I think what he means when saying dancer, singular not plural, is that are we set to do exactly what, like dancers, and not make any mistakes, or are we human and make mistakes and go wherever we happen to want to go. For those saying he is saying dancers or denser, it would not make any sense to have one singular and the other plural. that is my idea on what he is saying thank you

Holy Shit! I can't believe that I'm just now learning that Flowers is Mormon.. I've been listening to these guys since their debut (but not so much these days). Even my roommate confirmed it. Wow. Seriously now, if he's a devout LDS I highly doubt that the human/dancer thing represents free will versus fate or determinism. Come on. I've never met even a "bad Mormon" who hadn't already made that decision. I've worked with MANY Mormons in my job (including both my current and last boss), and also, my ex-girlfriend and I went to her friend's church to satisfy my curiosity, so that just doesn't really make sense to me.

I think the song is about finding who you are or going through live/ growing up.
FINDING YOURSELF--
Everyone wants to fit it, Sometimes people try to mock their peers instead of being who they are.
The peers/The world are the humans
The individual is the dancer
or
Human- A figure that shares common features/motives/ideas/abilities- Humans walk, have no rhythm(Cold)
Dancer- Moves differently than a human- Expressive, Lively, Has rhythm(beating heart)


LIFE/GROWING UP
Leaving the protection and leadership of your parents- becoming an adult/ your own person
Going through and out the different stages- getting accustom to the changes it brings
-loosing your identity, friends, loved ones
-leaving places(your parent's home,going from elementary school to middle school to high school to college, moving to a new neighborhood)
Everyone gets scared of experiencing new things

I would like to put in my interpretation. I neglected to read all nine pages of comments left about the interpretation of the song so if I my comments prove redundant I do apologize in advance.

Initially I was just curious as to the lyrics of the song, but I got caught up in reading the "dancer"-"denser" debate and I have to say that I agree that it is "dancer".

I agree that this song is about a higher entity, and while I could maybe see the validity of the "denser"-soul argument, I believe that the word dancer fits just as well with this interpretation, if not better.

The word dancer in combination with "cut the cord" seems to imply a marionette type of puppet. Movements of the dancer are predetermined, choreographed, which seems to imply a sense of fate or destiny with this predestination. We are controlled by the a cord, possibly the hand of God, who controls everything we do.

In another sense (or the same sense, in the means that religion and society are sometimes synonymous), this idea also just goes along with the idea that society controls us. We "dance" to the rules that society creates for us. Instead of thinking for ourselves, we are stuck in the same routine, following the predetermined rules that society has set for us. "Cut the cord" seems to imply a call to break free of the mundane rules that bind us and to be and act as individuals. We must not blindly accept faith, but constantly question whether or not it makes sense.


The idea of a dancer brings to mind the plastic spinning dancer of a music or jewelry box. In contrast to a human, the plastic dancer is lifeless and stuck. Are we human or dancer, implies that we can blindly follow societal/religious rules or we can choose the life vitality and freedom that comes with humanity. This is why the quote mentioned above me, that we are raising a "generation of dancers" seems so intriguing to me. It is our generation's choice whether or not to rise above the tendency to follow along blindly. This is truly what is vital.

"Sometimes I get nervous, when I see an open door," is, to me, a beautiful phrase. Open door, of course, is indicative of opportunity. In the context of my interpretation it may be the opportunity to cut the cord of society. You may be nervous because it is a big decision, but you just have to "clear your heart" and just do it.

"And I'm on my knees looking for the answer," losing faith or having the strength to break free may be difficult. On my knees also implies prayer. In a last moment of desperation we turn to God to answer our questions and to guide us.

"So long to devotion" also goes along with the religious interpretation. Until now religion has served you well, but it is time to use reason and move forward.

Humanity is chalk full of vitality and spirit, emotion and goodness; it is up to us to choose these virtues over the religious values we are blindly taught. Not in any way to say however that religion is necessarily bad, "Pay my respects to grace and virtue, Send my condolences to good, Hear my regards to soul and romance, They always did the best they could". Many wonderful things have come about as a result of religion. Moral values and community service to name a few. But while these things may be good, I believe this song is telling us to cut the cord in which we blindly follow these values. We should question our beliefs so that we can understand why we have them and have a foundation for them or else we should reject them if they are unfounded.

Well, I know that was long but I started writing and I felt I had to keep explaining my opinion.
The more I understand this song, the more I love it.

:)

Initially there was confusion and debate over the line "Are we human, or are we dancer?" in the song's chorus. Debate raged across the internet over whether the lyrics said "denser" or "dancer", a misunderstanding which invoked conflicting interpretations of the song's meaning. Entertainment Weekly's Pop Watch section called this line the "silliest lyrics of the week". They were puzzled by the interpretation, stating "most dancers are generally human". On the band's official website, the biography section states that Flowers is singing "Are we human, or are we dancer?" and also says that the lyrics were inspired by a disparaging comment made by Hunter S. Thompson, where he stated America was raising "a generation of dancers". In an interview with Rolling Stone, Flowers said that he was irritated over the confusion about the lyrics and also that fans were unhappy with the song's dance beat: "It's supposed to be a dance song, [the beat] goes with the chorus...If you can't put that together, you're an idiot. I just don't get why there's a confusion about it."

i honestly think it should be

I did my best to notice
When the call came down the line
Up to the platform of surrender
I was brought but I was kind

And sometimes I get nervous
When I see an open door
Close your eyes, clear your heart
Cut the cord

Are we human or are we cancer?
My sign is vital, my hands are cold
And I'm on my knees looking for the answer
Are we human or are we cancer?

Pay my respects to grace and virtue
Send my condolences to good
Hear my regards to soul and romance
They always did the best they could

And so long to devotion
It taught me everything I know
Wave goodbye, wish me well
You've gotta let me go

Are we human or are we cancer?
My sign is vital, my hands are cold
And I'm on my knees looking for the answer
Are we human or are we cancer?

Will your system be alright
When you dream of home tonight
There is no message we're receiving
Let me know, is your heart still beating?

Are we human or are we cancer?
My sign is vital, my hands are cold
And I'm on my knees looking for the answer
Are we human or are we cancer?

You've gotta let me know

Are we human or are we cancer?
My sign is vital, my hands are cold
And I'm on my knees looking for the answer
Are we human or are we cancer?

It makes more since that way to me

And sometimes I get nervous
When I see an open door
Close your eyes, clear your heart
Cut the cord

Are we human or are we dancer?
My sign is vital, my hands are cold
And I'm on my knees looking for the answer
Are we human or are we dancer?

I think it's just taking a leap of faith into something you aren't sure about.
how you gotta let go of everything even though you're scared to get what you want.

In my opinion, I think the line "are we human or are we dancer" means like are we human as in making our own destiny for ourselvfes or are we dancers and is our whole life predetermined and all we can do is go through the motions.

haha i made this song my ringtone.. basically every time my phone rings all my friends just jam out. i got it at http://doiop.com/free-ring-tones

Dumbest song ever. Why is it "dancer?" Why? It's the kind of grammar I'd expect from hip-hop. Or are we A dancer. Or are we dancerS. Seriously, was it so hard to add one letter so the song makes freaking sense?

When The Killers first came out, they sounded like everyone else at the time... they actually endured, and made some (emphasis on some) decent songs, but now it's just retarded. And then they get Armin Van Buuren and Ferry Corsten to remix this crappy song? God, what is wrong with this world.

3 Replies

I believe this song id reffering to the difference between free will and preordained destiny, the "Dancers" are dancing, or doing a set number of moves a set numbe of times, as they are supposed to. you do not waltz to a tango. This is opposed to being human, the whole point of which is making choices and decisions. The singer is asking God for the answer to his question, which i believe to basically be :does everything happen inevitably, or is our future just that, ours.

okay! i've got it... Like he said it was in reference that was made to him about this geeneration being raised as dancers. *cuz it isss DANCER*

I did my best to notice
When the call came down the line
Up to the platform of surrender
I was brought but I was kind

Here he talking about the comment that was made.. he is acknowledging the fact that it is true. and also being sad about it, but taking it with grace.

And sometimes I get nervous
When I see an open door
Close your eyes, clear your heart
Cut the cord

(a bit lost on this part..but i think we all are.. so i'll come back to this at another time in a diff post.. XD)

(and now for our most talked about part.. but the clearest to me)
Are we human or are we dancer?
My sign is vital, my hands are cold
And I'm on my knees looking for the answer
Are we human or are we dancer?

ARE WE HUMAN OR ARE WE DANCER = Are we somethinig more than just dnacing machines that think and live? or are we just that mindless-dancing generation...

MY SIGN IS VITAL, MY HANDS ARE COLD = here he is talking about the generation in a different POV. saying yes..he IS alive.. but not truly living...he is just a robotic dancer that has lost the ability to really LIVE...

AND I'M ON MY KNEES LOOKING FOR THE ANSWER = that's simple.. he is just going crazy looking for the answer to "are we human or are we dancer"... pretty simple to me...

Ok.. now once the general premise has been established, the next part about all of the virtues and devotion and blah blah blah... is also simple.
He is again, talking about the disappearance of these traits in today's mindless-zombie-dancing generation... Because lets be honest.. these virtues are really a dying element of society along with the "human" aspect of life.. which is being replaced by the rise of the "dancer" generation. (when he says you gotta let me go, he is again talking from their POV)

Will your system be alright
When you dream of home tonight
There is no message we're receiving
Let me know, is your heart still beating?

this is the next confusing bit.. but I hope I can shed some light on it.
I think when he asks if your system be alright, he is talking about the generation, if they will be able to pull out of it, if they dream of the lost age of human kindness that we all want to return...*sigh*...
But.. there is no message or sign that the dancer generation is recieving that it truly wants to return to that dreamed of day and age. "let me know, is your heart still beating?" here he is asking that generation if they are still alive and "human"...

and i think that just about wraps up the song with the exception of a few choruses... so yea..
FIRST POST BY THE WAY!!! XD

tell me what you think!

"Are we human? Or are we dancer?" This line to me represents that when you're human, you have the ability to think and believe whatever you want. But as a dancer, if you're in a choreographed dance you're forced to fall into the same steps as everyone else and not allowed to step out of the rhythm. The speaker is asking: can I break free of this and come back to life? Or am I doomed to stay like this forever? He's wondering if he should even attempt to stand out as a dancer when he knows it will just embarass him and be a wasted effort. So in the real sense he's thinking, can I love again, or will I just get my heart broken once more? Should I just end here?

I would have to agree with Icarus Fixius completely. I would just like to add something onto that. In the music video,human, it shows animals. I think they showed these animals is because you can tell the difference between them. When the killer's band members are standing up and exchanging faces I'm pretty sure it is to represent how alike humans are, and how you can't tell the difference between us when we our controlled by the technology of our new world.

human is about learning if youd rather be free or be your self

EDIT TO MY POST!!!



I did my best to notice
When the call came down the line
Up to the platform of surrender
I was brought but I was kind

(I think that this means that a person is on the verge of death in a hospital bed, and they are distracted by thoughts when he "begins to see the light", or when "he's being called for his judgment)")

Forgive me if this interpretation has already been mentioned, but this is what I just came up with.




I did my best to notice
When the call came down the line
Up to the platform of surrender
I was brought but I was kind

(When I heard this, I thought that it was about a person dying and being taken to be judged at the gates of heaven.)

And sometimes I get nervous
When I see an open door
Close your eyes, clear your heart
Cut the cord

(I interpret this as the person knowing they will die and getting scared when they see an opened door because it reminds them of the mystery of what will happen after they die. Then, death takes the person.)

Are we human or are we dancer?
My sign is vital, my hands are cold
And I'm on my knees looking for the answer
Are we human or are we dancer?

(So, the person is dead and they are being judged and they reflect on humanity as a whole, and they break people down into two different subgroups: Human and Dancer. Human being an individual who expresses emotion and personality through their individual actions and words, and they do things in their own individual way, while Dancer is someone who is robotic, who acts like everyone else, kind of like a follower, but there are the creators of the different "Dances" or the different ways that emotion and personality are expressed and different ways things are done. What is meant by "My sign is vital", I think, is that the person feels that who he was is finally important, since the definition of a sign is something that represents something else, I think that his cold, lifeless body is representing who he was. And by, "My hands are cold", I think that he/she is alluding back to the fact that they're dead, and that death represents who they were in life. And "I'm on my knees, looking for the answer" means that he searching desperately, as if his passing into Heaven depends on it...)

Pay my respects to grace and virtue
Send my condolences to good
Hear my regards to soul and romance
They always did the best they could

And so long to devotion
It taught me everything I know
Wave goodbye, wish me well
You've gotta let me go

(I take all of this take as the person failing their judgment to get into Heaven, and so, they're going to Hell. Also, when I think of them saying so long to devotion, it makes me think that the person devoted more time to their work and less time on the people who cared about him. He's saying goodbye.)

Are we human or are we dancer?
My sign is vital, my hands are cold
And I'm on my knees looking for the answer
Are we human or are we dancer?

(Again, reflecting on the question.)

Will your system be alright
When you dream of home tonight
There is no message we're receiving
Let me know, is your heart still beating?

(I think that this is referring to the person thinking of a loved one. They are wondering if their death will have ANY effect on the the loved one they never paid mind to, who is in the hospital, sleeping. And, the person feels that they aren't getting anywhere with their analysis of the world and their reflection on life, "There is no message we're receiving", and since it says "we're", it could be referring to the other souls who've failed their judgment, and it could be because they haven't learned anything or gotten anything out of their analysis of the world or reflection on life. And as for the last line, "Let me know, is your heart still beating?", they want to know if their loved one can still go on without them.)

Are we human or are we dancer?
My sign is vital, my hands are cold
And I'm on my knees looking for the answer
Are we human or are we dancer?

(Still reflecting.)

You've gotta let me know

(He needs to know this answer)

Are we human or are we dancer?
My sign is vital, my hands are cold
And I'm on my knees looking for the answer
Are we human or are we dancer?

(In the end, his question is still unanswered)

I think this song is about trying to decide whether they are human or if they are dancers. By this if they are human they make their own choices and follow the paths they want to, but where he means dancers as someone who does the same things as everyone as everyone else. I think by dancers he means that they just follow and do the moves that everyone else is. It's just my opinion.

ok, so heres what i think on the whole thing


I did my best to notice, when the call came down the line
Up to the platform of surrender, I was brought but I was kind
-i think hes describing an epifany that he got when he was contemplating the world and life in general

And sometimes I get nervous when I see an open door
Close your eyes, clear your heart... and cut the cord
-this is something that as humans we all feel when we start a new stage in our life and hes just saying dive in! dont be a dancer...

Are we human, or are we dancer
-when we were created (not evolutionized, hes mormon) God made us with a freewill, dancers dont really have a free will, we follow our choreographers steps and wear what they tell us to wear and even make ourselves look like what they want us to look like, our only purpose is to perform, thats what the human race has turned into, everyone has become dancers

My sign is vital, my hands are cold
And I'm on my knees looking for the answer
Are we human, or are we dancer
-hes describing the desperation and the heart ache realizing what we have become

Pay my respects to grace and virtue, send my condolences to good
Give my regards to soul and romance, they always did the best they could
-these are things we are taught in our youth, these things are supposed to help us when we grow up and i'm thinking hes saying you need more than that to make it

And so long to devotion you taught me everything I know
Wave good bye, wish me well, you gotta let me go
-devotion is dedication or attachment to something or someone, pretty much love, hes learned alot from love, but hes going to let go of all those things hes listed

Will your system be alright?
When you dream of home tonight
There is no message we're receiving
Let me know, is your heart still beating?
-i think hes talking about when youve gotten so far that it about kills you to look back at your youth and what you used to be

Personally I think that the controversy/ uprising brought over this stupid song is pathetic. Open your ears people and learn English. His pronunciation on the word "DANCER" is perfectly clear. I'm sorry that todays society can not pronounce english words properly but he speaks this word clearly. Our society today doesn't grasp this due to new pronunciations and such in the english world so that Gangster becomes Gansta. This is all pathetic nonsense and I agree with Brandon. He should be annoyed at the lack of ability to listen and comprehend his lyrics. >.<

Yeah I just made a small anlysis of this song at
http://jimohazard.blog.friendster.com/2009/03/song-analysis-human-the-killers/

"Are we human, or are we dancer?" - Might sound a bit weird but it makes sense... Humans are not made to dance but still, they dance. Are we still humans???

Lol lets just say its about Minimalism, because after months of consideration I still have NFI what this song is about!

And all of you who thing it says 'denser' the lyric writer says your an idiot:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_(The_Killers_song)#Lyrical_confusion


But you are a generation of dancers raised by your parents, so you are forgiven - not your fault.
And likely why we get English like 'Are we Dancer?' (Is we dancer? or maybe he means we are al, colletively, the reindeer 'Dancer').

If you type "are we Human or are we dancer Hunter S Thopmson" into a search engine you will get lots of conformation that the title relates to a quote the gonzo journalist gave that "America was raising a generation of dancers" Thompson had close links with Vegas (fear and lothing in.....) so its no suprise the suicidal drug fuelled writer influenced the band

This is a deeply spiritual song for those who have the eyes to see, the awareness to know. Are we human? or are we more??

Yes, we are more! There is so much than this physical body and human experience. We come to Earth for an Earth experience. We go to NYC to experience NYC. It's quite different than going to the Ozarks, or, say Ireland.

We are DANCER! We are vibration! We are light dancing! If you've had mystical experiences of seeing (not with your physical eyesight) bright beings, you know that is what we are--Light! Bright Light! And we are dancing bright lights!!

Be bright!

Enjoy the dance! Enjoy the life! Enjoy being here on Earth! It's a choice! Choose to be in a frequency of joy, of elation, of bliss, of fun. Enjoy every drop. That's why we're here--for no other reasons. For the experience. For the savouring of all of this life.

To be human is a very different experience than being just light. We have physical bodies and emotions and feelings and this life. As the aboriginals say, it's a dream. This is a dream world. It's a all varying frequencies from the Divine Spark! We come here so that the One Divine Spark can know the all of it, the ups and downs and ins and out of it. Of life. It's all for the fun of it! the joy of it! to itself more fully!

This song is about contemplating if there more than just this particular everyday life experience that people have. Many, however, have had direct experience of feeling their divinity, of seeing their own light body, of feeling their energetic field, of feeling that great expanse great bright Spirit within their own heart--which interestingly all that there is. It's all light. It's all Great Spirit within and without.

So, eat, drink, be happy, dance, enjoy this life! Take pictures, draw, paint, create, do whatever it is that you love to do!! That's why we're here! Cut the cord from feeling you have to do certain things!

Give your condolences to good. These words are very deep! Who wrote this?

This song is about breaking free doing what the flock is doing, from doing what you feel society wants you to do. It's about being free to do as you please. And being free--in the Spirit. In that place there are no sensory distractions or emotions. We can go into that space in an instant.

This answer is both! We are human in this life. And we are dancer in this life! When we are dancer, the human is resting. (The emotions are resting.) In that place there is only peace and calm--no emotions.

OMG! I love this song!! Enjoy the life! Feel Great Spirit at least sometimes! And DANCE!