The Killers - Mr Brightside Song Meanings Lyrics:
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 ...
(See the rest of these lyrics)
 Top Rated Interpretation
2005-07-10 21:22:40
The key in this song is its title. By calling himself Mr Brightside, the speaker is commenting on how he is incurably optimistic - he always looks at the bright side of any given situation.
The song is about his propensity for getting overly involved emotionally with women he has only just met, and suffering heartbreak when his love proves to be unrequited. His "destiny" is to continually experience such heartbreak because he always opens up his "eager eyes" to the next possible paramour.
To get into a closer reading, look at the first stanza:
Coming out of my cage
And I've been doing just fine
Gotta gotta be down
Because I want it all
Here, he is freeing himself from the emotional restraint that was protecting him from having his heart broken and allowing himself to become interested in a girl. The "all" that he wants refers to true love, the kind that you can only get if you are willing to give the entirety of yourself to someone else.
It started out with a kiss
How did it end up like this
It was only a kiss
It was only a kiss
Here, he's wondering how he's gotten to the point that he cares so deeply about her after just one kiss - the answer is because he allowed himself to invest that kiss with meaning that for her was not there.
The next couple stanzas basically tell the story of him seeing this girl that kissed him once hanging out with other guys - and because he feels so strongly for her, he becomes deeply jealous/angry. It's sort of like a situation where two people made out on a dance floor one night, and the girl felt like she was just having fun whereas the guy thought there was actually a connection.
Where we get the best crystallization of Mr Brightside's true nature and motivation is in the following stanza:
But it's just the price I pay
Destiny is calling me
Open up my eager eyes
'Cause I'm Mr Brightside
Here, we should be getting that the "price" he pays is the intense feelings of jealousy, rage, and heartbreak that come from his penchant for getting too attached too fast. He asserts that it is out of his hands, that this pattern of behavior is simply part of his core personality by referring to it as his "destiny." His eyes are "eager" for the next girl that he will fall for, which is sure to happen because he is the perpetually optimistic "Mr Brightside" - always looking for and ready for love.
sg
2006-01-10 20:21:11
I think it is either about a guy who's in love with his best friend who's a girl,and they kissed one time(it started out with a kiss)but then their friendship gets all weird(how did it end up like this?)but the singer wants her,as more then just a friend(gotta gotta be down because I want it all.) and he's jealous of the other guys he sees her with(jealously turning saints into the sea,twirling through sick lullabyes..etc.etc.) anyways,either that or I've heard that brandon once said it was about an ex who cheated on on of them.
sg
2006-01-10 20:34:38
Once again I forgot to add something, it's nothing big but I feel stupid for leaving it out. I don't think that the whole "Cause I'm mr brightside" thing is sarcastic at all. I think he just really is an honest to goodness optimistic person who tries his best to see the bright side in things, but I think it starts to get hard to do that when his life is getting so fucked up over this girl, but he's trying to see the best in the situation,cause that's what people expect him to do. He is Mr. Brightside after all.
anonymous
2006-01-11 09:27:03
Basically, the meaning of this song is:
A Boy who fancies a girl,
and the boy ends up watching another boy pull the girl he fancies.
rr
2006-01-14 01:57:00
My interpretation:
This is about a guy who likes this girl so much. But then, this girl is in love with someone else. So the guy got really jealous when he saw the girl she loves with someone else. When he saw the two of them together, he realized that maybe they were not meant to be...
That's is the reason why the title is Mr. Brightside... He looks at the brighter side of things.
anonymous
2006-01-14 11:14:58
I think that this song is about someone breaking up with there girlfriend wo seems to be getting on ok "coming outta my cage and I been doing just fine"
But then gets starts to think of what his ex is up to and gets jealous "jealousy turning saints into the sea" and "now there going to bed and my stomach is sick and its all in my head but she's touching his chest...." and so on.
anonymous
2006-01-16 07:24:09
OK. This is what the song is about, as explained by Mr Flowers himself. He had a girlfriend, his first love and being an obsessive person was completely besotted with her. He went by her apartment one day and saw her car 'touching bumpers' with a guys car. He later saw them together in a bar. The song is about that. How he was crushed by this event and how jealousy is a very powerful and dangerous emotion. It is not about murder. The 'murder trilogy' consists of 'Leave the bourbon on the shelf', Midnight show' and 'Jenny was a friend of mine'. And if it was the Cure who wrote this song how the hell have The Killers got writing credit and not been sued? Because the Cure didn't write it.
Thats all!
ladiesman
2006-01-19 06:41:38
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
anonymous
2006-02-01 19:38:53
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.
anonymous
2006-02-14 06:35:31
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.
anonymous
2006-02-27 21:44:36
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
anonymous
2006-03-02 09:37:10
This song is about lying and going to jail for it.
anonymous
2006-03-03 10:36:04
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
anonymous
2006-03-04 14:34:50
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!
anonymous
2006-03-30 10:36:04
Sweet! At least somebody knows where I'm coming from! props dude. ;)
Willis
2006-04-23 19:51:47
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.
anonymous
2006-05-04 16:41:26
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.
anonymous
2006-05-26 12:54:19
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!!!
Carly
2006-06-20 18:27:04
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.
anonymous
2006-06-22 06:37:47
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.
anonymous
2006-07-05 21:23:35
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.
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