What does Mr Brightside mean?

The Killers: Mr Brightside Meaning

Album cover for Mr Brightside album cover

Song Released: 2003


Mr Brightside Lyrics

I'm coming out of my cage
And I’ve been doing just fine
Gotta gotta be down
Because I want it all
It started out with a kiss
How did it end up like this
It was only a kiss, it was only a kiss

Now I’m falling asleep
And she’s calling a...

  1. anonymous
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    Mar 2nd 2007 !⃝

    I am 12, and I love metal music (I am also a girl), but I also like this song. I think this song is about a guy who is in love with a girl (she may love him to, but I am not sure) and may have been with her in a previos time, but now they can't be together for one resiion or another. but when they get to be alone with each other, they are being watch by another man, who is also in love with the girl. And at one point, the one guy see's the girl with the other man, and he know's that he can't be with her.....

    Well, that is just my look on it. I may have made it a littel confusing to understand, but otherwise I hope I have helped. Rock on!!

  2. wentzda
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    Feb 27th 2007 !⃝

    This is a song about cuckolding. A cuckold is the husband of an unfaithful wife, who encourages her infidelity and actually receives sexual gratification from knowing/watching his wife obtain sexual fulfillment from another man while he himself is denied. The combination of jealousy and submissiveness creates a sexual charge. Frequently, the arrangement between cuckold and wife involves the husband being physically restrained (e.g., in a cage) somewhere in the vicinity of where his wife and lover are having sex, so he can see and hear. I am familiar with the lifestyle and this song describes it to a tee.

  3. Chad_dogg
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    Feb 27th 2007 !⃝

    This song is not about murder it's about a man in love with a whore. The cage he comes out of is indeed an emotional restraint he fell in love with the hoe and is jealous because everybody is fucking his chick. Obviously she don't care as long as she gets paid. She is pretty hott in the molon rouge version though that version kicks ass!

  4. anonymous
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    Feb 25th 2007 !⃝

    I never...
    I think of it as "I never intended to fall in love"
    "I never intended to hurt anyone"
    Each one is linked to a separate feeling that in itself is overwhelming and left to the imagination. All I know is that I get the gist of the song and I myself is overwhelmed by it all that I end up in tears by the end.

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
  5. anonymous
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    Feb 7th 2007 !⃝

    hmmm...i always thought it was about a man who feel in love with a hooker and even though he knew it was her job he couldnt stand the thought of her being with anybody else but him...

  6. anonymous
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    Feb 4th 2007 !⃝

    I think this song is about personal irony as well as jealousy.

    Its tough to work out what their relationship is but I don't think it matters that much because whats important in the song is what he's feeling.

    I think its a lot about being paranoid of the possibilities of her going with the other guy.



    I'm coming out of my cage
    And I've been doing just fine (was getting more confident)

    Gotta gotta be down
    Because I want it all (but still gets down because he wants everything to be perfect)

    It started out with a kiss
    How did it end up like this
    It was only a kiss, it was only a kiss

    (how has he got so crazy over her, after just a kiss)

    Now I'm falling asleep...

    ---

    Its late at night, for whatever reason he's not with her and knows she's probably out so he's imagining a scenario where she's going home with another guy (possibly someone he knows)

    ---

    And I just can't look its killing me
    And taking control

    Jealousy, turning saints into the sea

    (maybe nothing has happened and he's making innocent people look like they're guilty)

    Swimming through sick lullabies

    (memories he has of her make him sick since he's not with her)

    Choking on your alibis

    (he imagines her denying it but he won't let himself believe it)

    But it's just the price I pay

    (price he pays for being weak and in love)

    Destiny is calling me
    Open up my eager eyes

    'Cause I'm Mr Brightside


    -Mr Brightside is his own scarcastic way of saying he's a pessimist.



    Just my thoughts

  7. anonymous
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    Feb 4th 2007 !⃝

    I think that if you look at "Mr. Brightside," "Midnight Show," and "Jenny Was a Friend of Mine," in that order, it makes a story. (1) He catches her cheating with another guy and gets jealous. (2) He takes her out on a "date" one night and kills her. (3) He is caught and put on trial, and he tries to lie and say he's not guilty. The problem is, they don't tell you how he ends up.

  8. anonymous
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    Feb 3rd 2007 !⃝

    Ok, I'm not COMPLETELY sure about this, but, here goes.

    I DO know that the whole video is based on the movie Moulin Rouge.

    If you've never seen the movie, it's about this guy, Christian, who falls in love with a prostitute, Satine, who falls in love with Christian as well, but Satine ends up being forced to be with "the Duke" so as to keep the Moulin Rouge alive and going.

    I don't know if that has anything to do with the song, like maybe one of the band members had a girlfriend or soemething that was unfaithful.

    But, I'm guessing that's the basic idea.

    Or, one of the band members just has an overwhelming obsession with Moulin Rouge. =D

  9. anonymous
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    Feb 3rd 2007 !⃝

    well to me this song has meaning to me in well almost the same way he sings it...

    its about a guy whose in love with a female friend
    whose well with another guy, and he knows it will never happen, but instead being pessimistic about it he finds that its a lot better to have her in his life as a friend rather than not at all....hence the name "mr brightside" he sees th bright side of things in their darkest

  10. anonymous
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    Feb 2nd 2007 !⃝

    I'm probably going to be repeating a little here some of what other people have said, but there a few things I want to add.

    I think the song is a direct follow up to the first track on the album. The narrator is dealing with life after prison and is trying to get over his insident with jenny (in which he killed her).
    I'm coming out of my cage (jail)
    And I’ve been doing just fine
    Gotta gotta be down
    Because I want it all (he's been doing good out of jail, and he wants his life back on track so he has to be "down")
    It started out with a kiss
    How did it end up like this
    It was only a kiss, it was only a kiss (the reason he committed the murder from "jenny was a friend of mine", she had kissed another guy and he was jealous enough to kill her over it, now reflecting that "it was only a kiss" on how much he over reacted.)
    Now I’m falling asleep (when he falls asleep now, even though he had been rehabilitated he keeps seeing visions of what he originally thought was going on between jenny and her other lover, which is described in the following lines)
    And she’s calling a cab
    While he’s having a smoke
    And she’s taking a drag
    Now they’re going to bed
    And my stomach is sick
    And it’s all in my head (the whole thing is not happening, and never did but he went crazy with jealousy and this is how he imagined it all)
    but she’s touching his—chest
    Now, he takes off her dress
    Now, let me go (he wants the dreams of them doing these things to let him be and stop haunting him)

    I just can’t look its killing me
    And taking control (the dreams are tearing him up inside still, and "taking control" of him.)
    Jealousy, turning saints into the sea (the jealousy is obvious, but the next line "turning saints into the sea" I believe relates what he did with jenny's body. I think the full explaination of the body dumping is in the track of "Midnight show" track 10 on the album where he says the line "a crashing tide can hide a guilty girl". The saint is jenny and he tried to hide her dead body in the sea.)
    Swimming through sick lullabies
    Choking on your alibis (He knew jenny was cheating on him and he caught her out. The choking part also reffers to how he killed her. Another line from "midnight show" that relates to this is "I took my baby's breath beneath the chandelier")
    But it’s just the price I pay (the dreams that haunt him is the "price" he must pay)
    Destiny is calling me
    Open up my eager eyes
    ‘Cause I’m Mr Brightside (the last 3 lines are him trying to get on with his life and look on the "brightside")

    This is just my opinion. I know I have probably gone to in depth into the song and I hope I haven't wrecked it for anyone. Hopefully it will be of some use to someone :P

    Cheers
    Shawn

  11. anonymous
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    Feb 2nd 2007 !⃝

    I think that the guy is a big Liverpool fan and it's all about watching them win the Champions league. "I never" refers to him not believing that Liverpool can do it, but Mr. Brightside (Stephen Gerrard) comes along and scores a magnificent goal in the second half when they are 3-0 down to give the side some hope.

  12. anonymous
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    Jan 30th 2007 !⃝

    i think it cud mean....

    I'm coming out of my cage
    And I’ve been doing just fine (wakes up and leaves his house nd evrythin alrite)
    Gotta gotta gotta be down
    Because I want it all (he wants her but he can't because she alreadii has a bf)
    It started out with a kiss
    How did it end up like this
    It was only a kiss, it was only a kiss(he thinks how he could care 4 her wen it was just a kiss with a gurl)

    Now I’m falling asleep
    And she’s calling a cab
    While he’s having a smoke
    And she’s taking a drag
    Now they’re going to bed
    And my stomach is sick
    And it’s all in my head
    But she’s touching his—chest
    Now, he takes off her dress
    Now, let me go (he tries 2 fall asleep but can't cus he's thinkin 2 much about her nd what she cud be doin with her bf)

    I just can’t look its killing me
    And taking control (gets more and more jelous)
    Jealousy, turning saints into the sea
    Swimming through sick lullabies
    Choking on your alibis (how crazee he feels 4 her)
    But it’s just the price I pay
    Destiny is calling me
    Open up my eager eyes
    ‘Cause I’m Mr Brightside (thinks that he could deserve this for everythin he's done in the past)

  13. anonymous
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    Jan 22nd 2007 !⃝

    This song has nothing to do with murder, rape or prostitution. It was written about one of Brandon Flower's exes who cheated on him. Everyone seems to think that he was besotted with this girl after one kiss. Its not a kiss with him that he is referring to. His girlfriend at the time says to him "it was only a kiss" - when in reality she was schtupping the guy.

    Poor love sick Brandon, is a bit paranoid follows her one evening and learns the awful truth. She's been feeding him lies about where she is going and this is the way that he finds out.

    He tries to rationalise it by saying that he will get over her and that greater things are meant for him and that he should keep his chin up.

  14. anonymous
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    Jan 3rd 2007 !⃝

    Um guy who calls himself USERNAME. The Cure did not write Mr Brightside! This is entirely written by the band and royalties go to. Dont know where you got this from but its nonsense.

  15. anonymous
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    Nov 15th 2006 !⃝

    I think that it's about some guy who's really in love with a girl but they were never a couple or something..
    'I'm coming out of my cage
    and I've been doing just fine
    gotta gotta be down
    because I want it all' I thing that he's going out or something and than he see that girl and he really wants her he's desperade to get her .. And when they are together she also acts like she likes him and they kiss..
    'it started out with a kiss
    how did it end up like this
    it was only a kiss, it was only a kiss'
    next time that he's going out he see her with other guy and he's freaking out..

    ''now I'm falling asleep
    and she's calling a cab
    while he's having a smoke
    and she's taking a drag
    now they're going to bed
    and my stomach is sick
    and it's all in my head
    but she's touching his-chest
    now, he takes off her dress''
    every time that he see her with other guys he thinks that she's flirting with that guy and then he imagines something in his head that this girl I mmaking out with some other guy and all that stuff I think tht he's confused and he doesen't really know if it is happening is she with other guy or is this only his imagination ..




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