Mr Brightside isn't about someone cheating on you. It's about the insecurity and jealousy that can rise up and ruin a relationship, breaking down the trust. Think about it: "and it's all in my head".
And in the chorus we have "turning saints into the sea". Women suspected of witchcraft were often thrown into water, and if they drowned were they innocent, if they survived they were a witch, and were to be killed anyway. The exact same thing's going on here, metaphorically. Even if the partner was completely innocent - a "saint", so to speak, the relationship is still being destroyed by the jealousy and insecurity.
"But it's just the price I pay" - of course, a ruined relationship is going to be the price you pay for letting your unfounded jealousy be "taking control". Really, Brandon's encouraging people in the same situation to "open up [their] eager eyes" - to see what's actually going on, to face everything instead of burying your head in the sand.
It's almost bordering on possessiveness though - "gotta gotta be down because I want it all" - there's a controlling side to (him) that wants to monitor (her), and because he can't, he starts inventing scenarios of her cheating on him to justify the resentment he's starting to feel because he doesn't OWN her. There's an insidious side to this relationship, so maybe that's what's meant by him "coming out of [his] cage" - he had this metaphorical cage imposed on him for a reason. Maybe there was a past relationship he ruined in a similar way, and he's tried to repress himself so the same doesn't happen, but he finds himself acting the same as before, and feels this is what he will always be - "destiny is calling me". And yet this optimism and hope that he can shake this insecurity off makes him believe he is "Mr Brightside", even though he knows "I never" can change.
Spot on interpretation. Only thing i would say is that this strikes similar chords with ultra rapid bipolar disorder, and borderline personality disorder. Half way through the chorus with the "destiny is calling me" represents, in my mind, a hypomanic shift to being incredibly positive, turning him into Mr. Brightside- the person that everyone knows him to be, even though sometimes he can be down on himself because of his jealousy issues. He says this is just the price he pays because when he is Mr Brightside, everything looks so great for him, why not be down...
Spot on interpretation. Only thing i would say is that this strikes similar chords with ultra rapid bipolar disorder, and borderline personality disorder. Half way through the chorus with the "destiny is calling me" represents, in my mind, a hypomanic shift to being incredibly positive, turning him into Mr. Brightside- the person that everyone knows him to be, even though sometimes he can be down on himself because of his jealousy issues. He says this is just the price he pays because when he is Mr Brightside, everything looks so great for him, why not be down every so often to feel so good. The fact that he repeats the whole thing again is just symbolic of how these types of disorders cycle.
@Loquacity I made an account just for this: thank you, you are spot on oh great wizard. @9btd Perfect analysation, being one of those crappy people like Mr Brightside I can tell you that this:
@Loquacity I made an account just for this: thank you, you are spot on oh great wizard. @9btd Perfect analysation, being one of those crappy people like Mr Brightside I can tell you that this:
"He says this is just the price he pays because when he is Mr Brightside, everything looks so great for him, why not be down every so often to feel so good"
"He says this is just the price he pays because when he is Mr Brightside, everything looks so great for him, why not be down every so often to feel so good"
spooked me in ways you can't imagine. It's exactly the thing(in those same words) that kept me from going to a therapist all my life. I'm in the best relationship yet...
spooked me in ways you can't imagine. It's exactly the thing(in those same words) that kept me from going to a therapist all my life. I'm in the best relationship yet and almost lost it again, made my first appointment next week! :-)
@Loquacity
Hi. My only pushback is with your interpretation of the lines "Jealousy, turning saints into the sea
Swimming through sick lullabies
Choking on your alibies"
@Loquacity
Hi. My only pushback is with your interpretation of the lines "Jealousy, turning saints into the sea
Swimming through sick lullabies
Choking on your alibies"
Brandon Flowers is known to be a fairly devout Christian, so he should have some knowledge of New Testament text and teachings.
Matthew 18:6: "but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a heavy millstone hung around his neck, and to be drowned in the depth of the sea." The concept of "sainthood" is a Christian one, especially a...
Brandon Flowers is known to be a fairly devout Christian, so he should have some knowledge of New Testament text and teachings.
Matthew 18:6: "but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a heavy millstone hung around his neck, and to be drowned in the depth of the sea." The concept of "sainthood" is a Christian one, especially a more orthodox catholic one. It is believed that one cannot sin until they reach "the age of reason" - this, all "little ones" are innocent (which is why we have the term "childhood innocence"). Thus, I really think Brandon is making an illusion to the threat Jesus makes to those who would cause any saintly person (not just children) to "fall".
Jealousy is related to envy, which is one of the seven deadly sins. Thus, unchecked and uncontrolled jealousy can cause someone to have the evil thoughts that Brandon is experiencing through his lyrics here. Ever just get extremely angry at someone for a scenario you made up in your head? That happens all the time in relationships where one partner is riddled with jealousy and distrust. That is what is happening here.
@Loquacity I like this interpretation. It makes sense. It’s easy to write a song about someone who cheated on you, but this goes deeper than that. It’s harder to understand our thoughts and how we react and behave with them. Some might go absolutely nuts and others might not even be bothered by the idea, but I don’t think labeling someone with a mental disorder right away based on a shared deep personal poetic thought is what we should do with this literature. Those people likely dont believe there is something “wrong” with them and that’s why they likely don’t...
@Loquacity I like this interpretation. It makes sense. It’s easy to write a song about someone who cheated on you, but this goes deeper than that. It’s harder to understand our thoughts and how we react and behave with them. Some might go absolutely nuts and others might not even be bothered by the idea, but I don’t think labeling someone with a mental disorder right away based on a shared deep personal poetic thought is what we should do with this literature. Those people likely dont believe there is something “wrong” with them and that’s why they likely don’t truly connect with the thoughts or feelings or emotions brought forth by the lyrics and music. It doesn’t match their thoughts and so they think it’s crazy talk. Artist share their work with the world, but isn’t quite an invitation to go and label them with a mental disorder. As far as I know, real doctors would need more information to evaluate than just one poem. Lots of songwriters don’t even write about themselves often, and might create fictional characters and stories, and could also be slightly true or slightly about themselves. It goes back to “it’s not all just black or white, theres a lot of gray”. Everybody has something about them that might affect their lives in a negative way or not it’s called being human. Some people deny this or might not even realize it and others could even be flaunting it. Maybe its jealousy maybe it’s ocd maybe it’s addiction maybe it’s time management. There’s a lot of gray in our spectrum of ideas, beliefs, emotions, struggles..some will connect to this song more than others..that’s the beauty of literature and music that can make us feel like we aren’t alone in life and we can connect to others on a deeper level.
Mr Brightside isn't about someone cheating on you. It's about the insecurity and jealousy that can rise up and ruin a relationship, breaking down the trust. Think about it: "and it's all in my head".
And in the chorus we have "turning saints into the sea". Women suspected of witchcraft were often thrown into water, and if they drowned were they innocent, if they survived they were a witch, and were to be killed anyway. The exact same thing's going on here, metaphorically. Even if the partner was completely innocent - a "saint", so to speak, the relationship is still being destroyed by the jealousy and insecurity.
"But it's just the price I pay" - of course, a ruined relationship is going to be the price you pay for letting your unfounded jealousy be "taking control". Really, Brandon's encouraging people in the same situation to "open up [their] eager eyes" - to see what's actually going on, to face everything instead of burying your head in the sand.
It's almost bordering on possessiveness though - "gotta gotta be down because I want it all" - there's a controlling side to (him) that wants to monitor (her), and because he can't, he starts inventing scenarios of her cheating on him to justify the resentment he's starting to feel because he doesn't OWN her. There's an insidious side to this relationship, so maybe that's what's meant by him "coming out of [his] cage" - he had this metaphorical cage imposed on him for a reason. Maybe there was a past relationship he ruined in a similar way, and he's tried to repress himself so the same doesn't happen, but he finds himself acting the same as before, and feels this is what he will always be - "destiny is calling me". And yet this optimism and hope that he can shake this insecurity off makes him believe he is "Mr Brightside", even though he knows "I never" can change.
Spot on interpretation. Only thing i would say is that this strikes similar chords with ultra rapid bipolar disorder, and borderline personality disorder. Half way through the chorus with the "destiny is calling me" represents, in my mind, a hypomanic shift to being incredibly positive, turning him into Mr. Brightside- the person that everyone knows him to be, even though sometimes he can be down on himself because of his jealousy issues. He says this is just the price he pays because when he is Mr Brightside, everything looks so great for him, why not be down...
Spot on interpretation. Only thing i would say is that this strikes similar chords with ultra rapid bipolar disorder, and borderline personality disorder. Half way through the chorus with the "destiny is calling me" represents, in my mind, a hypomanic shift to being incredibly positive, turning him into Mr. Brightside- the person that everyone knows him to be, even though sometimes he can be down on himself because of his jealousy issues. He says this is just the price he pays because when he is Mr Brightside, everything looks so great for him, why not be down every so often to feel so good. The fact that he repeats the whole thing again is just symbolic of how these types of disorders cycle.
@Loquacity dang.. are you a wizard?
@Loquacity dang.. are you a wizard?
@Loquacity It doesn't need much thought to come to your conclusion, bang on, mate.
@Loquacity It doesn't need much thought to come to your conclusion, bang on, mate.
@Loquacity I made an account just for this: thank you, you are spot on oh great wizard. @9btd Perfect analysation, being one of those crappy people like Mr Brightside I can tell you that this:
@Loquacity I made an account just for this: thank you, you are spot on oh great wizard. @9btd Perfect analysation, being one of those crappy people like Mr Brightside I can tell you that this:
"He says this is just the price he pays because when he is Mr Brightside, everything looks so great for him, why not be down every so often to feel so good"
"He says this is just the price he pays because when he is Mr Brightside, everything looks so great for him, why not be down every so often to feel so good"
spooked me in ways you can't imagine. It's exactly the thing(in those same words) that kept me from going to a therapist all my life. I'm in the best relationship yet...
spooked me in ways you can't imagine. It's exactly the thing(in those same words) that kept me from going to a therapist all my life. I'm in the best relationship yet and almost lost it again, made my first appointment next week! :-)
@Loquacity Brandon flowers said in an interview that the sing is based off real llife events of him getting cheated on
@Loquacity Brandon flowers said in an interview that the sing is based off real llife events of him getting cheated on
@Loquacity Hi. My only pushback is with your interpretation of the lines "Jealousy, turning saints into the sea Swimming through sick lullabies Choking on your alibies"
@Loquacity Hi. My only pushback is with your interpretation of the lines "Jealousy, turning saints into the sea Swimming through sick lullabies Choking on your alibies"
Brandon Flowers is known to be a fairly devout Christian, so he should have some knowledge of New Testament text and teachings. Matthew 18:6: "but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a heavy millstone hung around his neck, and to be drowned in the depth of the sea." The concept of "sainthood" is a Christian one, especially a...
Brandon Flowers is known to be a fairly devout Christian, so he should have some knowledge of New Testament text and teachings. Matthew 18:6: "but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a heavy millstone hung around his neck, and to be drowned in the depth of the sea." The concept of "sainthood" is a Christian one, especially a more orthodox catholic one. It is believed that one cannot sin until they reach "the age of reason" - this, all "little ones" are innocent (which is why we have the term "childhood innocence"). Thus, I really think Brandon is making an illusion to the threat Jesus makes to those who would cause any saintly person (not just children) to "fall".
Jealousy is related to envy, which is one of the seven deadly sins. Thus, unchecked and uncontrolled jealousy can cause someone to have the evil thoughts that Brandon is experiencing through his lyrics here. Ever just get extremely angry at someone for a scenario you made up in your head? That happens all the time in relationships where one partner is riddled with jealousy and distrust. That is what is happening here.
@Loquacity I like this interpretation. It makes sense. It’s easy to write a song about someone who cheated on you, but this goes deeper than that. It’s harder to understand our thoughts and how we react and behave with them. Some might go absolutely nuts and others might not even be bothered by the idea, but I don’t think labeling someone with a mental disorder right away based on a shared deep personal poetic thought is what we should do with this literature. Those people likely dont believe there is something “wrong” with them and that’s why they likely don’t...
@Loquacity I like this interpretation. It makes sense. It’s easy to write a song about someone who cheated on you, but this goes deeper than that. It’s harder to understand our thoughts and how we react and behave with them. Some might go absolutely nuts and others might not even be bothered by the idea, but I don’t think labeling someone with a mental disorder right away based on a shared deep personal poetic thought is what we should do with this literature. Those people likely dont believe there is something “wrong” with them and that’s why they likely don’t truly connect with the thoughts or feelings or emotions brought forth by the lyrics and music. It doesn’t match their thoughts and so they think it’s crazy talk. Artist share their work with the world, but isn’t quite an invitation to go and label them with a mental disorder. As far as I know, real doctors would need more information to evaluate than just one poem. Lots of songwriters don’t even write about themselves often, and might create fictional characters and stories, and could also be slightly true or slightly about themselves. It goes back to “it’s not all just black or white, theres a lot of gray”. Everybody has something about them that might affect their lives in a negative way or not it’s called being human. Some people deny this or might not even realize it and others could even be flaunting it. Maybe its jealousy maybe it’s ocd maybe it’s addiction maybe it’s time management. There’s a lot of gray in our spectrum of ideas, beliefs, emotions, struggles..some will connect to this song more than others..that’s the beauty of literature and music that can make us feel like we aren’t alone in life and we can connect to others on a deeper level.