Talk:When You Were Young

Untitled
I've removed the sentence "The song has already been seen as the Killers' best work yet, Rolling Stone claiming 'it gets better with every listen.'" The first part of this sentence is simply opinion, not fact. Chris25 09:38, 11 August 2006 (UTC)

"Interpretation"
Almost all of the "information" in it is politically charged and when listening to the song, hardly makes any sense. It seems to be a story about a relationship, extractign politics out of it is digging too deep. I think it should get taken out, if taht is all there is Vohod 23:02, 17 October 2006 (UTC)
 * I second this. Vjasper 19:45, 23 October 2006 (UTC)

Description Changes
This is the original description, which I created.

''The song is about a girl who has fallen in love with a boy, and who expects the boy to take care of her psychological faults. The boy is polite and offers her protection, which causes her to associate him with a sort of "knight in shining armor" character that she used to envision when she was young (the main chorus of the song being "He doesn't look a thing like Jesus, but he talks like a gentleman, like you imagined, when you were young").''

...and the new description...

''The song is about a girl who has envisioned the perfect guy(tall, dark, and handsome) to save her from all the bad habits she had possessed in the past. "You sit there in your heartache, waiting on some beautiful boy to save you from your old ways". When she does meet him however, he doesn't look anything like perfection or a savior of her "old ways"(Jesus is a savior in religous terms). "He doesn't look a thing like Jesus, But he talks like a gentlemen, Like you imagined when you were young". She finds out that she didn't expect to fall in love with this guy who looks nothing like the person she imagined when she was young. But he treats her right and fulfills all her needs acting like her "gentlemen." But she's knows its not going to be easy to change. "Can we climb this mountain, I don't know Higher now than ever before, I know we can make it if we take it slow, Let's take it easy, easy now, watch it go". She knows she's been a shallow person but it's human nature to act that way sometimes. "They say the devil's water, it ain't so sweet, You don't have to drink right now, But you can dip your feet, Every once in a little while". She is trying to accept the fact that he's not her perfect man, but she'll never know how much he really is. "He doesn't look a thing like Jesus, But more than you'll ever know".''

My main complaint is the fact that there is no part of the song that suggests that the person singing is this boy who is talked about. I would like it if people could add their comments and any additions to either text. I would like to actually discuss which we should use and what should be changed before I actually change anything. EDIT: Sorry, I forgot to log in & sign.Vjasper 16:31, 23 August 2006 (UTC)

I dont think there is any part of the NEW description that suggests the singer is the boy who is talked about. I think the singer is talking about a girl & not inluding himself. I think that the new description is better because it's more informative and it breaks down the song bit by bit. Your description is still good though, but listening to that song I'm leaning more to the newer description. Jack69 08:41 August 22 (UTC)

Is this interpretation of the song based on some kind of statement from the Killers? A source cite would be appropriate. If not, it seems like it's purely user opinion -- something we should stay away from on WP. Sekiyu 15:31, 6 September 2006 (UTC)


 * I haven't found any interviews where The Killers talk about the song's meaning. Seeing as the music video is out, I suggest we replace the Description section with a good description of the video and just keep the link to lyrics so people can try to interpret it as they wish. Anyone object? Vjasper 15:42, 6 September 2006 (UTC)

gender
When you say the song is about a girl is that supported by the lyrics? Because I don't think he specifies gender for anyone but the "beautiful boy". Everything else is in second person, addressed to "you". Unless I missed a line I'm not sure it's appropriate to arbitrarily assign a gender to that you.


 * Are you saying the song can be from a homosexual POV? i agree its not clear, but i still dont think that it can be about a boy who has crush on another boy. It seems rather illogical... 00Shoe, 1:58 August 23


 * The fact that you think homosexuality is "illogical" doesn't make it impossible for a song to be about homosexuals. There are (UTC)also many rumors about Brandon Flowers being bisexual.


 * Andy, You're a Star is also supposedly written from a homosexual POV. So it's entirely possible that this song is too, however, there's nothing in the song to explicitely suggest either way (unless you take the video into consideration, in which case it would indeed seem that the subject of the song is female). TheGreekMind 23:02, 25 August 2006 (UTC)


 * I was quite careful in my above comment not to assign gender either way, precisely to avoid speculation about Brandon's sexual orientation, references to Andy You're a Star, etc. That said I do think it's presumptious and heterocentrist to assume that the song must be about a girl since the love interest is a boy, but that is a bit immaterial. What I should have said is that gender specific references were left out of the song, and when we add our own we dilute the artisic integrity of the song to fit it to our own preconceptions, which is fine in your bedroom, but perhaps not on wikipedia. 75.25.183.33 04:59, 28 August 2006


 * I have to say I'm a bit bothered at the response to Shoe's comment. We seem to have the same problem that occured a couple years ago when everyone was saying that 50% of all characters in movies should be black. The obvious problem with their reasoning is that they wanted it to be realistic and they were bothered by the fact that there weren't enough black people in film, however the bottom line is that black people do not make up 50% of the population. Assuming that it is homosexual is illogical, because (if nothing else) there are more heterosexual people than there are homosexual people, thus if you take a sample of the environment it is more likely that you will find a heterosexual couple. Furthermore, despite rumors of Brandon people bisexual he has denied it and is happily married. Assuming that the song is about a heterosexual relationship is not in any way ridiculous. Furthermore, the music video is indeed about a man and a woman. Vjasper 17:20, 30 August 2006 (UTC)


 * Although I too believe that the song is written from a heterosexual point of view, when it comes to the Killers, homosexuality should never be ruled out. Some are of the opinion (including myself) that the entire album Hot Fuss was written about a homosexual love. --Trogdor077 05:38, 1 September 2006 (UTC)


 * I'm not saying it's impossible or anything, I'm simply saying that my first reaction isn't "omg t3h boyloves". From what I can tell, all the members of the band are heterosexual (at least by declaration), and the music video is about a woman. That is good enough for me, how about the rest of you? Vjasper 15:40, 6 September 2006 (UTC)


 * Yeah just watch the video there is a woman so that's that.

I think its entirely possible the songs about a guy...as Trogdor077 said, with The Killers, that possibility cannot be ruled out. Anyway, I like the song and so, that's that...gender isn't really such an important issue. A song is just a form of expression of someone's views.


 * I'd say that the music video influenced a lot of people. After all, it does seem to agre with the lyrics. I notice the video hasn't been mentioned in the article at all, so could someone change that? (My writing style is a bit too overbearing). --80.42.99.6 20:04, 3 October 2006 (UTC)

Bruce Springsteen?
Did Brandon Flowers really say that the album was "heavily influenced" by Bruce Springsteen? I read in Newsweek (October 16th) in which Brandon was interviewed (page 81).

Your newfound love of Springsteen's music's been overhyped. ''I feel kind of bad that his name has been attached to us, because what if he doesn't like it? All I did was tell a journalist that's what I was listening to. The album doesn't sound like "Born to Run." People get brainwashed into thinking that's what it sounds like because of what they've read.''

To me, that doesn't sound like he was "heavily influenced" by Springsteen, but rather, it's just what he was listening to at the time. Skin Crawl 17:29, 14 October 2006 (UTC)

I think the song is heavily influenced by Springsteen. Especially the lyric "and sometimes you close your eyes and see the place you used to live." (@ about 1:30). Go to youtube and listen to it. It sounds so close to Springsteen it's unbelievable (kind of similar to Born to Run). Everything from the guitar to the trailing off of the singer's voice. It's not like the Killers are copying Springsteen, the song does have its own uniqueness to it. wjs23 14 October 2006

When you were young - Satanic?
I heard many things about them, and I even heard that the Lyric of "When we were young" played or readed backward were becomming satanic Lyrics... Is that true? --INeedMoreInfo 18:30, 2 December 2006 (UTC)
 * You can take practically anything, play it backwards, and listen to it for a long time and you'll be able to hear something. Somebody with a grudge against The Killers probably listened to it until he found something that almost sounds like something satanic if you're listening for it. There nothing substantial, from what I've seen. As I've stated before, many people believe that one of the people in the song is the devil, however that's neither here nor there. Vjasper 22:29, 2 December 2006 (UTC)

music video
Nothing on the music video? 70.104.16.146 18:23, 11 December 2006 (UTC)


 * Yeah, it is only stated it was nominated for a Grammy. I came here to find the director, but nothing so far.

ALso why is their no info on the music info.... very weird considering it was the best music video i have seen for a long time!!!!????!!!!

Release Date
The first paragraph states the single was release in October 2006, the right-hand side panel says 18 September 2006. One (or both) of these must be wrong.Julianhall 19:16, 30 August 2007 (UTC)

My mistake, it actually says the album (Sam's Town) was released in October.Julianhall 20:30, 5 September 2007 (UTC)

Vandalism on this site! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 217.234.85.195 (talk) 19:28, 21 April 2009 (UTC)

success in germany due to DSDS
DSDS is American idol of Germany and the song was a flop in germany

but then a contestant there performed it and it reached # 44 on the german charts — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2A02:908:191:5FA0:5D2D:B3F5:51C2:1D02 (talk) 11:37, 3 October 2017 (UTC)

External links modified
Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just modified one external link on When You Were Young. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
 * Added archive https://www.webcitation.org/5llxpxG0K?url=http://www.xfm.co.uk/onair/shows/xfms-top-100-songs-of-all-time to http://www.xfm.co.uk/onair/shows/xfms-top-100-songs-of-all-time

When you have finished reviewing my changes, you may follow the instructions on the template below to fix any issues with the URLs.

Cheers.— InternetArchiveBot  (Report bug) 07:08, 13 January 2018 (UTC)