Wednesday 4 July 2007

Mr Brightside - The Killers


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BnwLf88t_Wc

The key in this song is its title. By calling himself Mr Brightside, the speaker is commenting on how he is incurably optimistic - he always looks at the bright side of any given situation.

The song is about a man getting overly involved emotionally with women he has only just met, and suffering heartbreak when his love proves to be not returned. His "destiny" is to continually experience such heartbreak because he always opens up his "eager eyes" to the next possible paramour.

The first stanza:

Coming out of my cage

And I've been doing just fine

Gotta gotta be down

Because I want it all

Here, he is freeing himself from the emotional restraint that was protecting him from having his heart broken and allowing himself to become interested in a girl. The "all" that he wants refers to true love, the kind that you can only get if you are willing to give the entirety of yourself to someone else.

It started out with a kiss

How did it end up like this

It was only a kiss

It was only a kiss

Here, he's wondering how he's gotten to the point that he cares so deeply about her after just one kiss - the answer is because he allowed himself to invest that kiss with meaning that for her was not there.

The next couple stanzas basically tell the story of him seeing this girl that kissed him once hanging out with other guys - and because he feels so strongly for her, he becomes deeply jealous/angry. It's sort of like a situation where two people made out on a dance floor one night, and the girl felt like she was just having fun whereas the guy thought there was actually a connection.

Where we get the best crystallization of Mr Brightside's true nature and motivation is in the following stanza:

But it's just the price I pay

Destiny is calling me

Open up my eager eyes

'Cause I'm Mr Brightside

Here, we should be getting that the "price" he pays is the intense feelings of jealousy, rage, and heartbreak that come from him getting too attached too fast. He asserts that it is out of his hands, that this pattern of behavior is simply part of his core personality by referring to it as his "destiny." His eyes are "eager" for the next girl that he will fall for, which is sure to happen because he is the perpetually optimistic "Mr Brightside" - always looking for and ready for love.

This song can also be interperted as he killed some one who his girlfriend had cheated on him with or even he killed his girlfriend too, this my be because he was in love with her but she just wanted some fun but always came back to him when she wanted to be loved and he didnt no what to do but except it (Mr Brightside)

1 comment:

Gledwood said...

Hi I just dropped in totally at random... i don't get what you mean about music video research... is this academic research? it sounds like it ... you really should flesh out your profile it's quite easy to do ... i think you get into editing it from your "dashboard" ...
i'm going to take your url for future reference bc this is fascinating stuff
you know you can "embed" youtube screens directly in your blog? i have a celeb blog
http://gledwoodceleb.blogspot.com
which is mostly based on that
actually if you're into critiquing videos would you care to comment on my video of the day?
it's madonna's Erotica... if you come to my main blog
http://gledwood2.blogspot.com
it's featured at the bottom of today's post (or maybe 2 posts down as I'm planning to add to today... anyhow seriously if you could give your measured opinion that would be so incredibly cool
all the best
and hope to hear from you soon
gledwood
"vol 2" ...