What do you think Spaceman means?

The Killers: Spaceman Meaning

Album cover for Spaceman album cover

Song Released: 2008


Spaceman Lyrics

It started with a low light
Next thing I knew they ripped me from my bed
And then they took my blood type
It left a strange impression in my head
You know that I was hoping
That I could leave this star crossedworld behind,
But when they...

  1. raleelee88
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    Jun 9th 2009 !⃝

    Brandon Flowers is a modern philospher to me. His lyrics in this song and most of his songs have a much bigger meaning than just word for word. You have to listen to the whole thing for it to make sense, and in turn, all of his songs. I believe with Spaceman, he tries to explain his self awareness. It was his turning point and also lonely because so many people don't understand it, or even care to (it wasn't televised). He expresses his feelings sooo beautifully in every song he writes. More than anything, his songs are about life.

  2. goodgal
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    May 22nd 2009 !⃝

    Well first Brandon said himself once again in interviews that Ronnie(the drummer) is fascinated with aliens and now theirs Spaceman!

  3. Heldiney
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    May 19th 2009 !⃝

    I think you should back up your point some more... I see where you are coming from with your idea, but the suicide definition is more credible.

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
  4. anonymous
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    Apr 25th 2009 !⃝

    I think the song has something to do with being abuducted by aliens.
    "It started with a low light" the alien's saucer
    then the next few lines are the aliens disecting him (taking his blood type, cuting him open)
    "zipping white light beams" are the high tech lasers they are using"
    the spaceman is an alien
    as for the reference to the nile, people say "how can the ancient egyptians have such knowledge to big these huge pyramids that still stand today?" well others who answer them say "the aliens helped them!"

  5. anonymous
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    Apr 13th 2009 !⃝

    first of all idiots.
    it's song maker NOT star maker.

    actually that's it there is no second of all
    so quit being stupid and butchering songs!

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
  6. anonymous
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    Apr 4th 2009 !⃝

    This is a very personal interpretation, but when I heard this song immediately it made me think of my mother who recently died. I was with her when she died. She was only 51 and it was very unexpected. She went in one day with pneumonia and died 6 days later of sepsis from a gangrenous gall bladder. Anyway, this is a very personal interpretation, but it could apply to anyone who has watched a loved one die in the hospital.

    "It started with a low light"
    (she started to pass out / go under)

    "Next thing I knew they ripped me from my bed"
    (they moved her from one hospital to another)

    "And then they took my blood type,"
    (they put all these iv's in her)

    "they left a strange impression in my head."
    (the ventilator they put on her was secured by a strap that literally left a strange impression in her head)

    "You know that I was hoping,
    That I could leave this star-crossed world behind"
    (she was in such pain she was wishing she could die)

    "But when they cut me open,
    I guess I changed my mind."
    (but when they operated on her and she realized that she might die she knew she didn't want to anymore)

    "And you know I might
    Have just flown too far from the floor this time"
    (she deteriorated several times and had to be revived; the last time she realizes that she is too far gone, above herself)

    "'cause they calling me by my name!"
    (as she was dying I went into the room to be with her and I talked to her and called her "mom")

    "And the zipping white light beams
    disregarding bombs and satellites!"
    (she begins the death experience going toward the light, in a feeling of peace)

    "That was the turning point;"
    (that was when she knew she had died and was not coming back)

    "That was one lonely night!"
    (she felt alone in the new state)

    The star maker says, "It ain't so bad"
    (the universe reassures her that being dead is ok and natural)

    The dream maker's gonna make you mad
    (there is anger over the dream of a fantasy heaven)

    The spaceman says, "Everybody look down!
    Its all in your mind!"
    ("god" tells her to look down and remember her life and family, the memories are still all in her mind)

    "Well now I'm back at home and-
    I’m looking forward to this life I live;"
    (she is dead but now at peace with that, at home with the universe and looking forward to her new state)

    "You know it's gonna haunt me,
    So hesitation to this life I give."
    (she is still haunted by the memories of life and hesitant about what is happening)

    "You think you might cross over,
    You caught between the devil and the deep blue sea;
    You better look it over,
    Before you make that leap!"
    (she is giving advice to anyone who might have thought or wished to die to realize how much of a change it is)

    "And you know I'm fine, but I hear those voices at night
    sometimes... They justify my claim"
    (she is ok in death but still haunted by voices from life and regretting her death but sometimes the pain of life justifies her)

    "and the public don’t dwell on my transmission
    'cause it wasn’t televised..."
    (her death was not a public event)

    But, it was a turning point,
    (but it was the biggest change for her)

    Oh what a lonely night!
    (and she had to do it alone)

    The star maker says, "It ain't so bad"
    The dream maker's gonna make you mad;
    The spaceman says, "Everybody look down!
    Its all in your mind!"

    "My global position systems are vocally addressed;"
    They say the Nile used to run from east to west,
    They say the Nile used to run… from east to west.
    (she wonders if she can ever go back to life; if the transition can be reversed from its normal course)

    I'm fine,
    but I hear those voices at night,
    sometimes...
    (she is ok but still haunted by memories of life)

    The star maker says, "It ain't so bad"
    The dream maker's gonna make you mad;
    The spaceman says, "Everybody look down!
    Its all in your mind!"

    The star maker says, "It ain't so bad"
    The dream maker's gonna make you mad;
    The spaceman says, "Everybody look down...
    Its all in your mind!"

  7. Luca
    click a star to vote
    Apr 3rd 2009 !⃝

    A Junky who comes clean.

    The addiction haunts him afterwards. He is mentally/chemically imbalanced.

    Space refers to the High state Guys, comon, you should know that.

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
  8. anonymous
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    Mar 18th 2009 !⃝

    It started with a low light
    Next thing I knew they ripped me from my bed
    And then they took my blood type
    That left a strange impression in my head"

    = BIRTH

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
  9. anonymous
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    Mar 14th 2009 !⃝

    A known fact:
    The song is indeed about suicide, the song was written after we watched a documentary on suicide and hearing about the suicide 'cult'. Another great influence for writting this song is the tragic circumstances of Kurt Cobain's death.
    'the dream maker' and 'the star maker' is in fact God.
    'the spaceman' is people in genral, people who do not believe in the afterlife.
    The song is about someone taking an overdose of drugs, hence 'and then the took my blood type'.
    the song is mainly the inner thought of a suicidal person who has attempted suicide. But after being saved he rethinks his life and his reasons to suicide, and now can see that life is better that death.
    The song then warns about how suicide can be the biggest mistake and is a huge thing to even think about,'You better look it over,Before you make that leap!'
    the words, 'it's all in my mind' means that the thought of suicide was in his mind and it was something that he shouldn't have thought about.
    'They say the Nile used to run from east to west' this means that obviously a river cannot change course and like that people don't change their opiions and will always believe what they hear. Linking this to suicide is that people believe that it is an easy way out etc but its not always the reality.

    That is the actually meanings behind the song spaceman, some of you are pretty close whereas some have imaginative views on it. which is also good.
    so there that's spaceman laid bare for you all.

    Thank You, B.

  10. claraV
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    Mar 13th 2009 !⃝

    I think it is definitely about someone killing themselves, after possibly suffering from paranoid, and mixing with the wrong set of people after something bad happened to them, eventually turning into someone they didn't recognize.

    "It started with a low light"
    It all started when something bad happened in my life, possibly a breavement etc.

    "Next thing I knew they ripped me from my bed"
    These people that he never used to like took him from a life that was comfortable in.

    "And then they took my blood type,
    they left a strange impression in my head"
    They took who he really was, and made him start seeing things differently

    "You know that I was hoping,
    That I could leave this star-crossed world behind"
    He started coming to terms with whatever the 'low light' was, and began to relise that these people weren't people he should be friends with,

    "But when they cut me open,
    I guess I changed my mind"
    Once they had got inside him, started controlling his thoughts etc, he changed his mind about them

    "And you know I might
    Have just flown too far from the floor this time,
    'cause they calling me by my name!"
    The floor being where he belongs, as these people now class him as his friend, and he classes them as his friend.

    "And the zipping white light beams
    disregarding bombs and satellites"
    Suddenly he starts seeing these people for who they are, he's starting to get back onto the right path, 'bombs' are detroying the wrong path, the path which these new friends are trying to take him down, whilst 'satellites', (which could be his old friends, the people he used to be friends with before the 'lowlight') are being put up to help him find his way again.

    'That was the turning point;
    That was one lonely night!"
    He's still upset and disturbed, and he ends up trying to commit sucide, it was a major turning point when he relised he didn't actually want to die, no one was there, he was alone with his thoughts.

    "The star maker says, "It ain't so bad" "
    The star makers being his parents/family/old friends, who have made him who he is today, they relise the pain he has endured, and are trying to comfort him by telling him it aint so bad.

    "The dream maker's gonna make you mad"
    The people he befriended who led him in the wrong direction.

    "The spaceman says, "Everybody look down!
    Its all in your mind!""
    The spaceman being the old him, he's starting to turn back into who he really is, and he's relising that all this self-hatred has been inflicted in him, by himself and himself alone.

    "Well now I'm back at home and-
    I’m looking forward to this life I live;"
    He's gone back to who he used to be, he's with his old friends and his family, and he's optimistic about the future.

    "You know it's gonna haunt me,
    So hesitation to this life I give"
    He relises that it's a long road to full recovery, and that's there's always going to be an echo in his head of what happned to him, so he's approaching his old life with caution, and perhaps not going to be as trusting as he used to be.

    "You think you might cross over,
    You caught between the devil and the deep blue sea;
    You better look it over,
    Before you make that leap!"
    This is his warning to others who went through what he endured, the devil being the horrors that people with mental disorders have to encounter, and the deep blue sea, the naiveity of people around him that don't relise what they're going through. The person is caught between the two as he doesn't want to hurt their friends and family, but they no longer want to live this life. And he urges them to look at their lives and realise that their life isn't so bad.

    "And you know I'm fine, but I hear those voices at night
    sometimes... They justify my claim"
    Sometimes when he's alone he hears the echos of how he use to feel, and he sometimes still thinks about sucide.

    "and the public don’t dwell on my transmission
    'cause it wasn’t televised..."
    The public being everyone apart from his nearest and dearest, as he didn't want everyone to know what happened, he didn't 'televise' it, so they had nothing to 'dwell' on.

    "But, it was a turning point,
    Oh what a lonely night!

    The star maker says, "It ain't so bad"
    The dream maker's gonna make you mad;
    The spaceman says, "Everybody look down!
    Its all in your mind!"
    The star maker says, "It ain't so bad"
    The dream maker's gonna make you mad;
    The spaceman says, "Everybody look down!
    Its all in your mind!""
    same as before!

    "My global position systems are vocally addressed;"
    He finally has the courage to talk to someone about how he used to feel, it might be a psycharist or just a family member, whilst talking he relises that in his old life he was heading in the wrong direction.

    "They say the Nile used to run from east to west,
    They say the Nile used to run… from east to west."
    He can't quite believe how he used to feel, which is why he is now talking in the third person, because although he is aware he went through it all, he's come so far it now feels like he is telling a story. The Nile is the biggest river in the world, that provides essential water for many african countrys. He is the Nile, he is big and powerful and wants to help people. In the past he was going in the wrong direction, but deep down inside he was always 'the nile'

    "I'm fine,
    but I hear those voices at night,
    sometime..."
    Note the voices no longer justify his claim, he remembers how he used to feel, but it no longer upsets him.

  11. anonymous
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    Mar 6th 2009 !⃝

    He's a schizophrenic!

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
  12. anonymous
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    Mar 3rd 2009 !⃝

    I would go for a literal interpretation of the spaceman, how about a song about people who think they were abducted by aliens?

    It started with a low light
    Next thing I knew they ripped me from my bed

    The light levitation thingie you see in lots of sci-fi movies/cartoons

    And then they took my blood type

    Tests

    They left a strange impression in my head

    He doesn't know if it was just a dream

    You know that I was hoping
    That I could leave this star crossed world behind

    He hoped they'd show him the universe

    When they cut me open

    more tests

    I guess I changed my mind

    And you know I might
    Just float too far from the floor this time
    Cause they’re calling me by my name

    He thinks they are still calling him ( or maybe this was
    as they were abducting him )

    And they're zipping white light beams
    disregarding phones and satellites

    Again the light beam, while the normal communications field remain oblivious.

    The storm maker says it ain’t so bad
    The dream maker’s gonna make you mad
    The spaceman says, "Everybody look down
    It’s all in your mind"

    Reactions of people he tells the story to
    maybe even consulting parapsychologists like
    the rain maker, dream stuff, but in the end
    people think he is crazy and it all hapenned
    in his mind

    Well, now I’m back at home
    And I’m looking forward to this life I live
    You know it’s gonna haunt me
    So hesitation to this life I give

    He has to get back to normal

    And you know I’m fine
    But I hear those voices at night
    Sometimes that justify my claim
    And the public don’t dwell on my transmission
    Cause it wasn’t televised

    He still hears voices at night and maybe the
    transmission part is about those amateur alien
    watch radio stations

    They say the Nile used to run from East to West

    Again lots of people believe that pyramids were built
    by the help of aliens so referring to Nile ( maybe
    ho the Nile flow was changed as well in that meaning,
    since it runs from north to south )

    It’s all in my mind

    maybe it was just a dream

  13. anonymous
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    Mar 1st 2009 !⃝

    The verses in the song are about a man overdosing and trying to kill himself then changes his mind but sometimes he still wants to leave... The star maker is supposedly God, The dream maker is him/her whoever it was that tried to commit suicide and the spaceman is scientist basically saying everything is in your head

  14. anonymous
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    Feb 3rd 2009 !⃝

    this song is obviously about the pending ''RFID'' chip that will soon be implanted into either the foreheads or right hands of americans [''they left a strange impression in my head'']. many christians believe that this is the mark of ''the beast'' mentioned in revelaions in the bible. which would explain the part of the song that says ''youre caught between the devil and the deep blue sea'' christians also believe that this mark is the eternal rejection of god. which explains why in the song the person is hesitant to ''take that leap''

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
  15. anonymous
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    Jan 30th 2009 !⃝

    okay, you don't have to rate this, but just so people know, it's STAR MAKER, not storm maker, or song maker or whatever.




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