A lot of the things that I've thought of have already been said and some interesting things I haven't thought of are here too. Just gonna put in my two cents.
Like others have said, to me it seems to be about someone getting abducted by aliens. To get the visual for a "low light" just think back to X Files. Taking his blood type seems indicative of aliens experimenting on him and running tests. When he talks about he had been hoping that he could leave the world behind, but when he was abducted, he realized how much he wanted to go back to living on Earth. The thought that he could never get back there again made him really value what he had, so he changed his mind.
Having flown too far from the floor this time, and the part about disregarding bombs and satellites might refer to being in a UFO, something so advanced that it can disregard bombs and satellites. Maybe the aliens are calling him by his name. The zipping white light beams do bring images to mind of lights on UFO's. It was a turning point because that lonely night changed his life and his outlook on things.
As for the chorus, it seems to be talking about how he tries to deal with his experience. The "starmaker" would seem to refer to God. If he turns to religion to question his experience, in the grand scheme of things, religion says that it's not so bad. The "dream maker" making him mad would seem to address his dream flashbacks of his experience. Maybe he's tried to convince himself that it wasn't real, but he can't stop having dreams about it, which makes him mad. The "spaceman" could be referring to NASA specifically, but might be likened to the government, who tell everyone to look down so they don't see the truth: That aliens do exist and that the government covers it up. And they just tell everyone who says different that it's all in their mind.
The next verse talks about him after the abduction, when he's back on earth. And now that he values what he has he's "looking forward" to the life he lives. But he knows the experience will still haunt him, so he hesitates to believe whether or not it really happened. The next lines seem to provide a start contrast to him valuing life though, so I could be wrong. Or it could be how he feels after he's tried to tell others about his experience and no one believes him and people start to ridicule him and think of him as a joke (as often happens to those who claim to have been abducted by aliens). So it could be that after a while he contemplates taking his own life. Jumping off of a cliff into the sea. Thus being caught between the devil (who's telling him to jump) and the deep blue sea, where he would jump. Then he tells himself he'd better think it over, before he takes that leap.
Then he reassures the listener that he's really fine, but that sometimes he still hears those voices at night (in dreams maybe) and that they seem to justify his claims that he was abducted.
Then he talks about how the public doesn't dwell on his story because it wasn't televised, leading one to think that either the government didn't allow it (the spaceman says everybody look down) or no one took him seriously and didn't put it on the news.
He then sings the chorus again twice, presumably in the same spirit, but then in the end comes out saying, "It's all in my mind!" This entire song seems to be Brandon/the Narrator teetering back and forth between believing his experience is real and dismissing it as in his mind, as others keep telling him. At the end of the song, he's once again become convinced that it really all is in his mind.
The story The Killers tell with this song is amazing. It really seems to capture the mental processes of an abductee and what they go through (at least based on what I've seen on TV and in movies XP ) and give a really personal feel to it. You feel sorry for this person. They don't know what's real any more. That "lonely night" really WAS a turning point. His life was completely changed. Now he questions his own sanity, grappling with his experience, real or not.
Anyway, that's just my thoughts on the lyrics. Who knows, I could be totally off base. Just thought I'd share! Hope someone finds this interesting!
Hey there,
First comment on the site. Long-time viewer.
A lot of the things that I've thought of have already been said and some interesting things I haven't thought of are here too. Just gonna put in my two cents.
Like others have said, to me it seems to be about someone getting abducted by aliens. To get the visual for a "low light" just think back to X Files. Taking his blood type seems indicative of aliens experimenting on him and running tests. When he talks about he had been hoping that he could leave the world behind, but when he was abducted, he realized how much he wanted to go back to living on Earth. The thought that he could never get back there again made him really value what he had, so he changed his mind.
Having flown too far from the floor this time, and the part about disregarding bombs and satellites might refer to being in a UFO, something so advanced that it can disregard bombs and satellites. Maybe the aliens are calling him by his name. The zipping white light beams do bring images to mind of lights on UFO's. It was a turning point because that lonely night changed his life and his outlook on things.
As for the chorus, it seems to be talking about how he tries to deal with his experience. The "starmaker" would seem to refer to God. If he turns to religion to question his experience, in the grand scheme of things, religion says that it's not so bad. The "dream maker" making him mad would seem to address his dream flashbacks of his experience. Maybe he's tried to convince himself that it wasn't real, but he can't stop having dreams about it, which makes him mad. The "spaceman" could be referring to NASA specifically, but might be likened to the government, who tell everyone to look down so they don't see the truth: That aliens do exist and that the government covers it up. And they just tell everyone who says different that it's all in their mind.
The next verse talks about him after the abduction, when he's back on earth. And now that he values what he has he's "looking forward" to the life he lives. But he knows the experience will still haunt him, so he hesitates to believe whether or not it really happened. The next lines seem to provide a start contrast to him valuing life though, so I could be wrong. Or it could be how he feels after he's tried to tell others about his experience and no one believes him and people start to ridicule him and think of him as a joke (as often happens to those who claim to have been abducted by aliens). So it could be that after a while he contemplates taking his own life. Jumping off of a cliff into the sea. Thus being caught between the devil (who's telling him to jump) and the deep blue sea, where he would jump. Then he tells himself he'd better think it over, before he takes that leap.
Then he reassures the listener that he's really fine, but that sometimes he still hears those voices at night (in dreams maybe) and that they seem to justify his claims that he was abducted.
Then he talks about how the public doesn't dwell on his story because it wasn't televised, leading one to think that either the government didn't allow it (the spaceman says everybody look down) or no one took him seriously and didn't put it on the news.
He then sings the chorus again twice, presumably in the same spirit, but then in the end comes out saying, "It's all in my mind!" This entire song seems to be Brandon/the Narrator teetering back and forth between believing his experience is real and dismissing it as in his mind, as others keep telling him. At the end of the song, he's once again become convinced that it really all is in his mind.
The story The Killers tell with this song is amazing. It really seems to capture the mental processes of an abductee and what they go through (at least based on what I've seen on TV and in movies XP ) and give a really personal feel to it. You feel sorry for this person. They don't know what's real any more. That "lonely night" really WAS a turning point. His life was completely changed. Now he questions his own sanity, grappling with his experience, real or not.
Anyway, that's just my thoughts on the lyrics. Who knows, I could be totally off base. Just thought I'd share! Hope someone finds this interesting!
S'rac