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A Dustland Fairytale

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"A Dustland Fairytale"
Song
B-side"Forget About What I Said"

"A Dustland Fairytale" is a song by American rock band The Killers. The song is said to be about frontman Brandon Flowers' parents.[1]

On May 11, The Killers performed "A Dustland Fairytale" live on the Late Show with David Letterman with a complete orchestra. [2]

The song was also sung with an orchestra on Live From Abbey Road

Background

The cover art for the single is a portrait of the band's guitarist Mark Stoermer, and is one of the four portraits drawn by Paul Normansell for the album.

Release

The song was released as the fourth single from the band's third studio album Day & Age in North America. In the UK, Europe and Australia, the third single released was "The World We Live In".[3]

It was the fourth single from Day & Age in the UK and was released on August 10, 2009.[4]

Tracklisting

UK 7" Picture Disc

  1. "A Dustland Fairytale" - 3:45
  2. "Forget About What I Said" - 2:57 [5]

UK Digital EP [6]

  1. "A Dustland Fairytale" - 3:45
  2. "A Dustland Fairytale - Video" - 5:09

Charts

In December 2008, "A Dustland Fairytale" charted in the UK Top 200 on Album Track Downloads alone, at number 158 , in the week of its official release it re-entered at 137.

Chart (2009) Peak
position
UK Singles Chart[7] 137
US Billboard Modern Rock Tracks[8] 36

Music video

The video was directed by Anthony Mandler who also directed Killers videos for "Tranquilize" and "When You Were Young"[9] It was released on US iTunes on June 8, 2009.

The video premiered in the UK on June 16 at 11.40pm on Channel 4.

The video shows an old man named Joe White, smoking with a tattoo of the number 7 on one of his fingers. It then reflects on a younger man, "Joey", showing the same 7 on the finger, dressed in a leather jacket, white shirt and leather pants and about to fight a member of another gang, "Billy", for his own gang, the "Sevens". Throughout the video, it shows the younger man dating a brunette girl, then there is a flashback of Joey looking at the brunette girl through her window, as she turns around and kisses Billy, while it shows the older man going to all the locations shown, reflecting on the memories of his youth. Interspersed with this is a letter that the man has, showing that he has just been released from prison, which gives a clue to the result of the initial fight - he kills Billy. The final shot is of an older Joe visiting a house, ringing the doorbell to find an older brunette woman answer the door, and they embrace.

Release history

Region Date Format Label
Worldwide November 23, 2008 Digital Download Island Records
North America June 9, 2009 Video Download Island Def Jam
United Kingdom August 9, 2009 Digital EP Mercury Records
United Kingdom August 10, 2009 7 Inch Vinyl Mercury Records

References

  1. ^ "Songfacts.com A Dustland Fairytale". Retrieved May 2009. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  2. ^ "Dustland Live on David Letterman". David Letterman. Retrieved May, 2009. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  3. ^ "Dustland for North America". Billboard. Retrieved April, 2009. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  4. ^ "New Single Out August 10th". Guardian. Retrieved July,2009. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  5. ^ "B Side". Amazon. Retrieved July, 2009. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  6. ^ "Digital EP". ITunes. Retrieved August, 2009. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  7. ^ "[1]". chartsplus. Retrieved on August 20, 2009.
  8. ^ "US Mod Rock". Billboard. Retrieved June,2009. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  9. ^ "Behind The Scenes". last.fm. Retrieved June, 2009. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)