saga
- Not Sorry For Loving You
- Dangerous
- Charybdis
- Get in the Water
- 600 Strike
- The Ithaca Saga
- The Challenge
- Hold Them Down
- Odysseus
- I Can’t Help But Wonder
- Would You Fall In Love With Me Again