Mr. Brightside

The song I chose to analyze is Mr. Brightside by The Killers. It talks about the

jealousy and how it can doom a relationship. It can cause insecurities and make things appear very different from the way they actually are.

“Jealousy, turning saints into the sea

Swimming through sick lullabies

Choking on your alibis

But it’s just the price I pay

Destiny is calling me

Open up my eager eyes

‘Cause I’m Mr. Brightside”

The guy in the song is suspicious of his girlfriend and he starts to think that she is cheating on him.

The first line here mentions jealousy and what it did to the singer.

When we think of a saint we think of something holy, someone kind and innocent. Here, the songwriter talks about how jealousy can be so powerful, that it turns those saints into the sea. The sea is an allusion to the turmoil.  The rising and lowering tides correspond to the highs and lows of emotions, the instability that is present in singer’s mind. Jealousy can make us assume some very bad things about people who are completely innocent. On the other hand it could also mean that the singer was “the saint” who never did bad things, but this jealousy has made him emotionally unstable and capable of doing some very bad things. The next line talks about “ the sick lullabies”. These sick lullabies are probably various scenarios and bad thoughts that are “swimming” through his head.

He finds it difficult to believe the excuses she is making and he is “choking” on her alibies. In his head he thinks that she is lying to him and that she is probably having an affair.

Then, just when everything seems to be as bad as possible he seems to find the strength to look at the brighter side of his situation. He accepts what happened and realizes that it is time to get over the girl and continue his life and follow his dreams.

In the next line we see the acceptance of these circumstances as he says that this heartbreak is just the price he pays for falling in love, and that now he can think about his future, his destiny, in the singer’s case probably his music career. Falling in love stopped him from following his destiny and now he knows better, he won’t let it happen again. Another interpretation could be that the price he pays is the ruined relationship that is a result of all the jealousy and insecurities.

Now the last line can also be interpreted in two ways. One way is that now he is trying to think more positively and look at the bright side of the things, in this case it is his career as a musician. Another way of thinking is that he is being sarcastic here and calling himself Mr. Brightside ironically, because of all the bad things he assumed about his lover.

After reading closely through every line we can see that the singer is overthinking and having jealous thoughts about his girlfriend. This eventually results in heartbreak but he gets over it and realizes that it is time to follow his destiny. The other option is that he is still heartbroken but he realizes that it is all his fault and that next time he will know better than to let jealousy ruin a relationship.
The song has a sequel called “Miss Atomic Bomb” which tells the full story about what actually happened. It is about a girl that the singer, Brandon Flowers dated and it was written by one of the band members who was there for Brandon during the difficult times.