What do you think Mr Brightside means?

The Killers: Mr Brightside Meaning

Album cover for Mr Brightside album cover

Song Released: 2003


Mr Brightside Lyrics

I'm coming out of my cage
And I’ve been doing just fine
Gotta gotta be down
Because I want it all
It started out with a kiss
How did it end up like this
It was only a kiss, it was only a kiss

Now I’m falling asleep
And she’s calling a...

  1. anonymous
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    Aug 22nd 2007 !⃝

    I don't know what you all are meaning since I'm too lazy to read it all. My own interpretation of this song is that He is stuck with images of a woman that he kissed once and thought he loved being with another man, possibly as a prostitute. He doesn't want to see it because he wants to believe in their perfect world of the possibility of her loving Him back. I don't really know what you all think of my interpretation but songs are taken differently by everyone so don't get mad about my opinion. It's not yours. It's mine.

  2. anonymous
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    Jul 20th 2007 !⃝

    I think the song is about Brandon and his girlfriend cheated on him. Mr Brightside is the guy who she went off with and Brandon is mimicking him when he says I'm Mr Brightside.. Killers rule!! =]

  3. anonymous
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    Jul 18th 2007 !⃝

    "I'm coming out of my cage
    And I’ve been doing just fine
    Gotta gotta gotta be down
    Because I want it all
    It started out with a kiss
    How did it end up like this
    It was only a kiss, it was only a kiss"
    --this is what I thnk according to the video too...the first part talks about a dude that kissed with a girl and he fell in love with her. He is trying to get over her but he can't because he sees her kissing another guy which is not him. at fisrt he starts imaginating things but he sees they are actually doing it...and he feels saddness and anger at the same time and he want to see what the girl is doing with the guy but at the same time he doesnt.
    "I just can’t look its killing me
    And taking control"
    ---He gets really jealous and he kills them both because in the chorus it says "turning saints into the sea" meaning he got really mad and furious, "swimming through sick lullabies" swimming into something bad meaning he did something bad, a sin...killing!.."choking on your alibis"(an alibis is an excuse to avoid the blame" which means that while he was being intoragated he was getting confused and was really nervous didn't know what to say because he knew that he did a crime. Since he stats chocking he realizes that he has to admit to the crime go to jail..."but is just the price I pay, destiny is calling me"

    the only part tht I don't understand is the I never I never inever I never part!

  4. anonymous
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    Jul 18th 2007 !⃝

    "I'm coming out of my cage
    And I’ve been doing just fine
    Gotta gotta gotta be down
    Because I want it all
    It started out with a kiss
    How did it end up like this
    It was only a kiss, it was only a kiss"
    --this is what I thnk according to the video too...the first part talks about a dude that kissed with a girl and he fell in love with her. He is trying to get over her but he can't because he sees her kissing another guy which is not him. at fisrt he starts imaginating things but he sees they are actually doing it...and he feels saddness and anger at the same time and he want to see what the girl is doing with the guy but at the same time he doesnt.
    He gets really jealous and he kills them both because in the chorus it says "turning saints into the sea" meaning he got really mad and furious, "swimming through sick lullabies" swimming into something bad meaning he did something bad, a sin...killing!.."choking on your alibis"(an alibis is an excuse to avoid the blame" which means that while he was being intoragated he was getting confused and was really nervous didn't know what to say because he knew that he did a crime. Since he stats chocking he realizes that he has to admit to the crime go to jail..."but is just the price I pay, destiny is calling me"

    the only part tht I don't understand is the I never I never inever I never part!

  5. anonymous
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    Jul 11th 2007 !⃝

    No question about it . It's about a guy who met a girl and kissed . Thought nothing of it at the time but realised how much he needed her when he seen her with another guy . He pretended he wasn't bothered but inside it was "killing" him. "Joking on your alibi" adds to the pretending part but he knows he`ll suffer and will "have a price to pay" .

    Very simple . love this song , I relate to it a lot .

  6. anonymous
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    Jun 15th 2007 !⃝

    I agree that this song is probably about a man who's in love with his female friend, but he's missed his chance with her. In fact I think it has a lot in common with a Jebediah song called "Skin"

    And the day that we left
    I found a whole in my chest
    When you said we were only friends, hanging out
    What was I sposed to do, I should swallow my pride
    and say it's cool, but I'm a fool, I want you....

    I guess I always knew I would
    Like you too much for my good
    It gets me when I tell you this but it's true
    It's so true x3

    Verse 2:
    And the night that we kissed
    We were both pretty pissed
    But I still knew how good it felt, but did you?
    Now I'd do anything, to get you out from underneath my skin
    Wishfull thinking, don't want to

    I guess I always knew I would
    Like you too much for my good
    It gets me when I tell you this but it's true
    It's so true x3

    You......

    I guess I always knew I would
    Like you too much for my good
    It gets me when I tell you this but it's true
    It's so true x3

    It's so true x2

  7. anonymous
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    Jun 11th 2007 !⃝

    This similar thing has happened to me here recently. When I heard this song, it was exactly what I was feeling. My interpretation is that he is really good friends with this girl and he wants to move on to a relationship, but she is really good friends with other male figures. While laying in bed, he does nothing but think about what she is doing at that time with another man, and even though it is only in his head, he is literally feeling sick.

  8. anonymous
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    Jun 8th 2007 !⃝

    When I listen to this song, I always think of
    A dude with his girlfriend..and the dudes best friend
    and they all get drunk
    and go back to someones apartment or whatever
    and the dude sorta just is on the sofa
    and the girlfriend and best friend and
    "she's touching his chest now
    He takes off her dress now "
    etc

    But I'm a silly girl
    But no one knows who I am, so its all good >.<


    Love the song btw

  9. anonymous
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    Jun 7th 2007 !⃝

    Of course it's about a murder!! What´s the band's name????????

  10. anonymous
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    May 31st 2007 !⃝

    It's about SEX

  11. anonymous
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    May 27th 2007 !⃝

    I think this is about a man who has fallen in love with a girl after just a kiss, and now he's imagining what she's doing with all these other men, because to her, he is just another guy. He's going mad with jealousy, and it's taking over his life. He believes that she's his destiny, but I'm not sure if he thinks that any thing's ever going to happen.

  12. anonymous
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    May 13th 2007 !⃝

    Guy likes girl, guy is ready to go after girl, but guy may have waited too late, and insecurities return..

  13. dirk
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    Apr 13th 2007 !⃝

    Didn't read everyone else's so if this is a rehash of something posted earlier I apologize....so here goes:

    Mr. Brightside
    I'm coming out of my cage
    And I’ve been doing just fine
    Gotta gotta gotta be down
    Because I want it all
    It started out with a kiss
    How did it end up like this
    It was only a kiss, it was only a kiss

    Ok to me what he's saying is his anger/jealousy is coming out after his girlfriend/lover kissed another man, maybe he's been caging up these emotions and he's not able to do so anymore. He's gotta be down (ie act as if everything is ok) because he wants all of the attraction/emotion/attraction of the girl he's singing about. Then he asks, how did it end up with him being so upset and angry (as well as the soon to follow dream/imagination sequence) because it was only a kiss.

    Now I’m falling asleep
    And she’s calling a cab
    While he’s having a smoke
    And she’s taking a drag
    Now they’re going to bed
    And my stomach is sick
    And it’s all in my head
    But she’s touching his—chest
    Now, he takes off her dress
    Now, let me go

    Now he's lying in bed to go to sleep and in his mind he's imagining his lover running off to meet with this guy and it obviously turns sexual. He's saying "now let me go" as in please let me stop thinking/dreaming this.

    I just can’t look its killing me
    And taking control
    Jealousy, turning saints into the sea
    Swimming through sick lullabies

    The thoughts of this are killing him, and taking control causing him to be angry and jealous again. Turnin saints, a sign of good and pleasent things into the sea...maybe a sea of sorrow/despair. It could also mean casting saints (good people, in this case him) into a sea of sick lullabies (dreams) and thoughts.

    Choking on your alibis
    But it’s just the price I pay
    Destiny is calling me
    Open up my eager eyes
    ‘Cause I’m Mr Brightside

    Here I feel like now that he's lost trust he sees things as alibis in his head even if they may not be. IE she's not with him now, and he's imagining her with some guy and whatever reason she is not with him is an alibi and not reality. Then it goes on to say that this must be just part of being in love and he believes them to be destined to be together. But this has opened his eyes to reality and he realizes he's been too optimistic and must understand that not everything is sugar and spice in this world. He's "Mr. Brightside", meaning he's naive and is being brought back down to earth about how love really is.

    I never...
    I never...
    I never...
    This is so ambiguous I wouldn't know where to begin.

  14. anonymous
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    Apr 3rd 2007 !⃝

    Hmm I don't know, I think coming out of his cage is his own head his own reclusive hurts he's been doing fine has to be down like mr. cool mr. brightside. he wants it all means he wants all the vices life has to offer kinda he wants the girl so he has to be mr everything i guess he got one kiss with her and he is reminding himself that it is only a kiss it was only a kiss. basically he thinks she is cheating on him so he lays his head down and all the mental images of her cheating with this guy is tormenting his head when he closes his eyes when he says let me go i think he means this burden and this jealousy let me go his thoughts are holding him prisoner. obviously it's killing him and taking control of him which is making him insane he just wants his head to shut up and stop.

    I think he is choking on her alibis all the stories she tells him to explain where she is. I think jealously and love is killing him from inside his own head he just wants this pain weight to let him go. or he wants her to just let him go.

  15. anonymous
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    Mar 24th 2007 !⃝

    All I have to put forward is the "and it's all in my head". This is suggesting that he's imagining what his ex or something is doing with this guy. Then he doesn't want to watch them. Then opens his eyes and thinks "at least I'm not there"




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