UPDATE: I've been advised that the good folks over at rDrama are brigading the survey, so I've closed it. I'll have to see if there's any way to exclude the troll responses from my analysis.
In yesterday's small-scale questions thread, @cjet79 asks why the song "Mr. Brightside" by The Killers has had such staying power, famously staying in the UK singles charts decades after its initial release. Some explanations (including my own) point to its compositional elements; others focus on its lyrics and subject matter. @100ProofTollBooth argues that it's a very universal and relatable song, as "The experience of infidelity (to some degree) is common to many (most? idk) people."
I'm curious if this is really the case, so I decided to go Aella mode and created a simple survey to find out about people's experiences with infidelity. It consists of a few demographic questions (age, sex, sexual orientation, relationship style), then asks you if you've ever had an unfaithful partner, then asks you if you've ever been unfaithful to a partner.
Completely anonymous, and I've set it up so the form doesn't collect email addresses if you're logged in.
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
Notes -
Are people really listening to lyrics of songs that much? I mostly don't, regardless of what language they're in, even if I'm the one singing. I'm listening to the music.
Lyrics are often borderline incoherent and made to fit the music, not the other way around.
I like the Killers, and I do pay attention to lyrics, but I think you're right in that most of the Killers' lyrics are nonsense. Sure, the song has general themes of jealousy, but not much coherence beyond that.
Consider the first two lines. "Comin' out of my cage and I've been doin' just fine / Gotta, gotta be down because I want it all." These lyrics barely make sense and seemingly have nothing to do with the rest of the song. And then you get to lines like "Turning saints into the sea / Swimming through sick lullabies" that make even less sense. Sure, you can try to interpret them to mean something, but they're mostly just there to sound cool. I doubt Brandon Flowers intended any deeper meaning.
It's not even clear to me that the song is about infidelity. I read it as being about a guy who is pining after a woman who its not interested in him, and he is imagining scenarios where she is sleeping with other men ("it's all in my head").
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