Caution

Album: Imploding The Mirage (2020)
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Songfacts®:

  • Brandon Flowers grew up in the Nevada city of Las Vegas and formed The Killers there. The band is proud of their Vegas roots and named their second album Sam's Town after one of the city's casinos. The singer remained there until the late 2010s when he moved his family from the grit and glitter of Sin City to the lush mountains of Utah. Flowers explained to Zane Lowe during his Beats 1 broadcast that his move away from his hometown to Utah inspired this song.

    "I was having this sort of hunch or impression that that was something that I was supposed to do for my family," he said. "And it was hard for me because I'm an ambassador for [Vegas] - and so it was tough for me to leave, and I thought I was able to harness that energy and there was a sort of a relief when it happened, and you kind of feel that the spirit in 'Caution.'"
  • After moving to Utah, Flowers began work on Imploding The Mirage. The record references some artists that filled him and the other band members with a sense of romance and camaraderie in their youth. This arena-ready slice of emotive Americana takes inspiration from Bruce Springsteen.
  • The Killers haven't featured many guest spots on their previous albums, but they opened their arms to collaborators on Imploding the Mirage. This song features a guitar solo courtesy of Lindsey Buckingham.

    Flowers told Mix 104.1 Boston host Karson that Buckingham's contribution came about after jokingly bringing his name up while recording in the studio. "We were in LA and we just threw a call at him," said The Killers frontman. "He showed up a couple of days after the call. A lot of people nowadays will work remotely but it was great to be in LA and have Lindsey pull up and work with him in the studio."
  • The Killers performed the live debut of "Caution" from Brandon Flowers' bathroom. The March 21, 2020 performance came as part of Jimmy Kimmel Live, which was broadcast behind closed doors because of the global coronavirus pandemic.
  • Never had a diamond
    On the sole of her shoes


    The lyric references Paul Simon's 1980s hit single "Diamonds On The Soles Of Her Shoes."

    She's a rich girl. She don't try to hide it
    Diamonds on the soles of her shoes


    Simon's song is about a New York girl from a wealthy background. In contrast, the "featherweight queen" Flowers sings of is the daughter of a Vegas dancer who is far from being a rich girl.
  • This reached #1 on Billboard's Alternative Airplay chart, ending a 14-year wait for The Killers. Their only previous visit to the survey's summit was back in 2006 when "When You Were Young" spent two weeks at the peak position.

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