What does Jenny Was a Friend of Mine mean?

The Killers: Jenny Was a Friend of Mine Meaning

Tagged: Murder [suggest]
Album cover for Jenny Was a Friend of Mine album cover
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Jenny Was a Friend of Mine Lyrics

We took a walk that night, but it wasn't the same
We had a fight on the promenade out in the rain
She said she loved me, but she had somewhere to go
She couldn't scream while I held her close
I swore I'd never let her go
Tell me what you...

  1. 1TOP RATED

    #1 top rated interpretation:
    jollenbo
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    Sep 26th 2006 !⃝

    This is easy folks.....The entire song is about a guy being interrogated by police, and he is emphatically declaring his innocence. He admits taking a walk with jenny, and sensing something wasn't the right, and then having an argument.......Then...."she said she loved him but had somewhere go" .....So she's leaving him......
    He then admits to reacting emotionally by holding her very tightly, "she couldn't scream while I held her close" ....So he is even admitting he sort of lost it and wouldn't let her leave....He squeezed her so hard she couldn't even scream and he swore he'd never let her go. So he's saying he loved jenny, and admits breaking down emotionally by physically clinging to her. She is trying to push him away but he is over reacting and holding her too tight...Its almost that he is admitting to having a lovers quarrel with jenny earlier that evening.... But that's it!!....Obviously he been over this story with the cops over and over and he is getting fed up with the questioning...."I know my rights, I've been here all day and it's time for me to go, so let me know if it's alright, I just can't take this, I swear I told you the truth, she couldn't scream while I held I close I swore i'd never let her go".......The cops still don't believe his story, but he repeats the worst thing he did was cling to her, and squeeze her too tightly. Again he declares his innocence....."tell me what you wanna know, oh come on, oh come on, oh come on, there ain't no motive for this crime, jenny was a friend of mine, so come on, oh come on, oh come on"
    check out "midnight show" too as it is somehow related . I'm thinking this song is about jenny with her killer....

  2. 2TOP RATED

    #2 top rated interpretation:
    anonymous
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    Aug 22nd 2012 !⃝

    So Jenny was a friend of mine, is the third installment of a story. (Part one is Leave the Bourbon on the Shelf, Part 2 is MIdnight Show)

    So in part 1, Jennifer (jenny) breaks up with him and he's so overcome with emotion, he gets drunk and confronts her which leads to him killing her. (shown in And I never liked your hair or those people that you lie with
    But I'm not satisfied
    Until I hold you tight
    And I love you endlessly,
    Darling don't you see I can't be satisfied
    Until I hold you tight)

    Part 2 is all about him dumping the body. (shown I wanna take you a midnight show tonight
    If you can keep a secret
    I got a blanket in the back seat on my mind
    And a little place that sits beneath the sky)
    so her body's wrapped up in the blanket and"Oh crashing tide can't hide a guilty girl" so he dumps her in the ocean.

    FINALLY part 3, Jenny was a friend of mine. At the beginning you can hear the helicopters and the sirens. He's being questioned by the cops and he admits to seeing her that night but they only got into a small argument. He protests and pleads his innocence. and the rest is pretty self explainable :)

  3. 3TOP RATED

    #3 top rated interpretation:
    anonymous
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    Sep 17th 2006 !⃝

    Listen to "midnight show".. Then listen to "jenny was friend of mine" it makes sum sense to me

  4. anonymous
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    Jan 27th 2022 !⃝

    According to the band, the song was inspired by the 1986 murder of Jennifer Levin by Robert Chambers, Jr., via strangulation. He left her body in Central Park, watching the arriving police from a nearby seat. His defense was her death was an "accident" suffered during the "rough sex" he claimed she enjoyed. The Medical Examiner found no evidence of sexual activity, despite Chambers' attempt to alter the body to suggest a rape had taken place.

    I was nineteen when her murder took place. Together, my mother and I watched his "perp walk" on the evening news: Chambers had deep scratches to his face, neck, and chest. Jennifer had clearly fought for her life with every ounce of her being. My mother advised me that Chambers was the kind of boy I should "look out for." I began to cry. Years later, I wrote a letter to Ms. Levin's mother, telling her that her daughter's death was not in vain.

    In 2019, the Sundance Channel had a five-part documentary about the murder of Jennifer Levin.

  5. anonymous
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    Jun 30th 2020 !⃝

    This song is based off of the infamous murder of Jennifer Levin. Look this case up and it will all make sense.

  6. anonymous
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    Oct 28th 2019 !⃝

    This song is about the Preppy Murder in Central Park in the 80s.

  7. anonymous
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    Aug 4th 2018 !⃝

    I think this is based off the murder of Jenny Levine who was strangled in central park. The person who killed her claimed is innocence by stating "Jenny was a friend of mine" and that he had no motive (hence "There was no motive for this crime"). The part "She couldn't screma as I held her tight" refers to the actual strangling and this is his non confessional interrogation.

  8. anonymous
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    Aug 20th 2013 !⃝

    This is a girlfriend story, how you feel, when you find out she doesnt love u anymore or never realy did and how u wish she felt, when ure breaking up and howyou feel inside,its u not her screaming yelling inside because u love her so much.

  9. jenny
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    Jul 30th 2012 !⃝

    I believe that Brandon is singing about a difficult time in his marriage. He didn't walk with, or fight with, Jenny in the promenade but his wife. She didn't trust him anymore because of mistakes he had made in the past. She's at the end of her rope and he's trying to make her understand, wholeheartedly, that his recent time with Jenny was innocent. She is just a friend but it's difficult for his wife to believe this considering the recent past. It's an extremely scary and important turning point in his/their life. And so he wrote about it...

  10. anonymous
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    May 31st 2012 !⃝

    FOREST GUMP... geezus

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
  11. erich
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    Dec 7th 2011 !⃝

    I always thought that Jenny was a "friend" of the singer. Friends that took it to the next level. The singer eventually wanted more than friendship while she wanted to stay friends. When he knew things wouldn't be the same after telling her his feelings, he pushed her away all together.

    I would say that I had a friend named Jen, and everything that I just said happened between her & me. My opinion may be slanted lol.

  12. anonymous
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    Nov 12th 2011 !⃝

    Here is my personal theory. Jenny is being blackmailed and fears for her life, so she tells him she loves before she goes to her rendezvous point. She is chased and runs back to him into his arms and is shot, dying too quickly to scream. He says he will never let her go, and mourns her. The police come and find him holding her body, and he is immediately named a suspect. Later, the police realize he was framed, but it is too late.

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
  13. anonymous
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    Nov 4th 2011 !⃝

    If you take the songs Mr Brightside and Jenny Was a Friend of Mine and put them as parts of the same story it kind of makes sense: he's imagining her cheating on him in Mr Brightside to the point where he thinks it was real, and one night, on a walk, he gets frustrated at her wanting to leave (possibly thinking she's off to see her lover?). He gets so angry and jealous that he 'swears he'll never let her go' and clings on to her physically. He ends up killing her. The chorus of the song is him being interrogated by the Police, and him telling them 'Jenny was a friend of mine'- they broke up.

  14. anonymous
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    Sep 2nd 2011 !⃝

    Honestly if you have watched that music video he is declaring his innocence yea. But the hole point in that is you see the cop hand him a confession notice with his signature on it. He already confessed to murder. He killed her but doesn't remember it.

  15. anonymous
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    Aug 20th 2011 !⃝

    You guys take this song text too literally. Its not about a love story between a man and a woman, but a love story between a man and heroin. Jenny is slang for heroin.

    "We took a walk that night, but it wasn't the same
    We had a fight on the promenade out in the rain
    She said she loved me, but she had somewhere to go
    She couldn't scream while I held I close
    I swore I'd never let her go"

    He's trying to quit his drug abuse, but somehow he's too addicted.

    "Tell me what you wanna know
    Oh come on, oh come on, oh come on
    There ain't no motive for this crime
    Jenny was a friend of mine
    So come on, oh come on, oh come on"

    "Tell me what you wanna know" is the heroin asking him what kind of hallusinations he wants to experience after injecting. Drug abuse is a crime, but without any motive. He gets locked up by the police for being a junkie.

  16. anonymous
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    Mar 27th 2011 !⃝

    Guys, I understand your points, but I also wanted to bring up the interpretation that could be begging a girl to forgive him for cheating on her "Jenny was just a friend of mine", something along those lines.... still the interpretation of the police interrogation sounds better

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
  17. anonymous
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    Feb 22nd 2011 !⃝

    This song was writen for his brother, as he was the one who got him intressted in music in the first place, theres nothing gay about it in my eyes, he's basically saying that he looks up to him, and no one else can see it, as he quoted, "in nobody's eyes, but mine". Have you ever though he might be singing it from a girls point of view...?

  18. anonymous
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    Feb 22nd 2011 !⃝

    I belive that Jenny was a friend of mine, and Mr brightside, mainly, because at the beggning of mr brightside he says coming out of my cage, which could imply that he started of in a prison cells, i also think that jenny was a friend of mine follows on from Mr brightside, were peope have interited, and from the vidio footage, that in mr brightside the womans clearly having an ffir, and i think in jeny was a friend of mine he reveals how much he loves, her, she obviously only felt it was a fun thing at the time, for instance he quates "it was only a kiss", but when it says "she had somewhere to go", it appears to me, as if she was going to see another man, and his jealousy once again takes over, as he grabs hold of her, because "he wants it all", and i'd say he didn't want her to get away, he wanted her to himself, but in he events of this, he accidently suffocated her. I also think, that in mr brightside, he is looking back on the thinks that have happend, for instance what happend wih Jenny, and how he got there.

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