Voted song of 2008 by Rolling Stone, The Killers’ ‘Human’ has an interesting line, that seems grammatically incorrect –
‘Are we human,
or are we dancer?’
Wikipedia: ‘There remains confusion and debate over the line “Are we human, or are we dancer?” in the song’s chorus. Debate raged across the internet over whether the lyrics said “denser” or “dancer”, a misunderstanding which invoked conflicting interpretations of the song’s meaning. Entertainment Weekly’s Pop Watch section called this line the “silliest lyrics of the week”. They were puzzled by the interpretation, stating “most dancers are generally human”. On the band’s official website, the biography section states that Flowers is singing “Are we human, or are we dancer?” and also says that the lyrics were inspired by a disparaging comment made by Hunter S. Thompson, where he stated America was raising “a generation of dancers”‘
Comments: Both lines can have interesting implications if interpreted with the Dharma. For ‘Are we human, or are we dancer?’ – Are we static humans, or do we prance around, dance around and morph in the rounds of Samsara and in this life itself, becoming sometimes less than human by falling into the lower realms, and sometimes superhuman by becoming more enlightened? For ‘Are we human, or are we denser?’ – Are we mere imperfect humans in the outer physical sense, or is there something denser within, in a good sense, at our spiritual core, that is more than human? Buddha-nature.
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Let us not put words into the artists’ mouth. Actually the words “Are we human, or are we dancers?” arose from a statement made by the late Hunter S. Thompson, who committed suicide in 2005, that questioned whether we are raising a generation of self-obsessed and vacuous dancers. It was argued that US was making people afraid of stepping out of place and following their own beat. Hence “dancers” here means to go through motion as they were choreographed by someone else, being afraid of expressing our own individuality.
The rest of the lyrics confirms this perspective. It describes a person’s dilemma on choosing to be “human” and “cut the cord” of social convention. Yet this person is full of nervousness and doubt because this would mean renouncing the society’s definition of grace, virtue, goodness, soul, romance and devotion. This is ironically because it was grace, virtue, goodness, soul, romance and devotion that make us human in the first place.
Therefore I don’t think this song is about Samsara, although we can definitely argue a distant relationship between the two. It is about freedom and liberation instead. Do you agree?
Yes, it’s inspired by Hunter S. Thompson (as stated in the article.) No words were put in the artists’ mouths, as this ‘disclaimer’ was stated – ‘Both lines can have interesting implications if interpreted with the Dharma.’ All the songs in moonpointer are interpreted freely with the Dharma; not representative of their actual intended meanings.
Actually, every song is about Samsara in one way or another, as long as it’s not written by a Buddha! And every song has to be interpreted by listeners individually as long as the songwriters’ minds are not read. Your interpretation seems to make much sense in the context of the song!
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Indeed I agree that every song is about Samsara in one way or another. Love songs are about Samsara, sad songs are about Samsara, and even happy songs are about Samsara, although many times it is indirectly.
For this song I said there is a “distant relationship” because you can see it in the following way as well. Due to human’s intellectual, the need for orderly society, and a mains to pass down social “wisdom”, human developed social conventions. Unfortunately due to human’s greed, anger and ignorance, the social conventions are inevitably contaminated with those as well. For example the social convention of chasing after materialism, for revengeful ideas, for in-group/out-group exclusiveness, and for ego-ism, all lead us to actions that would bind us further in Samsara. As portrayed in the song, it is very difficult to be “human”, as in being Enlightened, and renounce some of the unhelpful social conventions. For example Buddha himself advocated against the caste system’s unequal treatment. That was going against social convention during his time.
Having said that however I would like to point out that not all social conventions are unhelpful. For example the social convention of caring for our parents is a very good social convention. By cultivating the 4 immeasurables through this filial piety, it helps us towards out of the Samsara instead.
Pay my respects to grace and virtue
Send my condolences to good
Give my regards to soul and romance,
They always did the best they could
And so long to devotion
You taught me everything I know
Wave goodbye
Wish me well..
You’ve gotta let me go
Comments: Looks like the song’s not just about wanting to be free from the conventional, but also about wanting the conventional to set one free too. The caste system is a good example. As much as one wants to be caste-free, others might not want one to be so. Tragic indeed. Even today, thousands and thousands of ‘Untouchable’ Indians see conversion to Buddhism as a path to officially break free from caste discrimination. But I’m not sure how well they fare after mere conversion.
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