A Dustland Fairytale

"A Dustland Fairytale"
Single by The Killers
from the album Day & Age
B-side	Forget About What I Said
Released	US May 9, 2009 (2009-05-09) UK July 10, 2009 (2009-07-10)
Format	Download
Recorded	2008
Genre	Heartland rock
Length	3:46
Label	Island
Writer(s)	The Killers
Producer	Stuart Price, The Killers
The Killers singles chronology
"The World We Live In" (2009) "A Dustland Fairytale" (2009) "¡Happy Birthday Guadalupe!" (2009)

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

Background

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

Release

The song was released as the third 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".^[2]

It was the fourth single from Day & Age in the UK and was released on August 10, 2009.^[3]

Tracklisting

UK 7" Picture Disc

1. "A Dustland Fairytale" - 3:45
2. "Forget About What I Said" - 2:57^[4]

UK Digital EP^[5]

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

Response

Chart performance

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[6]	137
US Billboard Modern Rock Tracks[7]	36

Music video

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

The video premiered in the UK on June 16 on Channel 4 and 4 Music.

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 boy, Joey, 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". http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=12963. Retrieved May 2009. 
2. ^ "Dustland for North America". Billboard. http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/news/killers-prepping-live-dvd-covers-album-1003965994.story. Retrieved April, 2009. 
3. ^ Petridis, Alexis. "New Single Out August 10th". London: Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2009/jul/18/killers-brandon-flowers-interview. Retrieved July 2009. 
4. ^ "B Side". Amazon. http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B002HQZ9BU. Retrieved July, 2009. 
5. ^ "Digital EP". ITunes. http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?id=326160863&s=143444. Retrieved August, 2009. 
6. ^ "[1]". chartsplus. Retrieved on August 20, 2009.
7. ^ "US Mod Rock". Billboard. http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/esearch/chart_display.jsp?cfi=377&cfgn=Singles&cfn=Hot+Modern+Rock+Tracks&ci=3109430&cdi=10233211&cid=07%2F04%2F2009. Retrieved June,2009. 
8. ^ "Behind The Scenes". last.fm. http://www.last.fm/music/The+Killers/+videos/29347853. Retrieved June, 2009.