This post has become a heated debate. To sum it all up, its DANCER. To know why, carry on reading and definitely check out the comments!
I’m a bit of a Killers fan. I loved hot Fuss, liked Sam’s Town and am hoping I’ll like new album. I seem to be on the losing side but I like their new song, Human. Once it hits the charts I think people will suddenly change their minds and like it too.
At first I thought the lyrics were “are we human or are we dancers?”. Thinking this couldn’t be right I looked up the lyrics and found its not dancers, its denser. It appears I’m not the only one mishearing the lyrics. Popwatch have an entire article about it, crazy.
I’m 90% sure it is denser now, even if it does sound like dancers. It would be funny if the official lyric was dancer.
P.S. This post is just a segway segue (thanks Ann) so that I can gloat I got Killers tickets. 
Edit: Since posting this it seems various other sources are confirming ‘dancer(s)’ as the actual word. I guess I was right, and then wrong, and now just confused.
220 Comments
dancers like sheep?
search Molotov, it’s a mexican band, the album is “Dance and Dense Denso”.
Dense Denso =density. In the Killers song i think it refers to the relation between Human with Spirit and Boby or something dense…
What a enormous discussion
I heard it a lot of times,and all the times heard just “dancers”.
Sounds likes non-sense,or not.
I agree with what Gidejon said:
“It does not make syntactical sense to say “dancer”, actually, so I don’t know where you learnt to write English. The song has some of the stupidest lyrics but it is “dancer” not “denser”. It’s derived from what Thompsons (Hunter S. Thompson) said about America raising a generation of dancers. The plural is derived from the plural pronoun “we”. It does not make sense to say “are we dancer”. He is not asking “are we humans” because there is no need to use the plural “human”. It’s like having to say “are we Englishmen?” rather than “are we English?” .
It doesn’t sound better, it makes him sound like a retard. ”
and I also agree on what Hollina said:
“If he were to have said “dancers” people would not have even thought twice about the significance of the main line in the song and they would have said, “Oh yes, dancers, those people who go up on stage, what a pretty song.” Instead we get all of this lovely discussion on websites where people might for a moment look to their lives and ask the question, Am I human or am i Dancer?”
If Flowers tried to exercise his poetic license and garner attention to this song then he, on all accounts, did a damn good job. I’ve never had a fascination for lyrics before I listened to this song.
However, had he sung ‘dancers’ instead of ‘dancer’, it would still have made people sit up and think, “Aren’t all dancers humans?”. It would still hold a cryptic meaning, it would probably still fire off discussions. But the song sucks because of that word that is grammatically incorrect. It sticks out like a sore thumb in what would have been my favourite Killers song.
And the fact that he mentioned ‘he can do what he wants’ pretty much sums up the arrogance of a person that he is – this coming from a self-proclaimed Killers fan. Lyrics traditionally dont have meaning when read or taken on face value (Ever listen to Nirvana songs? Complete rubbish) but in my opinion Flowers didnt have to do what he did with the lyrics of this song.
I only read these comments because I got into the same debate with my friend. My dad always listens to Key 103 radio when he drives and it apparantly said that the lyrics were denser, so I looked up the word, always thinking it meant tightly packed or very thick or something. However, when I looked it up I found another meaning: it can also mean stupid or slow to learn and understand. So, since then, I was convinced the lyrics must be denser. But then, I looked at some of the comments on this website and the fact they may have changed dancer from a noun to an adjective is something so typical of this band. The lyrics are deep, almost poetic. Can you really expect the Killers to simply sit down and say things straight out?
So for those who believe it is denser, I guess there is an argument for it, almost like it is saying ‘are we human or are we stupid’. However, I think that dancer is right. Imagine a line of dancers, all doing the same thing, all moving in a rigid formation. Then, think about what is meant by human, what makes up a human like emotion, love etc. So, if you put it together, what it is really asking is ‘Are we capable of love and emotion and individuality or are we just following what the person in front is doing?’ If you look at it that way, it makes sense.
Wow, this is really winding me up!!
The way I see it is this;
The ambiguous word is DANCER. That is what Brandon Flowers says it is, and as it is he that wrote the song, that is what the word is. End of story, no arguments!
Anyone that insists that it is DENSER is either:
1) Stupid, in which case there is no point in arguing with them
or
2) Trying to perpetuate the argument, in which case there is no point in arguing with them…!
Thanks for listening.
Ya, I believe he is saying dancer but by not pronouncing it plural it has an effect that kind of hides the word and makes it sound like it is fading out leaving it more up to the listener to interpret what he is saying. Denser does not seem like very descriptive word. Denser to me means stupid. If you say that person is really dense you mean he is a moron. Plus it simply doesn’t sound like he is saying denser. I definitely hear the “DAN” in dancer but I do not hear the “s”. But if he perfectly enunciated the word it would sound like I was at school or something. Who wants to listen to that? A good example of this artistic phrasing would be Tom Yorke. Half the time I can’t tell what he is saying at all but that makes my imagination go wild. That is the whole point.
I agree with Lewis. It’s in reference to popular 80’s Italian imbecile – Tony Danza.
to be a dancer you have to be human at first…so….if you re not human you could be more or less than that or something different.. something denser
Wow just wow. ITS DANCER!!!!
DENSER
ok. you guys. to start. answer rymes with dancer. not denser. secondly. do you even know the meaning of the song? its derived from a famous quote by Hunter S. Thompson saying that america is raising a generation of DANCERS. any one who thinks the words are denser…just….wow……
I agree with Geoff Capes. The Killers are on record as saying they were big fans of “Who’s the Boss” and imparticular Tony “Ey, Yooz Guys” Danza. The much-loved 80s Italian half-wit was also referenced in Elton Johns 1971 tribute to “The Danz” that featured the lyrics “Hold me closer, Tony Danza”.
you are all iddiots for arguing for such an invallad cause all of u need to grow up
Its dancer on the killers website they sell tshirts saying are we human or are we dancer, Its from the quote “America is raising a generation of dancers” but he says human instead of humans so he also didnt make dancer plural
I didn’t read through all of these but people who don’t get why denser doesn’t make sense, it would be wondering if we have souls, if we’re more than just people that live and die.. that would make sense since he is “on his knees (praying) looking for the answer”. the whole thing sounds like death and whether or not the person who is dead/dying is still existing. “there is no message we’re receiving. Tell me, is your heart still beating?” “wave, goodbye, you’ve got to let me go” “cut the cord” … however if the people say it’s dancer I guess it is. to me though, it will always be denser. It’s way better that way
Hello, my name Nathan Mwembe. I like the Killer, The Kings of the Leon and the Five Star. Anyone want to be penpal please reply. Thank.
it is definitely denser…in the sense are we human or denser..that is much heavier,is there something more to our existence than we actuall know of it..are we thicker that we think of ourselves…read the rics in that sense and you will understand the song more thoroughly
On a different note, Girls Aloud, on the pop hit “Something Kinda Ooh” sing the lyric “Something Kind Ooh, Jumping on my Toot-Toot”. What the fuck’s all that about then?
DENSER PLS!
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