Rarely–or at least less often than I would like–do I feel that the lyrics of an artist give the listener a glimpse into the artist’s internal struggle with the thick,  tough tangles of life. But I think that The Killers’ frontman Brandon Flowers allows us more than a fleeting glance. He offers a strange but refreshing unraveling of self, with his doubts and fears spread out on the table, in order for us to examine and maybe compare them to our own. Flowers is never hesitant to be self-effacing or even self-deprecating–not to evoke pathos per se, but rather he does so because he is being human***, within and through the music he writes. For this reason alone, I highly respect his art, because it reflects the human experience in the midst of a threatening, confusing world.

There are numerous songs in The Killers’ repertoire that embody Flowers’ honest bearing of soul, but here I will just cite one: Why Do I Keep Counting? (listen here). While Flowers expresses everyman concerns (“Will I live to have some children?”), his voice trembles throughout the song with a greater desire to live a life with greater meaning and purpose.

If I only knew the answer…
If I change my way of living,
And If I pave my streets with good times,
Will the mountain keep on giving?

And if all of our days are numbered,
Then why do I keep counting?

***Yes, this is a shameless plug for The Killers’ new album, Day & Age (available Tuesday, 11/25), with its current hit single Human.

Talk, talking a lot, but it’s still talk
Gotta love how it’s somehow all on me
All the petty scenes
And all the pretty things
Say whatever you want
‘Cause I can laugh it off.
I can laugh it off.

unsettling sense,
who gently shakes
the preconceived.

turn, now, here?
to hint with flesh.
more can be done there,
no? yes.
affirm that which
was always there.

there, where smiles abound.
where the Presence
is there, in spite of the Absence.

present yourself, there.
sense it fast.
don’t absent yourself.
you know you’re right.

the true sense lingers,
rubs your shoulder.
conceives anew.

i usually try to be coherent in my posts, but if i was it wouldn’t be reflective of my current state (whatever that is).

Come and see
I swear by now I’m playing time against my troubles
I’m coming slow but speeding…
Do you wish for a dance and while I’m in the front
My play on time is won
Oh, but the difficulty is coming here…

-#41, DMB

Strange evolution, how people have come to believe
That we are it’s greatest achievement
When really we’re just a collection of cells
Overrating themselves…

-Eh Hee, Dave Matthews

Aren’t we all to you just lost causes? 
Are we all to you lost?

-Fin, Anberlin