Lyrics for A Dustland Fairytale as interpreted by jeremygrim

A Dustland Fairytale Lyrics
A Dustland Fairytale beginning
Just another white trash county kiss
In '61, long brown hair, foolish eyes

He looks just like you'd want him to
Some kind of slick chrome American Prince
A bluejean serenade, and moon river, what you do to me
I don't believe you

Saw Cinderella in a party dress
But she was looking for a nightgown
I saw the devil wrapping up his hands
He's getting ready for the showdown
I saw the minute that I turned away
I got my money on a palm tonight

Change came in disguise of revelation, set his soul on fire
She says she always knew he'd come around
And the decades disappear like sinking ships
But we persevere, God gives us hope
But we still fear what we don't know

The mind is poison
Castles in the sky sit stranded, vandalized
Drawbridges closing

Saw Cinderella in a party dress
But she was looking for a nightgown
I saw the devil wrapping up his hands
He's getting ready for the showdown
I saw the ending where they turned the page
I took my money and I ran away
Straight to the valley of the great divide

Out where the dreams are high
Out here, the wind don't blow
Out here, the good girls die
And the sky won't snow
Out here, the birds don't sing
Out here, the fields don't grow
Out here, the bell don't ring
Out here, the bell don't ring

Out here, the good girls die

Now Cinderella, don't you go to sleep
It's such a bitter form of refuge
Oh don't you know, the kingdom's under siege
And everybody needs you
Is there still magic in the midnight sun
Or did you leave it back in 61?
In the cadence of a young man's eyes
I wouldn't dream so high

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MarkieP
11-19-2008

Rated -1 
I think palm should be pawn, makes more sense to me at least, love this song! :)

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3 Replies
chungie
11-21-2008

Rated +2 
reminds me of when you were young... again... youth & falsed hopes...

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Elvia
11-22-2008

Rated +1 
I think it's more about someone looking into this girls life with a guy. She thinks he's her prince and everything is going to be perfect from here on out. The person on the outside watching this couple is trying to say things don't end happily ever after.

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arturvv
11-22-2008

Rated +8 
Brandon told Rolling Stone that this song is "specifically about [his] mom and dad". Courtesy SongFacts: "This song tells the story of how Flowers' mother and father met when they were both aged 15 and living on the same trailer park." Given that his mother has cancer, the lyrics make pretty much sense.

Now cinderella don't you go to sleep
Its such a bitter form of refuge
Ahh don't you know the kingdoms under siege
And everybody needs you
Is there still magic in the midnight sun
Or did you leave it back in sixty-one
In the of the cadence in the young mans eyes
And were the dreams roll high


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1 Reply
whitlock1843
11-24-2008

Rated +2 
aww i adore this song!
it's sweet thats its about his parents.
you really get the feel of like teenage life and love bakc in the day and that, and how everyone feels special when they fall in love etc.
very sams town

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mjrzasa
11-25-2008

Rated 0 
best song on Day & Age for me. i had different thoughts on this, more similar to that of Mr. Brightside but the guy a few above seems to have info that says otherwise haha.

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dyc6ko
11-25-2008

Rated +3 
beautiful... sometimes music has this way of touching not just your mind but your heart and soul... flowers' has this gift... call it divine inspiration or the amazing strength of human talent call it what you want but agree that it hasn't been in the music industry for some time... this entire album touches on this notion but this song about his own personal struggle to hold on to his mom and dad and help his mother hold on herself speaks volumes not just about the music but also of who he is as a person... strength doesn't always come from the depths but sometimes the words we say and the knowledge that someone will always care about you... our struggle with relationships whether it be with parents or the ones we love is a fight that we battle every day and a struggle that leads to growth... we make the ones we love into something beyond human at times because of the comfort and strength they give us... "cinderella" as seen in the song speaks volumes to this idea ... beautiful, kind, humble, etc. all the qualities of a amazing mother, and its beyond all this that flowers' takes this song as he tries to hold on for his mom in an hour when maybe she needs someone to hold on for her...

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tef
11-27-2008

Rated +2 
this song is making me cry...
it is really so heartfelt.

at first thought i believed it was criticism about society, like seeing our heroes tired (cinderella, looking for a nightgown) and hoping times get better but still being afraid. i thiught it could be about the amount of kidnappings, murders and wars that take place right under our noses with so much frequence...
i thought it talked about not giving up, about going to or finding a place where things will be better than here, where the bells will ring, and wind wont blow...

"here the good girls die"
that part is beautiful. to me, it represents the atrocities that happen to women: the raping, the killing, the abuses... and it's exposed in a way that shows how inhumane the world is.

i do believe it could be a criticism to the impunity with which things happen, crimes, disease... whatever it may be...
comparing the times around the 60's when the world want so abnoxious. --> (And the decades disappear like sinking ships
But we persevere, God gives us hope
But we still fear what we don't know

The mind is poison
Castles in the sky sit stranded, vandalized
Drawbridges closing)






still it makes a nice interpretation applied to his parents and his mother's cancer. this album has many references to that. it must be hard.

i love the piano in "here the bell dont ring"
its tragic

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Tozer
11-30-2008

Rated +1 
This song is sheer brilliance.

How Flowers can describe all of his feelings towards such a loved one in such a beautiful way is amazing.

I feel it also sympathises with how his father feels about the passing of his mother as he sets the scene of their Romance at the start.

''A Dustland Fairytale beginning
Just another white trash county kiss
In '61, long brown hair, foolish eyes

He looks just like you'd want him to
Some kind of slick chrome American Prince
A bluejean serenade, and moon river, what you do to me
I don't believe you''

then next part of the song, i believe, is about his mum getting cancer and her deteriation, with the lines ''And the decades disappear like sinking ships
But we persevere, God gives us hope
But we still fear what we don't know'' Refering to they're emotional strugle.

For the next part i feel that his mind turns to what happens when shes gone as he refers to it as poison, but he realises that it will be so hard for everyone without her with the lines ''Out here, the birds don't sing
Out here, the fields don't grow'' etc
but with him also noticing that it seems to be the people, who mean the most, whose lives are cut short with the line out here the good girls die.

finally the last part of the song is him pleading with his mum not to slip away when hes singing 'cinderella dont you go to sleep'
i feel that he says 'its such a bitter form of refuge' because he knows that the best thing for her is perhaps to go linking to the refuge but he says bitter because he knows that his life will never be the same without her.

its a really powerfull song and gets better the more times you listen. it must be very hard for him to sing about something that means so much to him.

thats my view of the song although i may be wrong.

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kan402
12-01-2008

Rated +1 
One thing I hadn't seen mentioned was the part

"Change came in disguise of revelation, set his soul on fire
She says she always knew he'd come around"

I assume thats about his dad quitting drinking and becoming mormon

This song is really amazing, it made me cry too lol...I'm just kind of realizing how weird it is that I know such personal things about his family


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Stell-ahhhhhhhh!
12-04-2008

Rated 0 
I really like this song its like a fairy tale in real life- it acquires everything that usually happens that makes a romance feel like a "fairytale"

I love this song!!!!

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little_nicko
12-06-2008

Rated 0 
i just love the way this song builds up to the end. gets me goin every time haha


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jasonveraSC
12-07-2008

Rated 0 
Although I totally understand its about his mom and dad, and it totally makes sense once you know that, I still cant help having my own take on it. I simply can see the story applying to any of a number reasons, and thats the beauty of it. It is just an American fairy tale, or more of an American tragedy in my mind. It builds into a fairytale romance, but in the end "the good girls die"




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1 Reply
screamingchoirs
12-07-2008

Rated 0 
when he sings "just another white trash country kiss, in '61, long brown hair, foolish eyes", I get shivers down my spine. the killers just keep getting better :)

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rpgmaker
12-07-2008

Rated 0 
Mmm, I guess I must be the only one who thinks that in the palm/pond (depending on where you read the lyrics) part of "I got my money on a *palm* tonight" should be "poem". It makes sense since he is describing the start of a teen romance. I haven't found any lyric on the internet with poem instead of palm/pond and english is not even my mother language :) but all the other words doesn't seem to hold the same meaning in that context.

Great song, good to see that The Killers didn't let us down with this album :)

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ahh_eloquence
12-07-2008

Rated 0 
this song is beautiful, i wasn't disappointed at all with this album.

for some reason, this song makes me think of breakfast at tiffany's, despite someone saying that brandon flowers already said it was about his parents.
in '61, the movie was made
moon river & long brown hair & foolish eyes
cinderella in a party dress
i took my money and i ran away.
out here where the dreams are high, out here where the wind dont blow



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rpgmaker
12-11-2008

Rated 0 
@eloquence: I'm starting to think that is better to not read other people's song "meanings", sometimes they're the true meaning of the song but not the one you had, which of course feels better. I personally don't like much when song writers write song about themselves, I mean, it's good and all but it's better when it isn't implied.

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2 Replies
makeitmorphine
12-17-2008

Rated +3 
"Now, Cinderella don't you go to sleep,
It's such a bitter form of refuge.
Don't you know the kingdom's under seige,
And everybody needs you?"

This was the point in the song where I started to cry.

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2 Replies
moodylupin
12-18-2008

Rated 0 
Amazing. That's sums it up.

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ConfessionsofaKing
12-22-2008

Rated 0 
"And the decades disappear like sinking ships
But we persevere, God gives us hope
But we still fear what we don't know."

her time is running out.

"I saw the devil wrapping up his hands
He's getting ready for the showdown."

this gives me the chills. the battle for survival will begin, & the devil wants to take her away.

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elizabeth86au
12-23-2008

Rated 0 
This song is fantastic, definitely one of my favourites from Day & Age. It does make you cry now and again...

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Bexolala
01-01-2009

Rated +1 
The last line should read 'Out where the dreams roll high'.

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1 Reply
Freddie77
01-07-2009

Rated 0 
such a beautiful song...a lot of great moments on the new album and this one really convinces you that day & age is even better than its superb predecessor, sam's town

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TheWaySheSaidLA
01-07-2009

Rated 0 
1) yeah it is "pawn" not palm, i think
2) is it really about his parents? that makes it so much more awesome

this is deff my fave song on this album!!

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iadorethetasteofrain
01-08-2009

Rated -1 
you can be beautiful at any age, she wants youth and hlth again
it;s tragic, isnt it?

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