What do you think Leave The Bourbon On The Shelf means?

The Killers: Leave The Bourbon On The Shelf Meaning

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Album cover for Leave The Bourbon On The Shelf album cover

Leave The Bourbon On The Shelf Lyrics

Shakin' like the Devil when she lets me go
Got a new place, this is how it's so much better.
Falling over myself, the televisions on,
I turn it off and smile.
Oh, Jennifer, you know I've always tried.
Before you say goodbye

Leave the...

  1. 1TOP RATED

    #1 top rated interpretation:
    anonymous
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    Dec 7th 2008 !⃝

    OK well basically, this song is the third part of the whole "Jenny" thing, In "Jenny was a friend of mine" you get the impression that the singer, person telling the story, whatever killed her after a fight they had. the reasons he killed her arn't all that clear. what i thought was she was cheating on him, you can kinda get that impression from the lyric "who's that boy hoding your hand"

    In the second part of the story, Midnight show he's trying to forget his problems and the things he's done with random girls he finds. "if you can keep a secret" i think this shows he is confiding in this woman he has found, maybe she tells the police and thats why in Jenny was a friend of mine he is trying to defend himself from accusations from what i think is the police.

    "Falling over myself" i think this is just him falling to pieces over what he's done. also he says "i can't be satisfied until i hold you tight" this could be him thinking back over her with another man and possibly regretting what he's done. that's what i think ^^

  2. anonymous
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    Aug 4th 2013 !⃝

    1. This song (First in the trilogy)
    Jenny is his girlfriend and she cheats on him. He uses alcohol to cope with the pain.

    2. Midnight show
    He killed his girlfriend and is thinking about the murder and feeling guilty. When he says "I can keep a secret, if you can keep a secret" he is talking to Jenny, taunting her because obviously she can't tell anyone that he killed her because she is dead. He thinks he got away with it.

    3. Jenny was a friend of Mine
    He was brought in by the police to be interrogated. The police are asking him if he killed the girl (Jenny) and he is saying "No I didn't Jenny was a friend of mine, therefor I had no motive." Even though he did in fact kill her.

  3. anonymous
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    Sep 3rd 2012 !⃝

    Thats so cool. Dude, (anonymous above moi) if you ever get that published, send me a copy! :P
    Rock on!

  4. anonymous
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    Aug 15th 2012 !⃝

    Everyone is saying that this is a part of the murder trilogy, that has to do with 3 songs from the killers. Personally, I think that this song is replaced with Mr.Brightside. Here's the scoop for people who don't know what the murder trilogy is:

    EVERYONE ELSES VERSION

    here is the sequence:
    1. This song
    2. Midnight Show
    3. Jenny was a Friend of Mine

    MY THOUGHTS

    1.Midnight Show
    2.Jenny Was a Friend of Mine
    3. Mr. Brightside

    WHY I THOUGHT THIS WAY:

    this song isn't nearly as crazy as the three songs I thought were. In the other songs he sounds very unstable like he might do something he would regret later, if you know what I mean. They talk about losing control, people trying to help him cope , and how she couldn't scream while he held her close. For this song, it's on a different album so...
    wouldn't they have all the songs on 1 album? I just think they used the same name.

    WHAT I THINK THE SONG MEANS:

    It's just one of those songs where the girl loves someone else, but he loves her. He get's drunk and draggs her to his house and refuses to let her go. He might kiss her when she doesn't want him to, beacuse he can't help it. He loves her too much and want's her to love him back. So eventually he leaves her alone and lives in a drunken depression.

    FINAL THOUGHTS

    well, this is what I think. Please do not hate me if this one is too different from what you think. This is my opinion. I am currently writing a book called: Underneath the Chandeleir. What it's about is mainly putting these songs into words. I'm probably never going to publish it,just keep it for myself.

    A QUICK THANKS

    First, I'm going to thank The Killers, for making fantastic music and inspiring me in multiple ways! You guys are the best! Next I'm thanking this website for allowing people to openly share their thoughts with one another! Nice job! And last but not least, the people who wrote these posts , who inspired me and helped me decide what the trilogy was about! Thank you so much!

    Thank you all! :)

  5. anonymous
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    May 13th 2011 !⃝

    In my opinion, Jenny is just his friend, not his lover. He pines over her, but she doesn't want him, so he kills her. I considered two possibilities for "Midnight Show". Either he's drowning his guilt by sleeping around and confessing to the girls, or he raped Jenny when seeing a movie with her at a drive through movie theater and killed her afterwords.

  6. anonymous
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    Apr 25th 2011 !⃝

    the songs are about the real crime and the murder of jennifer levins. robert chambers killed her in central park in 1986.

  7. anonymous
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    Feb 1st 2011 !⃝

    This is the first song from the murder trilogy.
    Leave the bourbon on the shelf: He's with Jenny, but she cheats on him and decides to leave him, leading him to drink like crazy.
    Midnight show: he's with what it seems to be another girl and confesses to her that he has killed Jenny by suffocating her, and threw her body into the ocean.
    Jenny was a friend of mine: Apparently this girl told the police, and so in this song he is been interrogated.

    As easy as that. The end.

  8. anonymous
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    Jan 26th 2011 !⃝

    Okay the very first few seconds sound like beck's loser which I assume is a coincidence but I found it interesting

  9. anonymous
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    Jan 14th 2011 !⃝

    This is the first part of the murder trilogy. He isn't dating Jennifer, but he wanted to. Then he saw her with another guy, probably her boyfriend so he drinks by himself. Hence "leave the bourbon, I'll drink it by myself." This leads into a midnight show where he kills her then Jenny was a Friend of Mine where he is being interrogated by the cops.

  10. maigloeckje
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    Aug 26th 2010 !⃝

    I don't think that it has to do with "Jenny was a friend of mine".
    I think its about Jennifer who leaves him and how he can't deal with the situation and get's depressed. He's trying to cure this depression with alcohol. He's mad at her to, trying to insult her "I never liked your hair, or that people that you lie with", but then get's back to begging her to come back to him.

  11. crazy68
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    Aug 5th 2010 !⃝

    the song seems to be an alcoholic who drinks himself to oblivion when he loses the girl he loves. shaking like the devil when she let's me go, soundsa like the shakes, you get when there isn't enough booze in your system.

  12. anonymous
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    Feb 17th 2010 !⃝

    I think this might be the first of the murder trilogy. "Midnight show" being the second and "Jenny was a friend of mine" being the last. He finds out, or suspects her of cheating on him and drinks himself stupid. You can tell he gets really angry: "Shaking like the devil when she let me go." And you can hear the desperation in his voice in the last few lines.

  13. anonymous
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    Aug 19th 2009 !⃝

    Well i dont think that anywhere it metions drugs but all of the three murder songs are very good. A little messed up but they're good. You know, there's not 1 bad killers song :-))

  14. anonymous
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    Feb 13th 2009 !⃝

    Him and Jenny were fucked up.They had a dysfunctional destructive love relationship and they were addicted to booze and drugs as well as each other. Jenny is spiraling downward while he is trying to get better. He tries to get through to her, but he lets her go to save himself. Jenny dies from living the life....and he will never and can never forgive himself for not being there for her or for not saving her when he thinks he could have. Hes asking her forgiveness while he does whatever he can to forget and relieve his guilt running faster and faster away from the past and the truth. Hes getting fucked up again and she is haunting him.

  15. anonymous
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    Jan 7th 2009 !⃝

    I have listened the killers for a long time now, ever since my auntie died her name was Jenny. I had a bond with their music it seemed he was singing about my auntie. Her fave drink was bourbon, she had a fall out with her man then she died the same night. He never forgave himself and tried to get over it by night clubbing. I think its pretty much her life and its so bizarre and I think that all these songs have such deep meaning. Does anyone understand what I mean?

  16. Sabrina
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    Dec 3rd 2008 !⃝

    i think the song is about suicide.
    he loves her and is only happy when he can hold her tight. he tries to "make it right" but it doesn't work. she leaves him. he can't bear it and when he sees her with another man "whos that boy holding your hand" he can not be happy anymore and decides to kill himself "leave the burbon on the shelf, ill drink it by myself". he wants to kill himself with pills and alcohol

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