Art generally reflects how the artist is feeling at the time they are creating the piece of art. I know that my writing changes based on how I’m doing, personally and relationship-wise: when I’m not getting enough cuddles, I write scenes with cuddling; when I wasn’t getting any kink during my first marriage, I wrote about a relationship that was almost all kink.

Recently I was listening to an album by The Killers, and the song “In the Car Outside” came on. The lyrics include:

I dropped a line to a flickerin’ high school flame
We laughed about all the ways that our lives had changed
She’s up the road, about 35 miles north
Got two little boys in school, just had a real bad divorce
And in a moment of weakness

I told her if she ever needed a helping hand
I would lend, swear to God
It’s like the part of me that’s screamin’ not to jump gets lost
In the sound of the train, it’s a lot

The song is generally about a guy who’s disillusioned with his marriage, and he reaches out to an old flame.

When I heard that, I realized I’d heard it in The Killers lyrics before. To wit: “Joy Ride”:

She was on the sidewalk looking for a nightlife
We talked about the real things
And drove into the fire
Headlights on the highway
The desert wind is howling
Rattlesnakes and romance
Are spilling with the rain
Candy apple red dress
Bleeding when she kissed me
Heaven in a rag-top
Take away my pain

…

Pulled up to a motel
Vacancy was buzzing
Pink and dirty neon
Settle on the hood
Wrapped her arms around me
Come a little closer
Stumble in the twilight
And fell onto the floor
Loving Mona Lisa
Dreaming of the free world
Lipstick on the nightstand
And demons at the door

What’s that one about? Picking up someone — presumably an old flame, though possibly a sex worker — and taking her to a motel.

Then there’s “Desperate Things”, about a police officer who reconnects with an old flame; said old flame is abused by her partner.

I’ve been taking lunch breaks at her work
When the restaurant ain’t too crowded
She knows me and my wife got a little girl
We don’t talk too much about it

The other night she met me way out west
Things went further than they should have
When she undid the buttons of her dress
I didn’t stop her, but I could have

As I reviewed the various The Killers songs available to me on streaming, I heard this refrain more than once — a married (or committed-to-a-partner) man steps out with an old flame, or someone who isn’t his partner. And all I could think was: how does that make his wife feel?

Brandon Flowers, lead singer of The Killers, has been married since 2005, and they have children together. For all I know, he’s never once cheated on her with an old flame or a sex worker; for all I know, they’re polyamorous or have an open marriage and it’s not cheating at all. But the latter is statistically less likely. So how must she feel when she hears him singing songs like this? Does she worry that he’s going to do this? Does she worry that he’s already done this? Or does she think it’s just his art?

But if art imitates life, to a certain extent, then I have to wonder how she feels about these songs.