Marcel Winatschek

When You Were Young

’When You Were Young’ was the sound of 2006 for me. I listened to it enough times that I probably heard it more than my own voice, the kind of song that doesn’t wear out no matter how much you play it. The whole Sam’s Towns album hit like that—massive, perfect—and The Killers never made anything that big again.

A heartbreak was happening around then. The song became its soundtrack, maybe because it was playing at the right moment, maybe because I decided it should be. Either way, I couldn’t listen to anything else for months. Every time it came on, it felt like Brandon Flowers was describing something he couldn’t possibly understand about me, which is probably how you feel about any song that actually matters.

The Killers didn’t save me. But the song was there, and that was enough.