The Killers revamped their single “Land of the Free” on Sunday (June 7), adding new lyrics to address the death of George Floyd.
In the new, intimate performance of the 2019 one-off single on the band’s Instagram, frontman Brandon Flowers changes the second verse of the song with references to Floyd’s tragic passing.
“When I go out in my car, I don’t think twice/ But if you’re the wrong color skin/ You grow up looking over both your shoulders/ In the land of the free/ How many killings must one man watch in his home/ Till he sees the price on the TV?/ Eight measured minutes and 46 seconds/ Another boy in the bag/ Another stain on the flag,” he sings while playing the piano.
Touring band member Robert Loud, who appears in the video performing backup vocals and guitar, also posted the performance to his personal Instagram page with a message about the song’s added meaning in the wake of the Black Lives Matter protests springing up across the country in reaction to the Minneapolis man’s death.
“When Brandon texted me these new lyrics I cried and felt the heart he put into them,” Loud captioned the post. “It was an honor to be a part of this. Let’s ‘break the cycle’ of racism and injustice by starting inside of each of us and those we are close to and also work to spread it out from there until it really is the land of the free. There are too many stains on the flag.”
Watch The Killers’ charged performance below.
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