The Killers: When You Were Young Meaning
Song Released: 2006
When You Were Young Lyrics
Waiting on some beautiful boy to,
to save you from your old ways
You play forgiveness
Watch it now ... here he comes!
He doesn't look a thing like Jesus
But he talks like a gentleman
Like you imagined when...
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I think it's about a young woman who prays for a husband. And trust God with His choice for her mate. She finds a man and they fall in love.. and she knows that he's the one. But he cheats on her. And she wonders why he did, why things in life are tempting to do. Thinking why would God pick him if he did this to me. She comes to an understanding that we all have sinned, and we need forgivness not just from God but each other.
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It's about a middle aged woman unable to get over her long lost love and trying to get over it with a beautiful boy (handsome guy), and just when this guy makes an appearance it results it the one of his past
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You sit there in your heartache
Waiting on some beautiful boy to
save you from your old ways
You play forgiveness
Watch it now ... Here he comes!
a middle aged woman looking back on her past where she met a "beautifull boy" who did something to her that ended their relationship but she stil holds feelings for him, He comes back now years later, and she "plays forgiveness"
He doesn't look a thing like Jesus
But he talks like a gentleman
Like you imagined when you were young
the guy keeps his charming ways back when they were young, but resembles nothing to the perfect man (Jesus)
Can we climb this mountain
I don't know
Higher now than ever before
I know we can make it if we take it slow
Let's take it easy
Easy now, watch it go
She is not sure to take back this relationship with the guy, but still accepts on the condition to take it slow, surpassing all dificulties " climb this mountain" and making new memories "higher now than ever before"
We're burning down the highway skyline
On the back of a hurricane that started turning
When you were young
When you were young
the hurricane is taking over, forgetting the hurtfull things that happened in the past that caused them to part.
And sometimes you close your eyes
and see the place where you used to live
When you were young
Remembering old stuff, old places and things She lived
They say the devil's water, it ain't so sweet
You don't have to drink right now
But you can dip your feet
Every once in a little while
This is a reference to something forbidden like sneaking off like teenagers but its fun to act like that to make up lost tme
I said he doesn't look a thing like Jesus
He doesn't look a thing like Jesus
But more than you'll ever know
This last part is refering to that the guy is nothing like Jesus but is the best thing that could ever had happened to her. -
It's about religion
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I think the song is about the epic strife in this one young couple's life which is politics. The song is clearly about a relationship that is brimming with love but there is a lot of grief and anxiety that comes with being in the relationship, much like political relationships (or any other relationship in the spotlight of the media).
Stanza - and sometimes you close your eyes an you see the place where you use to live when you were young
Second Stanza - "you sit there in your heartache waiting on some beautiful boy to save you from your old ways you play forgiveness watch it now here he comes"
This line has to do with the relationship as it now stands, you see the girl has finally mustered up what angle she wants to approach the situation and lets her husband walk right into the trap that she's laid out for him. He falls into it like he does every time and she knows he knows it's a trap. but it's okay because it's there trap.
chorus - He doesn't look a thing like Jesus but he talks like a gentleman like you imagined when you were young.
You can tell from the chorus that she's an aristocrat because she expects someone with the aura of Jesus and to talk like a gentleman, naturally.
Stanza 3 - can we climb this mountain I don't know higher now than ever before, I know we can make it if we take it slow lets take it easy, easy now watch it go were burning down the highway skyline like the back of a hurricane that started twisting when you were young.
This part of the story talks about the mountain of ambition that they're climbing and they have to stop and ask one another is this really what we want to do and the husband has to reaffirm there commitment to what they've both set out to do. Then at the end they start to reminisce about the times when they would race down the highway skyline (a bridge in Tampa Bay, FL) and the hurricane is the political conscience that they both have that he reminds her of.
Stanza 4 - They say the devils water it ain't so sweet you don't have to drink right now but you can dip your feet every once and a little while.
This stanza to me is about war and how in the future they may have to cast the die if they ever get to that point in their careers though they know it's not for the best (it aint so sweet) but for now they have to wade through it or just dip there feet every once and a little while if they want.
the song then just ends with the chorus repeating over and over again. Thank you
kevmm325@yahoo.com -
I know Brandon Flowers is not gay BUT I can't help imagining a gay romance. "You sit there in your heartache, waiting on some beautiful boy to save you from you old ways" means the guy is waiting for the man of his dreams because he's lonely. "Watch him now here he comes! He doesn't look a thing like Jesus, but he talks like a gentleman, like you imagined when you were young." That means the guy found his true love but the relationship is very taboo. "Can we climb this mountain? I don't know." Means the guy is not sure his new love can withstand the obstacles gay lovers face. "Higher now than ever before." Means they are more serious about each other. "I know we can make it if we take it slow." If they can be gradual in the progression of their relationship and their coming-out to other people, they might last longer together. "We're burning down the highway skyline, on the back of a hurricane that started turning when you were young." Means the guy is living his dream of being in true love. It also could mean they were fated to be together. "And sometimes you close your eyes and see the place where you used to live, when you were young." The guy remembers that his love is still unaccepted. "They say the Devil's water it ain't so sweet." Gay love is preconceived as wrong. "You don't have to drink right now. But you can dip you feet every once in a little while." the boyfriend says:You don't have to have sex with me, but French-kiss me or maybe give me oral.
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"You sit there in your heartache, Waiting on some beautiful boy, to save you from your old ways"
She has had so many bad relationships that she has withdrawn, and is now just "waiting" to be saved - think "Rapunzel". She expects this perfect savior to find her and save her from her past.
"He doesn't look a thing like Jesus, but he talks like a gentleman,
like you imagined when you were young"
The guy who finds her is just a normal guy, he's not a "savior", but he fits the image of the perfect guy she had as a young girl.
"Can we climb this mountain, I don't know
Higher now than ever before,
I know we can make it if we take it slow
Let's take it easy
Easy now, watch it go"
This new guy understands her situation and that she is afraid to get involved with anyone because every time she has risked trying it, she has ended up heartbroken. He's telling her that they don't have to go any faster than she wants to, and that they need to "take it slow", if they do that, they can manage it (he includes himself in this because if their relationship fails because they went too fast, he, too, will end up heartbroken).
"We're burning down the highway skyline"
The "highway" is the road they're on now, speeding away from her troubled past. The "skyline" represents her old relationships, which they are "burning down" - trying to erase the memory of them and leave it all behind them.
"on the back of a hurricane that started turning when you were young"
It was her image of the "perfect, charming guy" when she was younger that caused her to end up falling for all the "charmers" who turned out to just be players. Just a tiny seed, a puff of wind when she was young, that image grew and grew into this monstrous "hurricane" which overwhelmed her. They are now speeding away from it, managing to just barely keep ahead if it so it doesn't swallow both of them up now.
"And sometimes you close your eyes and see the place where you used to live
When you were young" - sometimes she is able to think back and remember a time before all of this happened, before her idealist image of life was destroyed by the bad relationships she ended up in.
"They say the devil's water, it ain't so sweet
You don't have to drink right now
But you can dip your feet
Every once in a little while" - I think this is about commitment - he understands that she is now terrified of commitment because of where it has left her before, so he's telling her it isn't always a good thing, and that she doesn't have to jump right into it, but can "dip her feet" once in a while - don't get too serious too fast. He's basically repeating what he said when he mentioned "taking it slow" while climbing the mountain".
After the first two verses repet for emphasis, we are left with this final line:
"He doesn't look a thing like Jesus
But more than you'll ever know"
He may not have seemed like a "Savior", but it was him who saved her, and maybe she will never realize it, but he truly IS her savior. -
This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
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This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
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This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
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This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
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"The Devils Water, it ain't so sweet" "You don't have to drink right now"
This may be about teenagers trying to grow up too quickly. Maybe it's saying that some things can wait (ie sex) and that maybe it'd be better if you drink. The "you don't have to drink right now" is saying that you don't have to fully abstain from everything but you should probably take it slowly because what everyone else is doing isn't always right. -
OK, I think this song is about a girl who perhaps didn't have a very good childhood or young adulthood, and so has a lot of bad psychological baggage. A man enters her life and she falls for him because he helps her with her problems. "The Mountain" mentioned in this song represents the hard up hill battle their relationship will face, but the boy "knows they can make it if they take it slow." Anyway, the girl's new love may not be perfect on the outside like Jesus, but he "talks like a gentleman" (meaning he has a beautiful soul) "like you imagined when you were young," meaning he is the knight in shining armor like she had hoped for when she was young and innocent.
Oh, and one more tiny thing: I LOVE THIS SONG! Who's with me? -
Most of you are completely wrong. This song is about a girl that falls in love with a man and claims that he doesn't look a thing like Jesus but talks like a gentlemen. In the music video, it clearly shows that the girl goes into their room only to see that the man of her dreams is cheating on her. So the song is saying that everything was better when you were young. All of the things that they also say in it like we are burning down the highway skyline, they mean that they were on top of the world when you were young or before you cheated on me.
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This song is about a girl who has had one or two bad relationships. She fantasizes about a boy who is nice looking or handsome to come take her away from her current situation. She also feels she is not a good person. Before she knows it he comes into her life. He doesn't look perfect in every way like she imagined when she was young. They feel that together that can escape or conquer obstacles if they work together and take it slow and there're love will always grow stronger and stronger. Sometimes when she closes her eyes she remembers where she used to live meaning she remembers who she used to be. A small part of her misses who she was but the boy tells her that it's ok. Who she used to be wasn't so sweet and that she doesn't have to be that way right now. But it's ok once in a while. What the boy is saying he sees that she is struggling with who she is. She wants to make a complete lifestyle change for the better but is having a hard time. By telling her once in a while is saying that I love you for you unconditionally and won't love you any less if you go back to your old ways once in a while.
I said he doesn't look a thing like Jesus He doesn't look a thing like Jesus But more than you'll ever know.
These lyrics mean that she found who she always wanted even though he didn't appear to be like she imagined but he loves her more than she will ever know.
Beauty is within.................................
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