anonymous October 21st, 2006 06:16AM  
I thin this song is about a troubled girl sitting there in
"her heartache, waiting on some beautiful boy to
to save you from your old ways" (I think she has a drug problem which is ruining her life and relationships). Later it says:
"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 in a little while" (I think this is the temptation she feels to use whatever drug or alcohol she is abusing. Devil's water or fire water is another name for booze). And another parts he sings,
"we’re burning down the highway skyline
on the back of a hurricane that started turning
when you were young" (in my opinion the burning down the highway represents the fast life and the destruction that comes with the fire. Fire being a metaphor for danger, destruction, and pain. And the hurricane is the brewing problems that are building due to her problems all mounting. It is the overwhelming 'storm' that causes her to revert to a childlike state. She wishes to be young...Or at least to find a "gentleman, like you imagined when you were young". The references to jesus I belive are hallucinations that she has when she is high, seeing this guy as a spiritual figure who will "save" her, like the saying jesus saves, and the singer is trying to say to her that "he doesn’t look a thing like jesus", but the guy talks like a gentleman. Another reference to being high,
"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" changing her life is an enormous task like climbing a mountain, but the singer thinks she can do it if she takes it on step at a time.

I know this is poorly written and organized, but you have to admit when you hear the words "devil", "old ways", "save you", "forgiveness", "hurricane", "burning", "heartache", you know this isn't just about a girl waiting for prince charming. Instead it seems that a ruined woman is wishing and hallucinating for someone to save her from her inevitable destruction, while the singer tells a more down to earth approach to escaping the forshadowed doom:
"we can make it if we take it slow
let’s take it easy, easy now, watch it go", he is offering his support and saying it is a long slow process to recovery.

***remember this is just my interpretation, it might mean something different to someone else.

Eli (vancouver, bc, canada)

anonymous November 30th, 2006 09:35AM  
This song is about a man who abuses and mistreats his (younger) girlfriend. He hits her and cheats on her, but then he apologizes and she always comes back to him because he knows all the right things to say ("he doesn't look a thing like Jesus but he talks like a gentleman"). Basically, he treats her like dirt but she always forgives him ("you play forgiveness")

anonymous February 24th, 2007 11:49PM  
I look more to the music than the lyrics for interpretation.

Lyrics are ambiguous and can mean just about anything, but the way music is put together, it captures one feeling, one specific energy to teach the audience a theme.

In this song, I can feel a persons struggle with reality (I don't say woman because a man wrote this song, and he couldn't know a womans exact feelings)and the constant grooving motion of trying to live, while there's a screeching voice always coming to get you and turn you into something different. Even when your life becomes slow, and you kind of battle with the 'devil', there's a constant groove keeping you alive.

Roo March 4th, 2007 01:00PM  
My interpretation of this song is that it's about a girl hitting her 30's who had a colourful time growing up, one night stands, drinking, dancing, drugs. I think she always thought she would meet someone and settle down, probably brought up in a strict family and revolted and rebelled but still pictured herself settling down with a perfect man. This song is about her reaching her 30's, still being used and abused my men because she is craving love and being cared for, she gives herself and her body up and forgives and forgives men again as she moves on in her search. The hurricane which started turning when she was young is spiralling out of control, the men are all gentlemen when she meets them.............. The feelings after they leave after a one night stand is the start of the song, she sits there in her heart ache......... She needs someone to save her from her own ways..... "Watch it now here he comes" is her excitement of the next prospect....

anonymous April 14th, 2007 08:48PM  
There are three characters in this song...the guy telling the story, the (presumed)girl and the guy who "doesn't look a thing like Jesus".

When thinking about a song, I think about the title... The Killers don't just pick titles because they are the lyrics most sung, they do it very deliberately. When we are young, we are innocent. The Killers also talk quite a bit about God (like in "all these things I've done")

This song totally reminds me of pretty woman... Some handsome guy sweeping in to take the girl away from her awful past. After all, what she's done isn't who she is. She's looking for salvation and forgiveness and someone to take her away. "He doesn't look a thing like Jesus, But he talks like a gentleman." To me this suggests she is settling for this guy, when she should be looking toward God for this kind of forgiveness.

The devils water usually suggests alcohol, but here, I think is referring to temptation. (ie. Adam and Eve, the serpent "devil" was tempting them) This new guy is tempting. She knows he probably isn't what she really needs, but she can "dip her feet for a little while".

I think this is something she does over and over again, and she wishes she could go back to when she was young.

lilgip88 July 14th, 2007 04:30PM  
Well, I think that this song portrays a relationship in the video, but can cover just about any subject in life. It is about a person who had imagined what their life will be like when they grow up, they know what they want to be, where they want to live, and what kind of person they want to be with. But life is unpredictable and no matter how much you plan your life will not end up like you thought it was. In this particular video though they use a realtionship to share this message. The girl finds a guy, who doesn't seem like th one she imagined, but he nice and treats her well. But one day he cheats on her and breaks her heart. "devil's water" is that everyone makes mistakes. She thinks that this couldn't be the guy she dreamed of, but he really is.

anonymous October 23rd, 2007 10:23PM  
I think this song is about a girl who is probably an alcoholic or has some other addiction or problem. She meets this boy who is helping her to overcome this problem, but she is too depressed to notice how wonderful he is. She knows he is a good person and she loves him, but she does not see how truely wonderful he is. The end of the song says "he doesn't look a thing like Jesus, but more than you'll ever know" I think this refers to the fact that he really is much more amazing than she'll ever be able to see.

elio23 May 26th, 2008 12:24PM  
In the beginning when it says ""when you sit there in heart ache, waiting on a beautiful boy to save you from your old ways" I think basically means that you can't just sit there even when your not happy, b.c its not going to come to you, you have to go look for yourself jus as in the video she went to meet another guy in the bar. and now she has what she wanted wen she was young. This has to do nothing with drugs!

I think I'm right.. but who knows lol

anonymous May 30th, 2008 05:19PM  
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 ever 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 is 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 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.................................

anonymous July 9th, 2008 09:00PM  
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?

username1 August 2nd, 2008 10:40PM  
"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.

anonymous November 3rd, 2008 01:00PM  
At first, I believed the song was saying the same thing to me as it was to everyone else. A girl wants a boyfriend that is perfect. She finds a man who doesn't look like the way she imagined him, but he "talks like a gentlemen" and treats her better than she could have ever dreamed for. This boy helped her get through her hard life of whatever drugs or bad relationships she had. She also realizes she needs to be careful and "take it slow" so she doesn't lose the man of her dreams. She sometimes remembers her old life and realizes how bad she has screwed up. Still, she sometimes gets the urge and desire to go back to her old ways. But she remembers what she has accomplished and gained. She knows she is not perfect, but she will try harder.

Then I played this song in my head again. Mostly everyone believes this song to be inspirational: a song of turning your life around by finding "your savior." When I analyzed the song once more, I could see, in a way, a negative side. This song could be interpreted as a girl who finds the man of her dreams and looks like no other man she has dated before. She knows he is the one: her savior. She thinks nothing bad can happen since he is perfect. But the song explains how life is not perfect. Her "savior" does something wrong and she finds out. She feels like she did before; Their is no man that will be good enough and perfect for her. She lives in a fantasy world. She gets rid of every man that would have been perfect for her. She needs to learn that not everyone is perfect; people screw up. She keeps thinking in her head the perfect fantasy life she wanted when she was younger. She has not obtained it and feels depressed every time he does something wrong that she doesn't like. So she keeps getting rid of every "prince charming" and finds someone knew. She needs to accept that everyone sins and makes mistakes. Once she does, she will be able to keep her "Jesus" and live that life she always wanted when she was young.

hatrickpatrick November 22nd, 2008 10:25PM  
"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.

kevmm325 April 7th, 2009 02:56AM  
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

anonymous April 17th, 2009 05:28AM  
It's about religion

anonymous April 24th, 2009 03:45PM  
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.

anonymous April 24th, 2009 04:07PM  
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

goodgal May 22nd, 2009 10:42PM  
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.

anonymous November 9th, 2009 08:13PM  
Personally, I find this song is about a broken girl who is caught up in substance abuse and the man who comes into her life to save her. I am currently with such a person, so this song touches my heart in many ways.

anonymous December 15th, 2009 11:08PM  
Think: "We could have a good time together, but you're too hung up on finding Mr.Right -- a school girl's dream that never comes true."
This is a deliciously sarcastic song which lampoons the object girl's taste in men -- she has rejected the singer, presumably; he is possibly an ex. "When you were young," is a metaphor for her naive nature; the sweet girl who falls for the wrong sort of boy. She has probably claimed that she has matured and is looking for the right sort now, but still rejects the narrator -- he insolently points out that her next new boyfriend is the same type as the last, "He doesn't look a thing like Jesus..."

"You sit there in your heartache, waiting on some beautiful boy to save you from your old ways"
Illustrative of her laughable intentions to break the cycle of her own bad judgment. Note the dripping sarcasm -- I love it!

"...sometimes you close your eyes and see the place where you used to live / When you were young."
This connotes her school-girl mentality and provides the underpinnings for the song: A girl romanticizing about attraction, rather than seeing it as the labyrinth it always is.

The "Devil's water" passage is a bit muddy, but possibly hints to her that she shouldn't reject him categorically but possibly consider that they are more alike than she cares to believe (She has placed herself and her ideal man on a pedestal. Perhaps if she stepped off her pedestal she might see the singer as the good match he thinks he is for her.)
The enigmatic, "More than you'll ever know," ending simply punctuates the disconnect between reality and her youthful, romantic idealism. This bemoans her naivete' and, by contrast, demonstrates the author's grim acceptance of reality.