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. jcloud11
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    Jul 13th 2006 !⃝

    This song in my mind can be seen many diffferent ways...I don't see murder or anything crazy like that though. I think some people have touched parts of it but in my mind its more like this. He's coming off a relationship with a girl and it was serious but he thinks he's doing just fine. He starts feeling worse because he imagined he was over her and felt better and wanted to feel better. He then says how could all of this (relationship and feelings) have come from a kiss, because it was only a kiss. "Now I'm falling asleep and she's calling a cab" she's leaving him to go see someone else, after he goes to sleep, after they were hanging out together, but he still feels a lot for her. Then he sees her taking a puff of the 'other' guy's cigarette, then he sees them going to bed together and he feels sick and thinks its all in his head but then it becomes real when he see's her touch his chest and wants to be let go emotionally(to not be in love with her anymore). He can't look because he is dying inside seeing her with another guy and wishes it was fake but its not and the sickness, anger and jealousy he feels begin to take over his mind.Choking on your alibis refers to her lying about where she was(when she was with another man...maybe cheating?) And that's the price he pays for loving her...and destiny is calling him(telling him to move on to better things)...and open his hopeful(eager) eyes towards something or someone else...Because he's mr. brightside and is optimistic to move on from her.(sarcstic or not). Those are my thoughts on this song...this is quite possibly one of the best songs ever written.. It really has a feeling to it that you can't explain with most songs....This is the first song they wrote together and it was by far a good one to start with...the killers are amazing

  2. anonymous
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    Jul 9th 2006 !⃝

    First of all, there is no way The Cure wrote this song. After all, an ex band member sued the band claiming he wrote the song, which The Killers dispute of course.

    Anyway, I think this song is about a guy who gets a girlfriend who cheats on him and it is really hard for him to move on but he knows better things are in the future.

  3. anonymous
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    Jul 5th 2006 !⃝

    I think that this is about someome who is in love with a girl, who is with another guy and in a relationship going to hell. The singer thinks that she'll be better off with him, but she isn't in a position to leave her relationship anytime soon.

  4. anonymous
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    Jun 22nd 2006 !⃝

    I think this song is about a pig that is jealous of a monkey that won't wash his own dirty balls in front of him. The penguin drives a motorbike into a laundrette and all the animals' heads explode simultaneously in a shower of hippo piss.

    WHAT A LOAD OF HORSE SHIT. I can't believe Brandon Flowers has got you lot all sooo worked up into a frenzy about his excellent song.

    Truth is, only he and probably a handful of other people around him actually knows what this song is about, everything else is pure singular interpretation by individual(s) like yourselves who purport to know the 'true' meaning.

    I congratulate the makers of this site for coaxing you all into an excellent lyrical game of 'pin the tail on the donkey'.

    Signed,

    Someone off to look at more interesting stuff like hoards of internet porn, etc, etc.

  5. Carly
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    Jun 20th 2006 !⃝

    It's about a guy who is on lockdown and in love with this girl after they kissed. But she has a boyfriend. It's killing him that she has another man in her life.

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
  6. anonymous
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    May 26th 2006 !⃝

    Okay smart ones (not!) NO ONE seems to have gotten that the video is not dealing with the song!! The song is all part of the story in the CD. The VIDEO, however, is based off of the movie Moloun Rouge!! DUH!!!

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
  7. anonymous
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    May 4th 2006 !⃝

    Ok, the song is about a guy who falls in love with a prostitute. She isn't directly involved wiht him, because the song doesn't show enough pain for her to have just openly ran off with some other guy right then and had sex right in front of him. He starts to feel all sorts of pain, anger, jealousy, and other such emotions, and wants to get away from them all as soon as possible, but, all the while, keeps trrying to look on the bright side of things.

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
  8. Willis
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    Apr 23rd 2006 !⃝

    This song is about a guy who is in love with a girl BUT is stuck in the "Best Friends Zone" with her. He wants to be more than friends, but she doesn't feel the same way. Then the refrain pertains to her "hook-ups" with other guys. "...now they're going to bed, and my stomach is sick..." On those nights he is alone and thinking about her and her nightly endeverors and what she is doing at that moment when he is wishing she was with him. "...and it's all in my head..." These thoughts are tearing him up inside. He is jealous of these guys (or one guy) she chooses over him ("Jealousy...), it makes him want to rage out when he is a normally mannered guy ("...turning saints into the sea..."), he looses sleep over thinking about her ("...turning through sick lulaby...") But all along he still hopes that she will eventually fall for him and make his dreams come true. So he'll look on the brightside of the issue even though it's killing him and taking control. This is an Awesome Song and such a horrible position to be in if one's a guy. Thank god someone put it into lyrics with intense upbeat music.

  9. anonymous
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    Mar 30th 2006 !⃝

    Sweet! At least somebody knows where I'm coming from! props dude. ;)

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
  10. anonymous
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    Mar 4th 2006 !⃝

    I don't know the background to the band or anything but when I hear the song, it sounds to me like the singer is in love with the GUY not the girl. "Coming out of my cage" - could be actually coming out and coping with it. "I've been doing just fine". I think the character in the song has perhaps kissed his male friend and fallen in love with him but the male friend isn't willing to take it further and still pursues a heterosexual relationship. Whichever way you cut it, the song is definitely about jealousy. Mr Brightside - the character is on the surface always looking on the bright side even if that's not how he is feeling. Songs don't necessarily have to be real life experiences of the actual band members. However, the Killers have done an excellent job of writing a first clas song that gets everyone talking!

  11. anonymous
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    Mar 3rd 2006 !⃝

    Y'all know the lead singer for the killers is gay right? (I'm not trying to be mean, he really is gay in real life) So why would he be singing about a girl? I mean come on,he could've been talking about a guy maybe...he IS gay

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
  12. anonymous
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    Feb 27th 2006 !⃝

    I think that this song is about a guy that has liked a girl for a long time and is finally about to tell her and then finds out that she isn't the least bit interested and that she is with someother guy and it kills him to see them together

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
  13. anonymous
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    Feb 14th 2006 !⃝

    To me this song is about a girl who cheats on her boyfriend and because it was only a kiss he thinks he should get over it, but jealously takes over everytime he sees her with another guy even though nothing is happening and his imagination takes over and he keeps picturing her "hooking up" with these guys, and slowely it eats away at him. The song title ties in because he wishes he could be Mr. Brightside.

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
  14. anonymous
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    Feb 1st 2006 !⃝

    I think this song is about a guy who is in love with his female friend and he sees her with another guy and he gets jealous. It is basically a continuation of "Jenny" she says she has to go and he fallows her and spyes on her and he figures out she has a boyfriend and he can't stand it.

  15. ladiesman
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    Jan 19th 2006 !⃝

    I concur, Andy knew a chick and he got very attached to her (g/f/pro/1-nite-stand etc), she broke up/left him n he can't get over it like so many of us do when a relationship is called off or cut short. He locks himself in his house not wanting to face reality like we sometimes feel when we love someone so much and we get shafted cause she doesn't love you as much. Your so devastated that you feel everythinks your a fool for getting so involved or thinking she'd love you back. So his mates come over to take him out, he comes out of his 'cage' to go out on the piss thinking that he is over her and can move on to 'want it all' in life. He's having an awesoe time probably pickin up but its crushed when he sees his x with some bloke in the same pub n watches em get stuck into it. Ruining his night out on the piss. He goes home pissed off and upset early in the night and tries to go to sleep, but he's constantly thinking about what his ex n the bloke are probably doing now, running through the events (cab,smoke,bed,touching, etc), he is trying not to think about it, trying to think of something else but the emotion is 'taking control'.
    In one word the song IS about 'jealousy', the price we pay for loving someone so much n not being able to receive that same thing in return, a chic messing with u.
    Answer: Dont fall head over heels for someone straight away cause your just gonna get hurt n take you for a ride!!
    im ron burgundy, you stay classy




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