The Killers - A Dustland Fairytale - Lyrics Meaning

Written by Brandon Flowers, frontman and keyboard player, this track was released by the American alternative rock band in 2008. It's a very personal song which tells the story of his parents, beginning with how they met when only aged fifteen and living on the same trailer park.

Flowers said in an interview, "It's an attempt to come to grips with the fact they're getting older. They're in their mid-sixties and my dad is my connection to...the pure America. It's like a love letter I guess. I see what's happening now with the kids and...it was just simpler back then. There's so much junk now."

With his unique brand of lyrics, Flowers poetically paints a fairytale image with his parents, in their youth, playing the lead roles of Cinderella and Prince Charming. The theme continues with mention of `castles in the sky,' although the passage of time is being recognized by the line, `the drawbridge is closing.'

Perhaps the most memorable point put across through the lyrics is one accepting the inevitable with the fact that time will continue to pass and we'll all continue to grow older described beautifully by the line, `and the decades disappear like sinking ships.'