Taken from the Killers biography "Destiny is Calling Me" by Jarrett Keene:
"While Flowers' song isn't exactly accurate in describing Valentine, it does capture the essence of the man. Valentine was a professional gambler based in Vegas whose own alt-rock band, Romance Fantasy, would inspire Brandon to acheive a new level of dangerous romanticism in his songwriting.
Michael Valentine loves the classics of Western literature: Jane Austen, Herman Melville, Charles Dickens. He's a huge fan of Roxy Music and the Smiths. He sings and plays guitar like Johnny Cash fronting Blur, and his band has played every Vegas dive bar from one end of town to the other. At night you can find him at a poker table somewhere on the Strip.... Young women haven been known to follow him around, drawn to his powerful 6'3" physique, his wit and charm."
Apparently Valentine was in the band Romance Fantasy with Ronnie Vannucci. RF didn't make Ronnie famous - The Killers did. I have a feeling that Michael perhaps felt pissed that The Killers took Ronnie from his band... and yet I think that Brandon saw some value in Michael (as a friend and as some sort of ally to the Killers... he clearly admired his songwriting capabilities)... but maybe Michael brushed Brandon off and now Brandon just wants to impress Michael that he, too, can write well - and can't we all just get along? That sort of thing ("can't we unite?"). But if Michael doesn't want to unite, then Brandon is prepared to move on without him ("I ain't gonna let you rain on this parade.") And all in all, he wrote this prior to a show that he knew Michael would attend, so he wanted to perform this for him as one last-ditch effort to win his friendship back ("I know he's gonna be there tonight.")
Taken from the Killers biography "Destiny is Calling Me" by Jarrett Keene:
"While Flowers' song isn't exactly accurate in describing Valentine, it does capture the essence of the man. Valentine was a professional gambler based in Vegas whose own alt-rock band, Romance Fantasy, would inspire Brandon to acheive a new level of dangerous romanticism in his songwriting.
Michael Valentine loves the classics of Western literature: Jane Austen, Herman Melville, Charles Dickens. He's a huge fan of Roxy Music and the Smiths. He sings and plays guitar like Johnny Cash fronting Blur, and his band has played every Vegas dive bar from one end of town to the other. At night you can find him at a poker table somewhere on the Strip.... Young women haven been known to follow him around, drawn to his powerful 6'3" physique, his wit and charm."
Apparently Valentine was in the band Romance Fantasy with Ronnie Vannucci. RF didn't make Ronnie famous - The Killers did. I have a feeling that Michael perhaps felt pissed that The Killers took Ronnie from his band... and yet I think that Brandon saw some value in Michael (as a friend and as some sort of ally to the Killers... he clearly admired his songwriting capabilities)... but maybe Michael brushed Brandon off and now Brandon just wants to impress Michael that he, too, can write well - and can't we all just get along? That sort of thing ("can't we unite?"). But if Michael doesn't want to unite, then Brandon is prepared to move on without him ("I ain't gonna let you rain on this parade.") And all in all, he wrote this prior to a show that he knew Michael would attend, so he wanted to perform this for him as one last-ditch effort to win his friendship back ("I know he's gonna be there tonight.")
I don't know... that's just my take on it...