The first song to be lifted from The Killers fourth album, Battle Born, dates back to the late 2000s, when the band played it to an unenthusiastic audience in Santa Barbara, California. Undaunted by the lukewarm initial reactions, the band chose to develop and ultimately record the track. The song was released on July 10, 2012.
Explaining the album's title to Rolling Stone, frontman Brandon Flowers said that 'Battle Born' is both the name of the band's own studio and a nickname for their home state of Nevada. He added: "In a sense, all Americans are battle born. Our ancestors came here for something better."
The bare bones of this song were written in 2009 on the Day & Age tour. "We never knew what to do with it. Day and Age was us trying to be more of a pop group, but "Runaways" was rootsy and American, and it threw me for a curve," said Flowers. "I knew it was a powerful song. But when it came time to make the album, there was an understanding the four of us had that we were gonna do what we're good at. The Killers write a specific kind of song, and we're not gonna shy away from it. So 'Runaways' became a kind of launching pad."
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