# Band name origin? - "And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead"

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/band-name-origin-and-you-will-know-us-by-the-trail-of-dead/134338>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [October 29, 2002, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/band-name-origin-and-you-will-know-us-by-the-trail-of-dead/134338 "2002-10-29T02:26:34Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\
**Post date:** [October 29, 2002, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/band-name-origin-and-you-will-know-us-by-the-trail-of-dead/134338/1 "2002-10-29T02:26:34Z")

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I know bands often have unusual names but this one is more so than most. I’m assuming “And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead” is a quote from somewhere. Can anyone help?

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**Author:** ![Mirror\_Image\_egamI\_rorriM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e56c9b/32.png) [@Mirror\_Image\_egamI\_rorriM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mirror_Image_egamI_rorriM)\
**Post date:** [October 29, 2002, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/band-name-origin-and-you-will-know-us-by-the-trail-of-dead/134338/2 "2002-10-29T03:11:35Z")

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If I am not mistaken, it comes from a phrase found in the Egyptian book of the dead. A similar phrase has also been found on some temple/pyramid in South America. I’m kind of fuzzy on the details. The guys in the band thought it was cool that it had turned up in 2 very different cultures on different sides of the world, so they used it. Like I said, I’m fuzzy.

And I’m also pretty sure that it’s “…And You Will Know us by the Trail of Dead.”

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**Author:** ![Sternvogel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@Sternvogel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sternvogel)\
**Post date:** [October 29, 2002, 7:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/band-name-origin-and-you-will-know-us-by-the-trail-of-dead/134338/3 "2002-10-29T07:33:05Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Little Nemo \*  
> \*\*I know bands often have unusual names but this one is more so than most. I’m assuming “And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead” is a quote from somewhere. Can anyone help? \*\*

Here’s a detailed explanation from the band’s own site:

[http://www.trailofdead.com/why.html](http://www.trailofdead.com/why.html)

Found that page throughfrom a link on this one:

[http://www.8ung.at/nina\_m/myths.htm](http://www.8ung.at/nina_m/myths.htm)