I agree with Lauren_Leah, too; that interpretation was most likely the closest to the actual meaning of the song. But, just to add a few things:
The zipping white light beams disregarding bombs and satellites could be the point where he has an out-of-body experience. Essentially, when a person comes near the moment of death, they have a realisation about the life they've led when confronted with the opportunity to either continue onward to Heaven or stay on Earth -- he chose to live. They're angels, meaning bombs, satellites, and all of those things man-made do little to impede their movement.
Because no one seemed to post the actual meaning of the phrase: the phrase "trapped between the devil and the deep blue sea" is a fairly old one. It refers to a situation where a person's predicament is so bad that they aren't able to avoid the issue any longer. The Spanish version does a little more justice to the meaning; it's translated as something like "to be trapped between the sword and the wall" -- meaning there isn't any place left to run from the whatever it is that troubles you. In relation to the song, he keeps emphasising the enormous loneliness of "that night" and it's probable that during one point of that night, that loneliness just let out all of his issues and it overwhelmed him -- he had no place to turn to try to console himself and, as a result, got sick of the world and attempted to commit suicide. The Killers, however, take the meaning of the phrase to another level at the part where it speaks about reconsidering taking "the leap". Essentially, following the meaning of the song, what happened that night is that the singer was the one trapped between the devil and the deep blue sea without any place left to run from his loneliness; his issue finally caught up with him; but instead of being able to settle himself down, he took the final leap off of that cliff, and into the deep blue sea, in an attempt to take his life. So, having experienced this and found how valuable life is to him, he's attempting to instruct others to really think through their issues and see if those problems are worth taking one's own life to avoid.
Regarding the part about the Nile, I assume that it could have something to do with the passage of time and the progression of life -- about the rising and setting sun. Basically, when plagued by issues, it isn't as if life simply stops until a person resolves them. Nor is every problem solely directed at one unlucky person -- though it's really easy and common to feel singled out when you have such issues. So, I assume that he speaks about life moving on, both as a way to tell a person considering suicide that evidently their issues will even out and to explain that one death will not stop the world as life will keep moving.
Otherwise, I agree with Lauren's interpretation, particularly at the part where it mentions the Star-maker and Dream-maker. I think, though, that when referring to the spaceman, he actually refers to himself in a state after he had the out-of-body experience. He's essentially looking down on the planet and the people, observing their problems and how many people tend to 'look up' to god or whatever else they believe in as a sort of way of asking for help in resolving their issues. The spaceman, contrarily, explains that the issues are all within their minds and presumably temporary -- not physical and indefinite -- and to simply look back down and help themselves to move onward.
well re. "the devil and the deep blue sea", i think the spanish phrase you're drawing parallels to is closer to the english phrase, "caught between a rock and a hard place."
well re. "the devil and the deep blue sea", i think the spanish phrase you're drawing parallels to is closer to the english phrase, "caught between a rock and a hard place."
if we read this song as describing a suicide attempt, there's at least one sensible interpretation - flowers's oft-professed religious beliefs regard suicide as a sin, hence the devil, and severe depression has been described as feeling like being "at the bottom of the ocean". the text as a whole almost fits neatly to this construction, except i can't quite fit the 'spaceman' as a metaphor, or the line about the nile. (i mean, depending how much you're willing to stretch it, you can relate ANY two things metaphorically, but still.)
the second construction that makes sense to me is as a commentary on fame, in which case, we can regard the "deep blue sea" as utter obscurity, and the "devil" as the well-documented and exploitive practices of the recording industry. (this last bit fits particularly well in light of other killers songs, including "neon tiger" and "why don't you find out for yourself", which are similarly critical of the industry.)
there is a certain degree of impressive artistry in well-written pop music that can lend itself just as readily to any of an array of interpretations, and i think this is a triumph of that technique, but there's still a part of me that wishes they'd pick one concept, make it explicit, flesh it out a little more.
anyway the alien abduction theme, while obvious - or perhaps because of how obvious it is - seems pretty clearly to just be a metaphor. too much of the song doesn't fit into it.
Do you not want to read deeper into the diction, the choice of his words? If it was about being between a rock and a hard place, there are no doubt better phrases that would have sufficed, and possibly rhymed better.
An interpretation I most agree with [here] is that the writer was stuck between fame and anonymity. I won't read too deep into devil, but it represents the pain of fame, while the ocean is the peace of being lost in a "sea" of faces. The writer was stuck with these choices, and his use of diction clearly shows his...
Do you not want to read deeper into the diction, the choice of his words? If it was about being between a rock and a hard place, there are no doubt better phrases that would have sufficed, and possibly rhymed better.
An interpretation I most agree with [here] is that the writer was stuck between fame and anonymity. I won't read too deep into devil, but it represents the pain of fame, while the ocean is the peace of being lost in a "sea" of faces. The writer was stuck with these choices, and his use of diction clearly shows his views on which he prefered. Of course, this doesn't make sense without the original interpretation, done by this guy:
songmeanings.net/profiles/submissions/17443049/comments/
Anyway, just look for his Spaceman interpretation. To me, it seemed the most well-thought-out, because he brought in some context about the artist.
I agree with Lauren_Leah, too; that interpretation was most likely the closest to the actual meaning of the song. But, just to add a few things:
The zipping white light beams disregarding bombs and satellites could be the point where he has an out-of-body experience. Essentially, when a person comes near the moment of death, they have a realisation about the life they've led when confronted with the opportunity to either continue onward to Heaven or stay on Earth -- he chose to live. They're angels, meaning bombs, satellites, and all of those things man-made do little to impede their movement.
Because no one seemed to post the actual meaning of the phrase: the phrase "trapped between the devil and the deep blue sea" is a fairly old one. It refers to a situation where a person's predicament is so bad that they aren't able to avoid the issue any longer. The Spanish version does a little more justice to the meaning; it's translated as something like "to be trapped between the sword and the wall" -- meaning there isn't any place left to run from the whatever it is that troubles you. In relation to the song, he keeps emphasising the enormous loneliness of "that night" and it's probable that during one point of that night, that loneliness just let out all of his issues and it overwhelmed him -- he had no place to turn to try to console himself and, as a result, got sick of the world and attempted to commit suicide. The Killers, however, take the meaning of the phrase to another level at the part where it speaks about reconsidering taking "the leap". Essentially, following the meaning of the song, what happened that night is that the singer was the one trapped between the devil and the deep blue sea without any place left to run from his loneliness; his issue finally caught up with him; but instead of being able to settle himself down, he took the final leap off of that cliff, and into the deep blue sea, in an attempt to take his life. So, having experienced this and found how valuable life is to him, he's attempting to instruct others to really think through their issues and see if those problems are worth taking one's own life to avoid.
Regarding the part about the Nile, I assume that it could have something to do with the passage of time and the progression of life -- about the rising and setting sun. Basically, when plagued by issues, it isn't as if life simply stops until a person resolves them. Nor is every problem solely directed at one unlucky person -- though it's really easy and common to feel singled out when you have such issues. So, I assume that he speaks about life moving on, both as a way to tell a person considering suicide that evidently their issues will even out and to explain that one death will not stop the world as life will keep moving.
Otherwise, I agree with Lauren's interpretation, particularly at the part where it mentions the Star-maker and Dream-maker. I think, though, that when referring to the spaceman, he actually refers to himself in a state after he had the out-of-body experience. He's essentially looking down on the planet and the people, observing their problems and how many people tend to 'look up' to god or whatever else they believe in as a sort of way of asking for help in resolving their issues. The spaceman, contrarily, explains that the issues are all within their minds and presumably temporary -- not physical and indefinite -- and to simply look back down and help themselves to move onward.
That's mostly my two cents.
I think the starmaker is God, as its not unusual 4 the killers to have religious connotations..
I think the starmaker is God, as its not unusual 4 the killers to have religious connotations..
well re. "the devil and the deep blue sea", i think the spanish phrase you're drawing parallels to is closer to the english phrase, "caught between a rock and a hard place."
well re. "the devil and the deep blue sea", i think the spanish phrase you're drawing parallels to is closer to the english phrase, "caught between a rock and a hard place."
if we read this song as describing a suicide attempt, there's at least one sensible interpretation - flowers's oft-professed religious beliefs regard suicide as a sin, hence the devil, and severe depression has been described as feeling like being "at the bottom of the ocean". the text as a whole almost fits neatly to this construction, except i can't quite fit the 'spaceman' as a metaphor, or the line about the nile. (i mean, depending how much you're willing to stretch it, you can relate ANY two things metaphorically, but still.)
the second construction that makes sense to me is as a commentary on fame, in which case, we can regard the "deep blue sea" as utter obscurity, and the "devil" as the well-documented and exploitive practices of the recording industry. (this last bit fits particularly well in light of other killers songs, including "neon tiger" and "why don't you find out for yourself", which are similarly critical of the industry.)
there is a certain degree of impressive artistry in well-written pop music that can lend itself just as readily to any of an array of interpretations, and i think this is a triumph of that technique, but there's still a part of me that wishes they'd pick one concept, make it explicit, flesh it out a little more.
anyway the alien abduction theme, while obvious - or perhaps because of how obvious it is - seems pretty clearly to just be a metaphor. too much of the song doesn't fit into it.
Do you not want to read deeper into the diction, the choice of his words? If it was about being between a rock and a hard place, there are no doubt better phrases that would have sufficed, and possibly rhymed better. An interpretation I most agree with [here] is that the writer was stuck between fame and anonymity. I won't read too deep into devil, but it represents the pain of fame, while the ocean is the peace of being lost in a "sea" of faces. The writer was stuck with these choices, and his use of diction clearly shows his...
Do you not want to read deeper into the diction, the choice of his words? If it was about being between a rock and a hard place, there are no doubt better phrases that would have sufficed, and possibly rhymed better. An interpretation I most agree with [here] is that the writer was stuck between fame and anonymity. I won't read too deep into devil, but it represents the pain of fame, while the ocean is the peace of being lost in a "sea" of faces. The writer was stuck with these choices, and his use of diction clearly shows his views on which he prefered. Of course, this doesn't make sense without the original interpretation, done by this guy: songmeanings.net/profiles/submissions/17443049/comments/
Anyway, just look for his Spaceman interpretation. To me, it seemed the most well-thought-out, because he brought in some context about the artist.