I don’t know if it’s just me, but this week when I opened up the ol’ twitter, *COUGH COUGH* I mean… X app (still hard to get used to that), this song kept on popping up with people commenting on how good it was.
So, being that I’m a fan of The Killers’ catalog, I gave it a listen.
Turns out, it’s quite good. But is it worth all the hype it’s getting from all the randos on X?
Compare this to Ella Langley’s “Choosin’ Texas.” Nothing too deep with the lyrics, just an attractive woman with an attractive voice humbly singing a good ol’ fashioned country song, much in the fashion of Dolly Parton’s “Jolene” (God rest her soul). Normally, a song like this would get modest airtime and praise, but somehow, this has broken the record for being the No. 1 song on the Billboard top 100 for something like 23 weeks in a row (beating Mariah Carry’s record, which apparently people are not too please about!). And the only explanation I can think of is they just don’t make that many songs like this anymore.
Simple, catchy, and pleasing to the ear… songs that frankly, people are still seemingly craving.
Listening to “An American Dream,” I sort of get this same feeling. Not as simple or catchy, but still quite pleasing… a type of song we used to get in a different era… almost as if it’s from an America we used to know.
I took the fool’s gold from my nickel pocket
Watched it flake in the morning sun
Beginning with fool’s gold, the song eludes to him chasing a dream with little promise. Perhaps dreams of the flesh over dreams of the soul, further accentuated a few lines later when he speaks of “women with blurred out crotches and stars for nipples, and an ad for the red man burning my lip.”
Suddenly I was aware of myself
I picked up the pay phone and dialed my parents
Only I had forgotten my mother had passed
Sadly, a tale too often told; finally coming to the realization, yet it’s too late, for time is the one commodity we can never get back.
I jump from the edge
Into the silvery cold Colorado
Taken back by my shock response
I grabbed hold of a billboard
That appeared out of nowhere
Asking where I would spend my eternity
A question most of us pose at some point in our lives. “Is there more to life than this?”
Got picked up by Elvis in a Tesla Model X
Jet-black ‘68 comeback leather
He was clean and sober
And he laughed when I asked him if it was all worth it
And he cried when he asked about Lisa Marie
Being that Brandon Flowers grew up/around Vegas, it’s fitting that he would choose Elvis, a major influence of his (at least from what I can gather). A man who in all standard of measure, achieved “The American Dream,” but at what cost?
Gold and silver, God and glitter
Lights that flicker on hubcap chrome
On the road to heaven
In Strauss and Stetson
Swimming pools of horsepower
Take me back
Take me back home
“Take me back home…” What is home for us? Many of us think home is someplace in the past; an America we grew up in, had fond memories of, and loved. With all the problems we’re facing in the country and world, it feels like it’s a place we’ll never go back to, which is what makes this song so sad, intriguing, and above all, beautiful. The old country twang, the melding of American relics contrasting the old with the new, and the passion in which Flowers delivers this ode to America make this nothing less than powerful. Time will tell if it reaches the status of masterpiece.
But as much as we revel about the thought of “The American Dream” and what it may mean/used to mean, that dream—that home—is only temporary. Our true home is with Christ in heaven, for all the glam and glory we may achieve in this world is miniscule to what’s in store for us in the next life. And Flowers, being the religious man he is, seems to understand this.
*Note that Brandon Flowers is a Mormon, and though I have strong theological differences with Mormonism, I can at least appreciate the appeal to a higher power in Jesus.
When it comes to songs, I typically don’t like diving this deep into them, for the effusion of emotions you get by simply listening often leaves you disappointed when you take the time to actually read the lyrics (I can’t tell you how many times I’ve loved a Modest Mouse song only to realize the lyrics themselves were rather pedestrian). However, when you come across a song like this, the temptation is too strong to pass up.
So I encourage you to give it a listen, to enjoy, and to interpret what it means to you. Hopefully, it’ll touch your soul like it touched mine.
And if you’re a fan of The Killers, here’s another one of my favorites of theirs. One that seems to get better with time.
If you enjoyed reading this please consider your support by purchasing a copy of The Touch of Life, a novel written by my father that takes you back to the world of 1970s Wisconsin Rugby. A great and intriguing read for any fan of sports/thrillers.
