Mr. Brightside

Album

Hot Fuss

Label

Island Records

Genre

Power Pop

Composer(s)

Brandon Flowers;Dave KeuningKillers

Entered Chart

Feb 12, 2005

Peak Date

Jun 11, 2005

Released

September 29, 2003

Recorded

Kill the Messenger (Henderson, Nevada) Cornerstone (Berkeley, California)

Catalog #

Island 004170

B-Side

Smile Like You Mean It"

Killers guitarist Dave Keuning wrote this about lead singer Brandon Flowers' ex-girlfriend who cheated on him. Flowers recalled to Q magazine March 2009 how he discovered her with another man at the Crown and Anchor pub in his hometown of Las Vegas: "I was asleep and I knew something was wrong. I have these instincts. I went to the Crown and Anchor and my girlfriend was there with another guy." Flowers added that the song was "born" at the Crown and Anchor. >> In the video, actress Izabella Miko (of Coyote Ugly) plays the girlfriend. Eric Roberts (Julia's brother) also stars in the video as the bad guy. This wasn't his first star turn in a major video: he also appeared in Mariah Carey's "We Belong Together." The clip was directed by Sophie Muller, who has done over 100 videos, including several for Gwen Stefani. In England, fans of Manchester United and Everton football teams have their own rendition of this song in praise of their former player Norman Whiteside. Brandon Flowers told NME the story of the song in a 2012 interview: "We must've written it around the end of 2001. Dave and I were writing a ton of songs at the time, trying to figure out what it was that made us tick. I remember us going into the Virgin Megastore to buy (The Strokes') Is This It on the day it came out and, when we put it on in the car, that record just sounded so perfect. I got so depressed after that, we threw away everything and the only song that made the cut and remained was 'Mr. Brightside.'" He continued: "It came from this cassette of ideas that Dave gave me, and one of them was the 'Mr. Brightside' riff. I was able to slap a chorus and some lyrics onto it, and I knew I liked it. But it wasn't until we first tried it out with a drummer that I knew it was special. We went to the guy's house and showed him the song, and I got the goosebumps after that. Lyrically, it's about an odd girlfriend of mine. All the emotions in the song are real. When I was writing the lyrics, my wounds from it were still fresh. I am Mr. Brightside! But I think that's the reason the song has persisted - because it's real. People pick up on those things. And that goes all the way down to the production; we recorded it in a couple of hours, but it just sounds right, you know?" The song returned to the Top 40 of the UK singles chart in 2013 after the band performed it on The X Factor. Flowers recalled to NME in 2013: "I remember being in the studio, recording the demo but still writing the lyrics. I was procrastinating, and that's why the second verse is the same as the first one, but it just stuck." A video showing a pub sing-a-long of the song at an Irish wake went viral in late March 2016. Brian O'Sullivan from Killorglin, County Kerry is seen paying his respects to Ger 'Farmer' Foley, who passed away at the age of 45, by prompting a mass rendition of the tune at Falvey's bar. The Killers endorsed the clip, writing on Twitter: "Brian O'Sullivan, if Brandon ever needs a fill-in, we're calling you! May we all have friends like this #farmersrule". Ever wondered what a sports commentator reciting the song's lyrics sounds like? Check out Australian presenter Gerard Whateley reading out the words to The Killers' hit tune prior to their performance at the Australian rules football's AFL Grand on September 30, 2017. The Killers shared a video as the accompaniment to a hand-washing ritual in the global coronavirus pandemic. The CDCP recommends you need 20 seconds of scrubbing with soap and water to get your hands nice and clean and rid of COVID-19. The clip shows Brandon Flowers washing his hands for a full 27 seconds while singing an a cappella rendition of the chorus from "Mr. Brightside." The song initially lasted four weeks in the UK top 100 following its 2004 re-release, but has since become a staple of wedding parties and student discos, frequently re-entering the UK singles chart. On April 1, 2021, The Official Charts Company announced that "Mr Brightside" had spent 260 non-consecutive weeks – or five full years – in the top 100 of the UK singles chart since its re-release in 2004. No other song has notched up anywhere near as many weeks. The second-longest-running chart hit at the same date was Snow Patrol's "Chasing Cars," with a total of 166 weeks in the tally.

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 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
And I just can't look, it's killing me
And taking control

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

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 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
'Cause I just can't look, it's killing me
And taking control

Jealousy, turning saints into the sea
Swimming through sick lullabies
Choking on your alibi
But it's just the price I pay
Destiny is calling me
Open up my eager eyes
'Cause I'm Mr. Brightside

I never
I never
I never
I never