Monday, October 6, 2008

Things I Don't Get: The Killer's New Single

Normally, I don't spend much time dissecting song lyrics because, let's face it, a lot of times they just don't make sense (take "I am the eggman," for example. Really John? An eggman? Maybe you are just high). However, "Human," the latest song from The Killers, has me buggin'. The first few times I heard it, I thought Brandon Flowers was asking "Are we human? Or are we dancer?" which frankly, makes no damn sense at all. This morning, I looked up the lyrics and found out he's saying "Are we human? Or are we denser?" which really, well, doesn't make sense either. I've spent the past 45 minutes trying to figure this out. Obviously, he's not sure if we are human, so does he think we are simply more densely populated than humans? Or more stupid? Or we require more concentration to comprehend? I don't get it.

Do you get it? Can you please explain? This song is already everywhere (and I kinda like it), so I have a feeling I'll be pondering this question for at least a month. And again I prove the list of reasons my life is sad could, like, pave a sidewalk of paper around the globe. Probably twice.

Here's an idea: make sense! And get haircuts, you damn hippies!

[Update]: Apparently the lyrics are "Are we human, or are we dancer?" and according to this post on Amazon, Brandon Flowers said, "the lyrics were inspired by a disparaging comment made by Hunter S. Thompson about how America was raising a generation of dancers." So, I guess that sort of makes sense, in a Hunter S. Thompson kinda way. I told you I would think about this for way too long.

8 comments:

Falwless said...

That's the dumbest fucking lyric ever.

I hope this comment helps you in some way.

The Imaginary Reviewer said...

Thompson Shmompson. I met Brandon Flowers once and I can tell you that he's obsessed with Reindeer. Fucking mental for them. 'Mister Brightside' was originally meant to be sung from the perspective of Blitzen after Donner ran off with Vixen. True story.

This song is about a moment of existential angst suffered by Brandon after reading too many issues of Reindeer Lover Monthly magazine. He's confused about whether he's a human or if he's Dancer, his favourite of Santa's reindeer. He's using 'we' instead of 'I' because he was looking in the mirror when he wrote the song.

Dr Zibbs said...

All I know, the Killers rock.

Garney said...

I always thought I Am the Walrus was about male gentalia - eggman (testicle) + eggman (testicle) + walrus (penis) = kukukachu (sex?)

I read somewhere that he wrote it during two separate acid trips... so maybe he was just tripping naked.

paperback reader said...

Trying to find meaning in a Killers song is proof that your life is devoid of meaning. It's pretty deep, brada.

words...words...words... said...

This lyric makes me think of the Bee Gees' "You Should Be Dancing", which in retrospect now makes them sound like they hate humans. I had no idea that Barry, Robin and Maurice had such black hearts.

I didn't like either of the songs The Killers played on SNL, so I think I might be done with them. I'm putting them in the pile of "Band that make a brilliant first album that only serves to make you disappointed with everything else they do."

BeckEye said...

I must hear this now. When The Killers first came out with that song "Somebody Told Me," I liked them right off the bat because they reminded me of Duran Duran. Now that they're writing nonsensical lyrics, they're even more Duranish.

Brandon Flowers should just say that the song is about sex. That always worked for Simon LeBon.

Del-V said...

I haven’t heard this song yet. It sounds lame to me already.